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Make it yourself: Division of Engineering Programs holds first Senior Design EXPO

Andrew Bruso

More than 15 teams of soon-to-be graduates representing SUNY New Paltz’s growing Division of Engineering Programs presented original designs and prototypes at the first Senior Design EXPO on Dec. 15.

Students with backgrounds in mechanical, electrical and computer engineering gathered with faculty mentors at the new Keysight Technologies Senior Design Lab in Wooster Hall to showcase original engineering designs before a judges’ panel made up of professionals in the field, including a number of New Paltz alumni.

“We have a lot to celebrate today,” said Dan Freedman, Dean of the School of Science & Engineering. “These design projects are not just the result of two semesters of work, but the culmination of years of intense effort. You will likely make many presentations of your work as you go forward in your career, but I hope you will remember this as your first engineering design.”

The projects are the end result of students’ work in the Senior Design I and II courses, the capstone experience that challenges engineering students to develop creative solutions to real-world engineering challenges, and collaborate with engineering faculty to bring their designs to life.

This year’s entrants demonstrated an adept blend of technical proficiency and creative problem solving, with designs including “Moto Maid,” an automatic laundry folding machine and app, “Manu Dextra,” a system for conveying commands between forearm muscles and a prosthetic hand, and the blue ribbon-winning “Thermal Cable Protection System,” a non-invasive method for testing the integrity of electrical lines of transmission.

These projects were supported by the new Senior Design Lab in Wooster Hall, a working space equipped with state-of-the-art test instruments and computer software provided by Keysight Technologies, the international leader in engineering hardware.

“By any measure, these are some of the best teaching facilities for engineering that I have ever seen,” Freedman said.

The designs on display at the EXPO served to demonstrate the potential of these new tools and technologies, which are helping to sustain the rapid recent growth of the Division of Engineering Programs (undergraduate enrollment grew from 144 students in fall 2011 to 315 in fall 2016).

“I’m really proud to have participated in this process at SUNY New Paltz, and it’s been amazing to see how far it’s come in a short period of time,” said Art Lizotte, Director of Americas University Development at Keysight Technologies. “In my role I get to visit quite a few universities, and what I see here places New Paltz in the top rung with universities I see across the United States. I’m excited to partner with SUNY New Paltz to help create the next generation of engineers going out into industry.”

To learn more about the Division of Engineering Programs at SUNY New Paltz, please visit us online.

Senior Design Expo Winners:

  • First Place: “Thermal Cable Protection System,” Stevana Coliukos ’16 (Electrical Engineering) and Cora Juczak ’16 (Electrical Engineering). Advisor: Visiting Associate Professor Jerry Selvaggi.
  • Second Place: “Manu Dextra,” Chelsea Pontrello ’16 (Electrical Engineering), Slava Nenaydenko ’16 (Electrical Engineering) and Joseph Adames ’16 (Electrical Engineering). Advisor: Division of Engineering Programs Chair Julio Gonzalez.
  • Third Place: “Dual Frequency Wireless Power Transmitter,” Cullen Ryan ’16 (Electrical Engineering), Michael Marra ’16 (Electrical Engineering) and Brian Bylicki ’16 (Computer Engineering). Advisor: Assistant Professor Reena Dahle.
  • Honorable Mention:
    • “Power Watch Band,” Roger Borger ’16 (Electrical Engineering) and Lionel Ferro ’16 (Computer Engineering). Advisor: Professor Ghader Eftekhari.
    • “Moto Maid: The Automatic Laundry Folding Machine,” Ian Christiansen ’16 (Electrical Engineering) and Jessie Abruzzo ’16 (Electrical Engineering). Adviser: Assistant Professor Heather Lai.
    • “RF Wireless Power Transmission,” Tyler Cox ’16 (Electrical Engineering) and Larry Londono ’16 (Electrical Engineering). Adviser: Associate Professor Mohammad Zunoubi.

Judges’ panel:

  • Keysight Technologies
    • Art Lizotte, Director, Americas University Development
    • Brian Kane, Senior Application Engineer
    • Kevin Nguyen, Field Application Engineer
  • Alumni
    • Adam Carlock ’15 (Electrical Engineering), Electrical Engineer at Sono-Tek Corporation
    • Elliot Fanshel ’15g (Electrical Engineering), Junior Engineer at Central Hudson Gas & Electric
    • Karyn Velasquez Hurley ’00 (Electrical Engineering), Software Development Engineer at Global Foundries
    • Malaika Queano ’15 (Electrical Engineering) Junior Applications Engineer at FairRite Products Corporation
  • Engineering Advisory Board
    • Eileen Marie Conway, Executive Consultant and Data Maven at Nano Noggin Technologies, LLC
    • Robb W. Engle, Vice President of Engineering at Sono-Tek Corporation