United by a shared enthusiasm for engineering culture and community, the Ontario Engineering Competition (OEC) 2025 brought together 322 representatives from 18 engineering schools across the province at McMaster University’s campus. While competitive in nature, the weekend of activities highlighted the power of collaboration among participants and the event committee, aptly named the “Organizing Community.”
Led by McMaster Engineering student co-chairs Luke Schuurman (Mechatronics Engineering) and Ayesha Basu (Chemical Engineering and Integrated Biomedical Engineering and Health Sciences – iBioMed), the OEC featured teams competing in one of nine categories. Each competition was centered around the theme “solutions that last,” encouraging participants to consider both present-day and long-lasting impacts of their solutions.
The outcomes exceeded expectations for the Organizing Community. “The cross-pollination of ideas and inspiration from being surrounded by others who are also bringing their best stimulated greater innovation and creativity,” says Schuurman. “As engineers, we are all going out into this world to make it a better place, and opportunities like OEC show us that we are in this fight together,” adds Basu.
The event blueprint
Teams who placed at the top of their respective school engineering competitions advanced to one of nine OEC categories: Bio-engineering, Programming, Junior Design, Senior Design, Re-Engineering, Engineering Consulting, Parliamentary Debate, Engineering Communications and Innovative Design.
Challenges ranged from counteracting the growing challenges of antimicrobial resistance, to improved reporting and monitoring of environmental disasters and disease outbreaks, to eliminating space debris that accumulates in Earth’s lower orbit. “The diverse array of competition topics was meant to expose our competitors to interdisciplinary real-life challenges that require consideration to intersectionality and impact to solve,” says Basu.
A winning team was declared in each category with prizes including atrophy, certificates and cash. McMaster secured a trio of awards, including first place in Bio-engineering for iBioMed students Chloe Wong and Andrew Lian, second place in Communications for Computer Science students Syed Umair and Eric Zhang, and third place in Consulting for iBioMed students Jason Peng, Mitchell Fong and Sam Chan.
“We were glad to organize something that broadened delegates’ horizons as students and future engineers,” says Schuurman.
Following competition, participants had the opportunity to participate in a career fair with sponsors of the event including Hatch, Candu Energy, Plan Group, BBA Consultants, Canadian Natural Resources, Kepler Communications and PepsiCo, closing ceremonies and a banquet.
As engineers, we are all going out into this world to make it a better place, and opportunities like OEC show us that we are in this fight together.
Engineering a memorable experience
Hosting hundreds of students for three action-packed days of the competition and activities is no small feat, especially for those juggling their engineering studies with event planning duties. The Organizing Community, comprised of more than 40 members across 22 different roles, truly rose to the occasion, says Basu.
“One of the key takeaways from this experience was how to be a more effective leader,” notes Schuurman. “The large Organizing Community brought a variety of communication and work styles to the table.”
For the Organizing Community, OEC represented bringing their plans to life beyond the group chat. Having planned the entire competition virtually, the in-person experience held extra significance for them.
It was also impactful for competitors, who described the experience as “inspiring” and “collaborative” in an environment amongst “passionate innovators.”
“You could feel the energy build as competitors cheered their schools on through both victories and losses at the competition design demos,” says Basu. “Witnessing all schools unite as one celebratory body at the banquet was such a beautiful sight, making all the long hours and late nights worth it.”
