Last week, the charter class of Engineering students — set to become the school’s first graduating class in May 2020 — presented their capstone coursework to a rapt audience in Maddox Hall. The coursework review, called the Conceptual Design Review or CoDR, completes the first semester of the Senior Design course in the School of Engineering.
Teams developed prototypes to serve a wide variety of functions in the engineering world, including a filtration system for a Pfizer’s runoff water and a serial number marking device for Caterpillar, Inc. Fabrications.
This year’s eight student teams were formed based on common professional interests and sponsored by a company in the engineering industry. Each sponsor provided their team with a real-world problem in need of an innovative solution. They met with each team once or twice a week throughout the semester to provide support and check in with team progress. Sponsors also paid their team’s expenses in developing solutions.
The Army Research Laboratory in Raleigh, NC, sponsored two teams with unique projects involving the animal kingdom. One team was tasked with creating a dog bite sleeve that would protect law enforcement animal trainers while still providing a realistic experience for canines, including a bleeding simulation. Another was asked to solve the problem of elephants venturing into unprotected wildlife zones in Africa by creating portable obstacles that would deter them from poaching zones.
“We have a lot more testing to do with this prototype,” said Jacob Freeman of the dog bite sleeve team, “But we’ve made great strides by using a 3-D model of a dog’s skull and jaw and we’re going to continue experimenting over the next few months.”
Teams will continue their partnerships with sponsor companies through the end of spring semester. Find a full list of the teams and sponsors below.
Team 1: Mertek Automation Demonstration
Sean Curran
Jack Lemaster
William Poole
Samuel Thompson
Thomas Wells
Sponsor: Mertek Solutions Inc, Sanford, NC
Team 2: Grifols Ebola IgA Facility
Linsay Boshak
Fernando Clemente
Lydia Gutierrez
Anna Jones
Colleen Skeete
Sponsor: Grifols Inc, Clayton, NC
Team 3: V-22 Pylon Conversion Actuator Model
Charles Andrews
Jacob Ruesch
Matthew Schultz
Nelly Zavala
Sponsor: NAVAIR, MCAS Cherry Point, NC
Team 4: T-64 Turbine Control Valves’ Test Fixtures
Patrick Bradshaw
John Harold
Nestor Olguin-Vasquez
Joshua Romero
Ryan Weiss
Sponsor: NAVAIR, MCAS Cherry Point, NC
Team 5: Caterpillar Serial Number Marking Device
Matthew Coulter
Michael Farrand
Ondrej Labik
Kendell Mayo
Morgan Timiney
Sponsor: Caterpillar Inc. Fabrications, Sanford, NC
Team 6: Dog Bite Sleeve
Donald Bleyl
Jacob Freeman
Brandon Johnson
Taylor Rothe
William Strader
Sponsor: Army Research Laboratory, Raleigh, NC
Team 7: Elefence
Anne Elise Bolton
D’Anna Dininny
Austyn May
Daniel Taylor
Michale Williams
Sponsor: Army Research Laboratory, Raleigh, NC
Team 8: DMSO Wastewater Treatment
Morgan Hughes
Taylor Oakley
Rachael Plasters
Katherine Sentes
Sponsor: Pfizer Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plant, Sanford, NC