GVSU Engineering graduation ceremony Friday

Some 66 engineering students from Grand Valley State University will cap their college experiences by showing off their work for local industry in a special ceremony Friday.

Padnos College of Engineering and Computing Senior Design Conference will be held on Friday, July 31, from 1:30-4:30 p.m. in the Keller Engineering Lab Building on the Pew Grand Rapids Campus.

On display will be 13 projects with a combined materials value exceeding $175,000. 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.

The projects on display were completely designed, built, and tested by 66 students. Sponsors of the projects include: Atwood Marine, Bissell Homecare, Brillcast, Gentex, Gill Industries, HCU Ergo, Innerspace, L3 Communications Avionics Systems, Magnum Engineering, Mill Steel, Rapid-Line Inc., Superior Manufacturing, and Westown Jubilee Housing.

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 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.