The APOGEE English Press sat down with the APOGEE Coordinator for the BITS Pilani chapter of the Indian Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ISHRAE), Shreyash Singh, to understand the work of the organisation for the upcoming fest.

ISHRAE is organising two events at APOGEE 2023—the Ice Box Challenge and a Heat-a-Thon. The Ice Box Challenge is a flagship event organised by ISHRAE at APOGEE. Comprising two rounds, it is a design-based event. The first round is a deck-based solution to a problem statement, while the second is a presentation round.

Heat-a-Thon, a completely new event, is a live stall event where the general public would get to know about the practical and industrial applications of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, or ‘HVAC’, in real life. This event is aimed at engaging people and enhancing their perception of HVAC and the creativity involved in its applications.

Shreyash said that preparatory work for their events included acquiring necessary materials, meeting, and discussing event details with the CoStAAns. He highlighted that the process of acquiring materials was undertaken smoothly despite some of the requirements being quite unusual. He appreciated the efficiency of the CoStAAns displayed in making his work hassle-free. One of the major issues faced by the organisation during the COVID-19 pandemic was a lack of offline turnout. However, the organisation is confident of getting a good turnout this year at the Ice Box Challenge given the trends of increasing participation observed over the previous few years. Another possible source of trouble that Shreyash could predict was problems with electricity during the Heat-a-thon.

Speaking of his experience as the coordinator, Shreyash expressed gratitude over getting to know the internal machinery of the Students’ Union. Regarding his aspirations for the organisation, he hopes that with increasing participation come significant advances in popularising HVAC on campus.