Senior engineering students in Grand Valley State University's Seymour and Esther Padnos College of Engineering and Computing School of Engineering will display their talents and expertise at the annual Engineering Design Conference on Friday, August 4 from 1-5 p.m. at the Keller Engineering Lab Building on the Pew Grand Rapids Campus.
On display will be 12 projects with a combined materials value exceeding $150,000. All projects were designed and built to address actual problems and needs of area companies. The conference celebrates the successful completion of the Capstone Design Program, in which teams of senior engineering students solve real-world engineering design problems sponsored by participating industries and other sponsoring organizations.
The projects take two semesters to complete, and at the end the companies who participate have an actual working product. The costs for the sponsoring industries are materials and a small project fee -- the students are not paid for their work, but instead gain college credit and valuable work experience.
"Students gain a lot of practical experience in designing and realizing projects of this scope. There is no way to teach the valuable skills the student learn and practice in the classroom," said Jeff Ray, director of the GVSU School of Engineering and coordinator of the Capstone Design program. This year marks investment from regional manufacturers of more than $1 million for projects in the past eight years.
The projects on display were completely designed, built, and tested
by 63 students. Sponsors of the projects include:
- Haworth (Holland)
- Pridgeon and Clay (Grand Rapids)
- L-3 Communications (Grand Rapids)
- Magna Donnelly (Holland)
- Rapid-Line (Grand Rapids)
- MasterTag International (Montague)
- Gentex (Zeeland)
- FISEN USA (Grand Rapids)
- Van Timmeren Greenhouses (Allendale)
- Perfect Circle Division-Dana Corporation (Muskegon)
- Frost Incorporated (Grand Rapids)
The day culminates in the Order of the Engineer ceremony, which is a special commencement ritual for Engineering students. The graduates earn their degrees later in the year than the traditional spring ceremony because they must complete a year-long co-op experience. In the ceremony, each student receives an iron ring, placed on the little finger of the working hand, which symbolizes bridging the step between training and experience. The practice started in Canada and is firmly established in the U.S.
