Seniors show their work during Engineering Design Day

Senior engineering students at North Carolina State University put all their hard work on senior design projects on display during Engineering Design Day in the university’s Talley Student Union on April 26.

Seniors from the Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE), the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program and the Department of Textile Engineering, Chemistry and Science displayed posters and demonstrated their creations for fellow students, faculty and industry partners.

Senior design teams worked with businesses like IBM, Lenovo and Big Rock Sports and with the National Science Foundation FREEDM and ASSIST Engineering Research Centers based on the NC State campus.

Subject matter ranged from pressure mapping in a shoe and biometric shirt electronics to cellulose acetate spun yarn technologies and streamlining material flow and warehouse space.

Two projects aimed to create a working model of the BB-8 rolling robot in the most recent “Star Wars” movie and two were tasked with making car pickup and drop-off lines at local schools most efficient.

“This was one of our best senior design days yet,” said Dr. Daniel Stancil, ECE department head. “A particular emphasis this year was for the students to make professional presentations of their work. Senior design is an excellent opportunity for students to cap off their undergraduate education by applying what they have learned to solve real-world problems.”

ECE seniors Brandon Ahrens, Jesse Antoszyk, Bradley Kahn, Lucky Larozza and William Stewart developed a remote pedal that allows drummers who have lost use of their legs – or for drummers who have a double bass set up and still want the full control of their hi-hat pedal – another way to utilize a hi-hat cymbal.

The team created a wireless pressure-sensing mouth guard that can activate the hi-hat pedal. They started with several requirements: that the system be wireless, wearable and washable and that it be accurate, have a four-hour battery life and be easy to set up.

ISE seniors Gene Huneycutt, Sarah Rogers and Matthew Westbrook worked with officials at global beauty product manufacturer Coty’s distribution center in Sanford to create a new labor tracking system.

The team spent time on the manufacturing floor talking with employees and gathering data before creating and implementing a Microsoft Access Database system that tracks labor movement in real time.

Coty has successfully implemented the students’ system at its workstations and expects labor savings and increased capacity planning.

“We’re really proud and we’re really excited to see how it changes their facility,” Rogers said.

Textile engineering students John Joyner, Spencer Boykin and Charles Suaris worked with Monterey Mills to design a new paint roller fabric that will make painting faster, easier and cleaner. The three went through several prototypes looking for an option that would maximize the amount of paint the roller picked up and the amount it laid down and minimize the amount of fiber on the roller that shredded, all while giving the user control over the rate of release of the paint.

“Senior design is a critical educational experience for ISE students. They solve real problems for companies, apply tools they have learned, and must be able to communicate those ideas,” said Dr. Paul Cohen, ISE department head. “Engineering Design Day also allows them to present technical problems and solutions to a nontechnical audience, a skill that will serve them well in the future.”

ISE seniors Codi Massey, Hirotaka Sato and Kady Ward were handed an unusual problem by the university rifle team – how to control microbial growth on the team’s competition suits.

Massey, Sato and Ward conducted interviews with team members, pored over athletes’ medical records and took microbial culture samples before testing out several options for a cleaning regimen that is quick but effective. They settled on a combination of using a Moso Charcoal Bag and a Verilux CleanWave Sanitizing Wand to keep the suits clean for competition.

“Design day is a fantastic opportunity for ISE, ECE, EEP, and TECS seniors to showcase their accomplishments by presenting the results of their senior design projects,” said Dr. Anita Vila-Parrish, director of the undergraduate programs in ISE. “Over the last several years, ISE students have demonstrated real value to the North Carolina economy by developing more efficient processes through industry sponsored projects.”

– lancaster –