Cloudy with a Chance of Eggs: Winners

POSTED ON: September 18, 2012

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Matt Kaufman rips Mr. Snuffles apart to check on the status of the egg.

Matt Kaufman rips Mr. Snuffles apart to check on the status of the egg.

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Alexa Orrico and Amy Chambers with friend display their egg, safetly delivered to the ground.

Alexa Orrico and Amy Chambers with friend display their egg, safetly delivered to the ground.

Cuteness triumphed in the annual Egg Drop, with the top prize going to an egg capsule made out of a stuffed animal dubbed “Mr. Snuffles” by team members Matt Kaufman, Eugen Sokolov and Dustin Atles.  Sponsored by the Engineering Student Council, the Egg Drop attracted eight teams made up mostly of freshmen engineering students.

Constructed beforehand or on the spot each device had to carry a chicken egg approximately 30 feet straight down without violating the integrity of the ovum.  A spreadsheet calculated the winner based on a formula that includes the weight of the device, the distance from the center of the target and, of course, the status of the precious cargo.  The score gets multiplied by zero if the egg is broken.

Second place went to Alexa Orrico and Amy Chambers, both freshmen engineering students and the only all-women team. Their device, constructed primarily of disposable plastic plates and a drinking cup, gracefully lowered its precious cargo by creating wind resistance during the fall and performing a final flip to land upside down--its fragile payload in tact.

Asked how he felt about winning the event Matt Kaufman replied, “Fantastic!”  Noting that the winning entry looked a little worse for wear he added, “We’ve got to fix Mr. Snuffles up, but he will be OK.”

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.