The Culmination of Your Engineering Education
Working individually or with a partner, you will select a project of your own choosing. Ideas can come from an area of personal interest in your discipline, suggestions from your faculty advisor, or proposals from industry sponsors who are looking to students to solve actual industrial or engineering problems. Senior Design Projects have resulted in groundbreaking inventions, patents, award-winning papers and presentations, and ultimately graduates who have a real-world advantage over other applicants for jobs or graduate and professional schools.
Projects may be sponsored by internationally recognized companies such as Pratt & Whitney Aircraft, Hamilton Sundstrand, LEGO Systems, Otis Elevator, Top Flite (formerly Spalding), and Shriners Hospitals for Children— which are located just a short driving distance from the College. Having access to these varied corporations allows our students to explore a variety of industries in which they may choose to work.
Throughout the course of the Senior Design Project, you will meet frequently with your faculty advisor to discuss the progress of the project. Often students and advisors coauthor award-winning papers on project findings at regional and national conferences. Students also learn the art of technical writing, an essential skill to properly document research.
In recent years, Senior Design projects have included:
- An environmentally friendly electric moped for urban transportation
- A fiber optic transceiver for high-speed data transfer in households and small offices
- A system to determine the physiological effects of noise and vibration
- A system that measures cardiac output by modeling the right side of the human heart
- A rough terrain vehicle leveling system with potential application for tanks
- A computer-controlled hovering device
- A study of the effectiveness of drag-reducing swimwear and different strokes to improve overall time in competitive swimming
Graduating seniors frequently tell us it was their Senior Design Project that most impressed prospective employers. If you are looking for real-world experience as an undergraduate, come to the School of Engineering at Western New England College.
