Academics

Engineering students to show off design solutions at May 4 showcase

Students display their final project at the fall 2014 Engineering Design Showcase. The spring 2015 showcase is scheduled for May 4 at the Bryce Jordan Center. Credit: Cole Hons / Penn StateCreative Commons

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Engineering students will display their solutions to industry-posed problems at the Engineering Design Showcase from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Monday, May 4, at the Bryce Jordan Center.

The event, which will also commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Learning Factory, is free and open to the public.

The showcase is the culmination of a semester-long effort by engineering students to design prototypes and remedies to real-world challenges posed by industry clients.

Seniors in biological engineering, biomedical engineering, computer engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, energy engineering, engineering design, engineering science and mechanics, industrial engineering, materials science and mechanical engineering are participating in the showcase as part of the capstone design project.

This semester's capstone assignments are sponsored by a variety of local, national and global firms and government agencies, including Alcoa, ArcelorMittal, The Boeing Company, Dresser-Rand, General Motors, Lockheed Martin, Shell, Volvo Group and Xerox Corporation.

The event will feature efforts by first-year students in EDSGN 100 Introduction to Engineering Design, who will display their first-year client-driven design project, sponsored by ArcelorMittal. Students were tasked with reducing the waste stream at an ArcelorMittal facility by designing a way to reuse and/or recycle one or more of the largest sources of refuse: pallets from incoming material delivery, empty drums or totes received from delivery of fluids and waste refractory brick.

Students in EDSGN 130 will present their final design project: a collection of small buildings that will serve as "Digital Study Posts" throughout the University Park campus. The students have addressed this challenge by reimagining and fusing spaces that traditionally have been associated with printed-book libraries and computer labs.

Judges at the showcase will award accolades for top projects and best posters. Visitors are encouraged to choose projects for a "people's choice" award.

A complete list of spring 2015 projects and sponsors is available at the Learning Factory website.

Last Updated March 31, 2015

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