R E S O L U T I O N
 1-1           WHEREAS, The University of Texas at Austin chapter of the
 1-2     American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) claimed top honors
 1-3     in the national Rube Goldberg Machine Contest in 2000, and this
 1-4     feat indeed merits special praise; and
 1-5           WHEREAS, Inspired by cartoonist Rube Goldberg, who is famous
 1-6     for his sketches of elaborate contraptions that perform simple
 1-7     tasks, this annual competition is sponsored by the Purdue
 1-8     University chapter of the professional engineering fraternity Theta
 1-9     Tau; students from colleges across the nation construct machines
1-10     that are designed to perform a simple task in as many steps as
1-11     possible, with the machines being judged on reliability,
1-12     creativity, complexity, and how well they embody the spirit of the
1-13     original cartoons; and
1-14           WHEREAS, To advance to the national competition, the ASME
1-15     team had to first win a local meet, which included besting its
1-16     arch-rival, UT's American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
1-17     aerospace engineering organization; and
1-18           WHEREAS, The objective of the 2000 contest was to construct a
1-19     machine that could fill and seal a time capsule; the 10-member ASME
1-20     team spent more than 1,000 hours creating its machine, which used
1-21     47 steps, and at the national final in West Lafayette, Indiana, on
1-22     April 6, 2000, the invention proved to be second to none; and
1-23           WHEREAS, The talented engineers of the ASME team, all of whom
1-24     are Texans, include Chad Bruns, Jeff Krimmel, Neal Tanner, John
 2-1     Franco, Nik Lane, Kirsten Cole, Justin Olsen, Danny Booth, Ed
 2-2     Southerland, and Michael Bruns; now, therefore, be it
 2-3           RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 77th Texas
 2-4     Legislature hereby congratulate all the members of the American
 2-5     Society of Mechanical Engineers from The University of Texas at
 2-6     Austin on their national victory at the Rube Goldberg Machine
 2-7     Contest and extend to them sincere best wishes for continued
 2-8     success; and, be it further
 2-9           RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be
2-10     prepared for the ASME team as an expression of high regard by the
2-11     Texas House of Representatives.
                                                                       Dukes
                                             _______________________________
                                                   Speaker of the House
               I certify that H.R. No. 296 was adopted by the House on
         February 22, 2001, by a non-record vote.
                                             _______________________________
                                                 Chief Clerk of the House