Boy Scouts from across the Las Vegas Valley will converge on UNLV Sept. 16 to earn engineering merit badges with the assistance of engineers from UNLV and the community, as well as the university's engineering students.

Approximately 180 Boy Scouts, ages 12 to 17, are expected to attend the Boy Scout Engineering Merit Badge Workshop.

The Southern Nevada chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is hosting the event. Engineers from a number of local firms and government agencies will be lending their assistance.

The scouts will spend their day participating in a number of engineering activities ranging from building a motor controller to harness electricity to playing a game of engineering "Jeopardy!"

The event will begin at 8 a.m. outside the Thomas T. Beam Engineering Complex and is expected to conclude around 4 p.m. The workshop will emphasize the 10 requirements for earning the engineering merit badge; each scout who successfully completes all the requirements will earn his badge.

Other activities will include visiting a construction site, visiting an office site, crushing block cylinders, and performing hands-on engineering drafting. The scouts also will learn about engineering ethics, college requirements, and engineering research activities.

More than 500 Boy Scouts have earned their merit badges as a result of the workshop since the local chapter of ASCE began hosting the event in 1992.

For additional information about the workshop, call Ken Ackeret of Kimley-Horn and Associates at 734-5666.