The event, in celebration of National Engineers Week, will be held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21, in Kaufman Hall. It is free and open to the public.

More than 1,000 middle and high school students from Hampton Roads schools have been invited to the open house to meet with engineering faculty and students, tour the college's teaching and research facilities, and talk with industry representatives about careers.

Several laboratories will be open for demonstrations on Friday, including a low-speed wind tunnel to show how airplane models are tested; a demonstration to show how buildings are tested to withstand earthquakes; a speech communication demonstration to show how speech synthesis is helping the hearing impaired; and a robotics demonstration to show how robots are used to perform complicated manufacturing tasks.

Students can participate in contests the next day, including a Mousetrap Car Design, in which a handmade car is powered by a mousetrap, and an Electric Boat Contest, in which students construct a model air-boat using balsam wood and a battery. They can also design an electric vehicle and test it for speed and control.

Other events include the Egg Drop Contest, in which an uncooked egg must survive a 25-foot free fall; Baby Baja Rally, in which students build a miniature all-terrain vehicle capable of traversing sand dunes, water and logs, using two batteries and a motor for power; and the Model Bridge Span Contest, in which students construct foot-long bridges from balsa wood to see which has the greatest load-carrying capacity.

Old Dominion engineering students will judge the contests. Prizes and certificates will be awarded. For more information call 683-3789.