Pasta and marshmallows are an unlikely duo, yet each February at the Whiting School of Engineering they unite young engineers in a test that defies gravity. The challenge: Construct the tallest tower using only one box of uncooked spaghetti noodles and two bags of marshmallows. The annual Tower of Power is regarded as a signature event of the Whiting School's National Engineers Week celebration. Their strategies relied on sequences of squares and triangles, which in theory, would sustain their spaghetti structures surpassing the half-hour time crunch. They bested both their middle school peers and their Hopkins undergrad challengers for a prize consisting of beanies, fanny packs, and other Hopkins gear.
