ENGINEERING STUDENTS STRIVE FOR SIMPLICITY, IN A HURRY 

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Sept. 14 -- Experience with Tinker
Toys may come in handy next week for first-year mechanical
engineering students at the University of Virginia.
	Students will be divided into teams of six to eight people
and handed small boxes of components. They will have an hour and
fifteen minutes to build "Mars rover vehicles," about four inches
high, from parts that include wheels, vehicle body parts and a
battery-operated motor. 
	Students will be judged on how efficiently they use the
parts, making a good vehicle with the least number of components. At
the end of the class, designed to teach team-building,
organizational skills and creativity, the vehicles will be raced on
the floor. 
	Kathryn Thornton, the American astronaut who just joined the
engineering school's faculty, will judge the contest and be
available for media interviews.
	The class will be held on Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 17, at
3:30 p.m. in Room 0900, in the basement of Olsson Hall. 
###
September 13, 1996
	For more information, call Tom Doran, director of public
relations for the Virginia Engineering Foundation, at (804) 924
1381. Television reporters should call our TV News Office at (804)
924-7550.