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Student Design Projects Description
Chemical Engineering
Seniors in Chemical Engineering participate in the National AIChE Student Design Contest Problem each year. The projects vary from year to year but generally involve the conceptual design of a chemical process comprising economic, safety, operability, control, and environmental aspects. In spring 2011, teams or individuals designed a facility to convert natural gas into liquid fuels. In addition, students worked in developing middle and high school STEM outreach materials. Students made presentations on the outreach materials at the annual Trine University Engineering EXPO.
Civil Engineering
All Civil Engineering students enroll in a two credit hour engineering design seminar and a four credit hour engineering design "capstone" course during their senior year. In these courses, the students apply the concepts learned in previous coursework toward the design of a "real world" civil engineering project. Most of the design projects require field work (surveying, soil sampling, etc.), laboratory testing, feasibility studies, and environmental impact studies, as well as structural, environmental, transportation, geotechnical, and hydraulic design. Upon completion of the project, the student design teams present a formal written report as well as an oral presentation. Recent projects completed by students include an inspection and recommendations for rehabilitating an existing earth dam, a design for a new distribution center for a large retail chain, and design of a timber bridge for the university golf course.
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Electrical engineering students work on a junior-year design project that includes the design of an electro-magnetic rail gun. Junior-level computer engineering student projects included an object-oriented collaboratively-written video game (Dance-Dance-Revolution). Senior projects this year included a suite of copperative team projects with the Franks School of Education to help elementary students meet state education standards through the use of technology, and capstone designs for a batch-download wireless surveillance device, and for a text-to-Ethernet handset and base station.
Mechanical Engineering
All senior mechanical engineering students take a two-semester (six credit hours, total) capstone design course. In this class, teams of typically three to four students effect a complete design project, usually resulting in a prototype. The teams may be multidisciplinary, comprising students from any of the engineering disciplines or Design Engineering Technology. Many projects originate from a local industry or are entries in a sponsored design competition. Recent projects include the design of a competitive 4-wheel independent suspension car (SAE Mini-Baja Competition), an improved wheelchair design, a vacuum furnace for producing high-purity metallic samples, a Basic Utility Vehicle (BUV) to be used in third-world countries (Institute for Affordable Transportation competition), a vertical furnace for drawing pacemaker leads, and a firefighting robot. Student teams prepare a formal engineering report and present their results in a seminar. Presentations to sponsoring industries or as part of a competition may also take place.