First-year student engineers at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Bathurst are facing their first challenge this week in problem solving and team work.The annual Rube Goldberg event challenges the 18 students to build an overly complex solution to a simple problem – this year, it is to cut a cake with a large knife.“Working in teams of three, the students have to design and build at least four steps in the machine,” said CSU Professor of Engineering, Euan Lindsay.“This year they have incorporated tambourines, Jenga blocks, a party popper and a flying dog into their project.“They have to work together with the rest of the group to make a single machine, building a sense of shared responsibility and cooperation in the group to make the machine work.“The Challenge embodies the non-traditional, problem-based approach of the Charles Sturt University course. We are committed to developing student engineers who have entrepreneurial communication skills and understand the power of diversity.”Last year, the CSU Engineering degree was recognised by the leading Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as a world leader in engineering education.This year’s completed ‘machine’ will be activated by a global leader in engineering education, Professor Anetta Kolmos from the University of Aalborg, Denmark.The machine will ‘go live’ at 3pm on Thursday 8 March in the foyer of the award-winning CSU Engineering building, CSU in Bathurst.