2018 Issue

35 Well, the word comes from “Comics Convention”, as in comic books, but has expanded to include much, much more. As of this writing, there is still some litigation proceeding on whether the term “Comic Con” is generic or copyrighted to the San Diego Comic Con, but from my experience, when Americans say “Comic Con” or similar words nowadays, they mean any of over 20 conventions across the US (including Phoenix) where many, many thousands of fantasy and science fiction fans converge, often in impressive costumes (cosplay or costume play), to meet movie and TV stars, book authors, and script writers. They buy from vendors and hold side meets for their particular favorites. These folks are fans of Marvel, DC or Dark Horse Comics. They love Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and the TV show Supernatural. They are fans of hundreds of obscure fantasy worlds and media outlets you and I will never know. They come to attend seminars on writing and filming. In short, they are fans of the fantastic out to have a good time. When I started attending the Salt Lake City Comic Con in the year 2014, I was surprised at how many of my engineer friends I ran into – many in costume. Sure, a lot of us grew up on SciFi, but engineers are known for their sober dig- nity, right? At Comic Cons, not so much. It’s all about fun. If there is any difference between us engineers and other fans, you might think it’s the fact that we engineers think that the fun is funner when you understand the science, or limits of science, behind your favorites. But at Comicons you run into plenty of folks with no tech-related college degree who love to delve into the real science as well. As I talked about this opportunity to host a STEM booth at SLC Comic Con to our UEC Member Societies, I found the most interest coming from local chapters of the Amer- ican Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME), the Insti- tute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE). These societies are all very active at Hill AFB and Hill AFB has a STEM office. So, we reached out to them (for several years, we have worked with Hill AFB on the annual National Engineers Week) and they were more than enthusiastic to participate. And our friends I met from the AIAA conven- tion stayed in touch via email, giving advice along the way. All this makes it sound more complicated than it was. All it really took were a few meetings over the telephone and by 21 September we were there in a booth donated by SLC Comic Con. Yes, donated. The SLC Comic Con team loves to inspire kids and wanted to help. They even gave free day-passes to each of our volunteers so before and after their 2 to 3 hours’ shift, they could go out and enjoy the convention on their own. For three days, we had 30 local engineers and Comic Con attendees playing with tech goodies. We had giveaways to catch the eye like bookmarks, pens, and balsa wood airplanes. Our tech goodies included gyroscopes with a gimbal stand and person-sized lazy susan, Lego robots, holograms, large Kylo Ren and Stormtrooper models, mini wind tunnel, and a cool slinky-like device. We also had an array of handouts for older kids and parents about scholar- ship opportunities. These items came from the Hill Aerospace Museum, Weber State University Physics Department, Hill AFB, and mem- bers of the engineering societies.