Students from 25 high schools are coming to Iowa State to test their prowess at designing stomach-turning loops and turns Wednesday during the first roller coaster design contest on campus.

Members of national honor society for engineering Tau Beta Pi are running the competition.

“This is the first year we hosted it. It is a statewide event and we invited quite a few high schools, more than 500,” said Shannon Parker, competition coordinator. “We basically included the entire state of Iowa.”

Invitations were sent out mainly to physics teachers inviting them to have students participate.

The event is based on a competition that was started at Urbandale High School by physics teacher Marc Hermon.

“He started the roller coaster competition, and it was a way to get his physics kids involved in actually building something and applying physics and mathematics concepts,” Parker said.

Hermon said Tau Beta Pi members have always been judges for the event.

“The competition started getting rather large because Marc was inviting other schools to participate and it was just getting to big for him to handle,” Parker said.

Hermon said every year he adds an extra challenge to be incorporated into the roller coaster setup, known as the Rube Goldberg Challenge.

Rube Goldberg machines use rolling balls to trigger other events.

This year the goal is to get a Ping-Pong ball through a basketball hoop.

In past years, a mouse trap challenge was incorporated into the competition, Kranzusch said.

Parker said the competition is a great way to get high school and middle school students interested in engineering.

“Tau Beta Pi is hosting this competition to help get high school students excited about engineering and to provide them with an opportunity to practice problem solving and team design,” Kranzusch said. “It is also a great opportunity for high school students to visit Iowa State’s campus and learn about the College of Engineering.”

In upcoming years, Tau Beta Pi hopes to have schools from Minnesota participate as well, Parker said.

The competition may also be opened to middle school students.

Awards are presented in three different categories: technical, overall theme and presentation. An award also goes to the roller coaster that wins overall.

“It’s amazing what some kids can come up with. I wish we could have more people check it out,” Hermon said.

The competition is scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday in the atrium of Howe Hall.

The judging should take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Kranzusch said. The event is free and open to the public.

Hermon said Tau Beta Pi was interested in taking over the competition this year. There are 30 members of Tau Beta Pi volunteering for the competition as coordinators, judges and helpers, said Kara Kranzusch, publicity chairwoman for the Iowa Alpha chapter of Tau Beta Pi.

Tau Beta Pi received a grant from their national chapter in 2004. Every year, Tau Beta Pi chapters can apply for the Greater Interest in Government grant.

Iowa Alpha was the only Iowa chapter to win the grant this year. These funds will help fund the competition, Parker said.

The teams had to pay $20 to cover facility fees, T-shirts, lunch and awards.

Tau Beta Pi is not making any profit, and the money goes back to the competition, Kranzusch said.