First Year Guide

Every UNB engineering student receives an Iron Pin during their time in the program — a small, unassuming piece of metal that carries an enormous amount of weight. The pin is a physical reminder of the engineer's obligation to uphold honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility in everything you build.

The ceremony itself is quiet by design. A guest speaker — often a practicing engineer — shares what the code of ethics has meant in their own career, and each student leaves wearing the pin as a lifelong reminder of the standard they are now held to. It is one of the few UNB Engineering traditions that follows you well past graduation.

The Engineering Gala caps off ENGG Week, the busiest and most spirited week on the EUS calendar. What starts with a skate night and a ski trip to Crabbe Mountain builds all week toward one black-tie evening — the one night engineering students trade coveralls and lab coats for suits and dresses.

The Gala is part celebration, part reunion. Awards are handed out, friendships are toasted, and a year of shared all-nighters and design projects gets its proper send-off. For graduating students especially, it is the night ENGG Week — and often their UNB engineering career — is remembered by.

Give a group of engineering students an empty hallway, some scrap materials, and a challenge, and they will build something to race down it. That is the entire premise of Coaster Derby — teams design and build unpowered coasters from scratch and send them flying down a track built right through Head Hall.

It is equal parts physics problem and spectacle. Some builds are engineered with real precision; others are held together by hope and duct tape. Either way, the hallway fills with students cheering on their friends' creations, and for one afternoon a year, Head Hall becomes a racetrack.

Every March 14th, UNB Engineering puts a very literal spin on Pi Day. Students place bids for the chance to throw a whipped-cream pie directly into a professor's face — and professors, to their credit, sign up for it every year.

The event doubles as a bake sale, with proceeds from both the pies and the baked goods going to a charity chosen by the EUS. It is silly, it is messy, and it is one of the few days a year students get to see their professors take one for the team — literally.

Every fall, before the syllabi and problem sets take over, the EUS throws a free BBQ that brings the entire engineering student body back together in one place. It is the unofficial start of the academic year — burgers, hot dogs, and the first real chance to reconnect with classmates.

For incoming first years, it is often the first taste of what the engineering community at UNB actually feels like: loud, welcoming, and glad you are here. Show up hungry, and you will leave with a few more people in your corner.