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About Us |
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It was also important for us to give back to the community, which had supported the team for many years. We began to do a number of presentations for the community, including at the Purdue University President's Council Back to Class weekend, and the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. Our 2004 “Rube’s County Fair” machine was also demonstrated and put on display at the Muncie Children’s Museum for a period of time.
At the end of the 2005 - 2006 season, the team's founder and leader for 8 years, Shawn Jordan, retired from the competition. He continues to do community education and outreach activities related to Rube Goldberg machines. Thank you Shawn!
The New Age: 2006 - Present
In 2006, Team Veteran Drew Wischer became Captain of the team. Unfortunately through graduation of members and others choosing to move on, he was left to build a new team. Starting fresh he recruited 13 new dedicated and hardworking individuals. It proved to be an invaluable and rewarding experience to all involved with the team. Working hard and spending many hours, the team in 2007 again took home the title of Regional Contest winners. At the National Competition, the team earned Second place and started looking forward to bringing back the title in 2008.
We also continued to give back to the community. The “The Orange is Not Enough” machine was displayed at Purdue’s Envision 2007 and the College of Technology’s, Distinguished Alumni event. Currently, the machine resides at the Orchard School in Indianapolis, Indiana, and is being used in a science curriculum for 5th graders. With our partnership, our machine has taught early engineering and simple machines to young minds!
2008 proved to be a big year! With more experience the team took on the most difficult task that it has ever encountered. We assembled a hamburger! On February 23rd, the team took home its fourth consecutive Regional Competition title. After five weeks of hard work rebuilding the machine, April 5th proved to be a big day. The team took home first place for the third time in four years! It was a big day for the 17 members of the current team and it shows that true teamwork combined with hard work really pays off in the end! The team is currently looking forward to more opportunities to display the machine, possibly to the nation…
PSPE Rube Goldberg thanks each and everyone that has helped us through the years. To our dedicated sponsors and to our loyal fans, may there be many more years of success to the team and to Purdue!
~GO BOILERS! |
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The Early Years: 1998 - 2001
In the spring of 1998, freshman engineer Shawn Jordan approached the Purdue Society of Professional Engineers with a proposal: starting a new Rube Goldberg team on Purdue's campus. With the help of then-president Karen Davis, a new group began designing and building a machine in Shawn's one-bedroom apartment (much to the dismay of his roommates). The first machines were built with nearly no budget, meaning that cardboard, duct tape, and job fair giveaways were the primary building blocks. The temporary nature of these materials made reliability a challenge for the dedicated group of individuals, whose creativity shined through in the machines they took to competition. |
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The Wonder Years: 2004 – 2006
As excitement on the team increased, they went into overdrive and won two back-to-back national championships and were awarded a Guinness World Record for the World's Largest Functioning Rube Goldberg machine (125 steps). These big wins resulted in a myriad of opportunities for the team to appear on television, including two appearances on Jimmy Kimmel LIVE! (ABC), ESPN, Games Across America (GSN), The Daily Planet (Discovery Channel Canada), and Attack of the Show (G4TV). The team was also featured in a feature-length documentary on the Rube Goldberg Machine Contest, which is currently in post-production and should be released to the public soon. |
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The Second Triennium: 2001 - 2004
The experience gained during the first three years led up to a major achievement: winning first place at the local competition, and going on to place second at nationals! These significant accomplishments set the stage for three prosperous years, where each machine was significantly more complex than the last. Contributing to the success was the opportunity for the team to build their machines in a wonderful warehouse with plenty of space. During this three-year period, the team also had the great honor to exhibit three of its machines in the Governor of Indiana's Indiana 2016 booth at the Indiana State Fair. |
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PSPE Rube Goldberg Team—2008 National Champions |