UC San Diego is home to the world's largest outdoor shake table (or earthquake simulator) and to some serious surfing--including one of the nation's top college surfing teams and to a team that makes surfboards out of algae.
So this year, students admitted to UC San Diego got a chance to surf during a simulated earthquake, all while wearing an Occulus Rift virtual reality headset. Students heard a warning that a 9.9 earthquake has taken place and a giant tsunami is nearing the shore.
The experience was very popular.
According to the San Diego Union-Tribune:
“I thought I was going to fly off of it,” 17-year-old Jasmine Hassan said afterward. “I’ve never experienced virtual reality in that kind of immersive environment. I just think it shows how cutting-edge UCSD is, and you can see the way they apply the research that they do, it’s applicable to everything people are doing in modern-day life.”
Near the shakeboarding experience, students from the UCSD Seismic Outreach Program allowed campus visitors to simulate an earthquake by jumping on a map and shaking a building made of K'Nex on a small shake table.
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| UC San Diego Seismic Outreach teaches about seismic safety at Triton Day. |
On Library Walk, many of the school's student organizations had come out to get prospective students excited about everything the campus has to offer.
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| SWE at Triton Day |
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| The Triton Rocket Club showcased their robot. |
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| AIChE, the chemical engineering student organization had a bean bag toss game. |
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| SEDS at UC San Diego talked about 3D printing a rocket engine, a unique feat. |
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| The Tau Beta Pi engineering honors society was out in force. |
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| Engineers Withouth Borders at UC San Diego talked about their projects. |
