We asked a sampling of faculty, students, and staff: What’s the best-engineered object you own?

“The human body,” says Pablo Iglesias, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “I know it’s not exactly engineered in the traditional sense, but by every other aspect, it’s the most impressive thing I can think of. But that may be cheating, and I certainly don’t ‘own’ it.” On further reflection, Iglesias, who grew up in South America, suggests that his house’s water supply system is the best-engineered object that he owns. “This is not very sexy, but having been to places where there’s not much running water, you realize how important it is,” he says. “It’s one of those things that you don’t think much about at all, which is a good hallmark of a well-engineered system.”

“My golf clubs,” says Edward M. Joffe, the project manager with the Whiting- Turner Contracting Company who is overseeing the construction of the Computational Science and Engineering building on the Homewood campus. “Recently I have been trying to play more than in years past,” he says. “I had been playing with a set of clubs that were handed down from my father, and I think that they were from the time of Arnold Palmer. Old clubs were made in a blade format and had a very small ‘sweet spot.’ That meant that you had to strike the ball with great accuracy in order to have a good shot.

“Today’s clubs are a result of engineering and technological advances; they have larger sweet spots and are more forgiving. I am thankful for this engineering progress; it’s made the game a little less frustrating. Needless to say, I have gone from being a halfway decent golfer to a few-strokes-better golfer … but I’ll take it.”