Students near Marston Hall today shouldn’t be surprised to hear the hum of an auctioneer and cries from bidders vying for weekend dates.

The Institute of Industrial Engineers is holding its first date auction to raise money for a trip to its regional conference at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.

The date auction is from 11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. in front of Marston Hall and will raise money to help pay for general trip costs to South Dakota, said Tiffany Raisch, Institute of Industrial Engineers member.

Ten people will be walking around with bright colored shirts advertising the date auction, said Raisch, senior in industrial engineering. Five men and five women from the Institute of Industrial Engineers will be auctioned off, and all the dates will go out as one big group for pizza and a movie Friday night, she said.

The event will be held in typical auctioneer style with the dates going to the highest bidder, said Jeff Matthias, Institute of Industrial Engineers member.

The new fund-raising idea came up at the first meeting this year, and the group has been planning it ever since, Raisch said.

“This way, it allows people to spend as much as they want [at the auction], and it’s a good opportunity to get more people involved and raise awareness of [Institute of Industrial Engineers],” said Matthias, junior in industrial engineering.

At the conference, members listen to speakers. One representative from each school participates in an essay contest. Iowa State holds its own contest to determine who will represent the chapter at the regional competition. From there, the winner attends nationals, Raisch said. Last year, Iowa State took first place at regionals.

“The conference is a link to the national conference, bringing Iowa State’s chapter of the [Institute of Industrial Engineers] to the national conference,” Raisch said.

Iowa State will host the 2003 regional conference, which will bring school chapters of the Institute of Industrial Engineers from all over the nation to Iowa State, Raisch said.

The institute is a college chapter of a professional society for industrial engineers, Matthias said.

“I think it’s more worthwhile to show people we’re a fun club,” Raisch said.