Designing Future 2013
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DESIGNING the FUTURE 2013 STUDENT PROJECTS at Vanderbilt University School of Engineering 2013 INSIGHT ◦ INNOVATION ◦ IMPACT® SUMMER 2013 t the Vanderbilt University School of Many design projects involve undergraduates Engineering, we are fortunate to admit from different majors using their combined skills some of the brightest engineering stu- to solve a real problem for a real client. In a A dents in the country and from around departure from other design courses, our engi- the world. We teach these students a rigorous neering management students also take part, curriculum and welcome them to state-of-the-art focusing on product development, commercial- laboratories. We also go one step further: We ization strategy and entrepreneurship. Design prepare these talented students to be leading projects are selected to prepare students for the independent thinkers, problem solvers and inno- real-world expectations of networking, commu- vators in engineering or any other field through nication, team building, project planning and the design experience. management, and working with constraints and ill-defined problems. The culture of innovation and creativity doesn’t stop there. It is nurtured in and explored by our graduate students, who go on to be lead- ers in academia and research. It flourishes in our talented and accomplished alumni, who put what they learned at Vanderbilt to work every day as engineers, industry leaders, and entrepre- neurs. It is embodied in our outstanding faculty who constantly seek innovative solutions to problems and who are excited by possibilities. The next pages highlight representative profiles of undergraduate, graduate, and alumni design and research at Vanderbilt, fol- lowed by our 2013 catalog of creative student design projects. Outstanding projects include STUDENT PROJECTS the invention of a smart car seat, utilization of JOHN RUSSELL at Vanderbilt University School of Engineering NASA software to improve vacuum cleaners, creation of a robotic nurse assistant and devel- opment of a startup company working on an Contents improved blood cooling and transport system. At Vanderbilt, student design teams solve Design projects resulted in several patent appli- contemporary industrial problems, which adds cations filed this year. 2 Behind Student Design at VUSE legitimacy and the external vetting of ideas. This Our design project structure is one area where helps turn ideas into reality. The results are the the Vanderbilt School of Engineering differen- 4 Designing the Future creation of intellectual property, establishment of tiates itself from many of our peers. I trust you startup companies, and most important, use in will enjoy reading about the work of our talented 9 Welcome the real world. students. I am proud of them, our faculty and our Engineering design does not happen in a silo industrial partners for creating such a robust and 10 Catalog Contents where one discipline is isolated from another. dynamic environment. 12 Advisers Best regards, 13 Sponsors 14 Projects 49 Contacts and Credits Philippe Fauchet Dean INSIGHT ◦ INNOVATION ◦ IMPACT® 2013 SENIOR DESIGN PROJECTS 1 THE ONLY WAY TO LEARN TO BE AN ENGINEER IS TO BE AN ENGINEER Behind student design at VUSE that continues today. While Vanderbilt’s curricular dations. Even so, each team is responsible for its mechanical engineering design course not as a A passion for solving problems is the cornerstone structure fosters discipline-specific learning, the own dynamics, research, design development class, but as a workplace. Students sign employ- of a career in engineering. In the real world, it’s a seminar brings together students from different and solutions. It all culminates in a spring event ment contracts and take on the vocabulary of the life built on recognizing opportunities and asking majors in integrated instruction. known as Design Day. working engineer. “In the classroom, students fearlessly, “What else? Why not? What next?” Whether through departmental courses or the Engineers don’t work in a vacuum in the pro- work alone and can look up answers,” Barnett To succeed, new Vanderbilt engineering grad- seminar, the core of the student design process fessional world. Knowing how to assemble a team says. “In senior design, solutions come from uates must be ready to explore challenges that is a focus on students working with real clients of collaborators who can pull together in a high- teamwork and finding the best answer within have multiple answers, no good answer or no on real engineering problems, producing practi- stakes setting, communicate with bosses, work customer constraints.” answer at all. In the engineers’ working world, cal solutions and then presenting their ideas at with clients and get the job done is what matters. Vanderbilt’s engineering management pro- adaptability, persistence and perseverance matter Design Day. King says senior design and Design “Industry doesn’t work in silos of specialization, gram contributes business plan development, more than grade point average. Day jump-start careers by enabling seniors to gain so why should our students?” asks Chris Rowe, commercialization and product development hands-on experience in the working world. Real clients, real work Senior design project sources are diverse and over the years have resulted in patents, product improvements and national awards. They range from the modification of a child’s toy race car to work for the EPA, Nissan, Oak Ridge National Laboratories, GAF Life Recovery and Northrop Grumman. Each project provides an opportunity for students to analyze, experiment and design innovative solutions. In order to find those real- world engineering projects, the faculty who teach design (see pg. 12) invest hours identifying, meet- ing and recruiting project sponsors. Their goal is JOE to provide projects that are a great fit between the H OWELL sponsor’s design needs and the educational and professional development of their students. Barnett and King The projects also promote teamwork that simu- Think like an engineer lates the workplace. Vanderbilt was ahead of many Simply put, the only way to learn to be an engi- other engineering schools in its implementation neer is to be an engineer. For more than 25 years, of senior design. The consistent success of senior the Vanderbilt School of Engineering has worked design projects attracts companies and individu- strategically to draw students into the actual prac- als who ask student teams to turn problems into tice of engineering early and often. The goal? Culti- solutions. vate a passion for scientific inquiry and an appetite The multidisciplinary Senior Design Seminar for solving big problems right from the start. These occurs in the fall. It explores ethics; budgeting; pat- skills are honed in bachelor of engineering seniors ents, trademarks and licensure; job hunting; career via the school’s yearlong senior design experience, development; contracting; discrimination and JOHN RUSSELL usually incorporating a multidisciplinary seminar, liability; and risk assessment and reduction. The design courses and teamwork and culminating in seminar also features speakers on professional a one-time showcase, Design Day. subjects essential to the practicing engineer. Incorporating design at the undergraduate Also during the fall semester, students and Senior Chelsea Stowell demonstrates the Kid Sense smart car seat her team developed and for which the team filed a U.S. provisional patent application. level was new territory when it was introduced in Design Day projects are matched. Interdisciplin- the early 1990s, says Paul King, professor of bio- ary collaboration is encouraged, with teams of associate professor of the practice of mechanical strategies. Its advisers emphasize budgeting, medical engineering and mechanical engineering, three to six students working on each project. For engineering. Rowe is director of the Division of deadlines and managerial basics such as cost- emeritus. King is credited with bringing senior example, a biomedical engineering student might General Engineering and oversees engineering effective purchasing. Many employers favor design to the school’s curriculum, having taught work on an electrical or mechanical engineering communications. “Our students learn early that Vanderbilt engineers because of the management biomedical design to more than 1,280 learners project. Some students also elect to complete an cohesion, collaboration and healthy conflict are fundamentals they learn in developing their and more than 526 teams over 21 years. In 2011, engineering management capstone project in where creativity and problem solving are found.” design projects and through the school’s engi- he was honored during the BMES conference with their own discipline. Faculty members from appropriate disciplines neering management minor. a lifetime achievement award for his outstanding serve as design advisers and teach courses. They By graduation, Vanderbilt engineering seniors achievements in BME design instruction. Turn off the vacuum bring approaches tailored to the skills and projects are prepared to hit the ground running. “They King and mechanical engineering’s Joel Barnett Then research and innovation begin. Faculty relevant to their areas. have the skills and they also have the experience,” were the longtime leaders of the school’s inno- meet with students throughout the process to Joel Barnett, associate professor of the prac- says Rowe. “It’s the human factor and the practical vative, multidisciplinary