With
support of a $70,000 grant from Lockheed Martin, seven undergraduate
multidisciplinary teams from the University of Virginia's
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences class of 2004
participated in year-long capstone, or final, projects to
design and develop integrated technical and social solutions
to real-life problems posed by Lockheed and other clients.
Lockheed Martin began collaborating with SEAS in 1999 to better prepare undergraduate engineering students for the professional world. The resulting program, "engineering in context," emphasizes engineering design within a realistic context.
A key EIC component is the multidisciplinary team capstone project, with the Lockheed Martin pilot grant providing about $1,000 to each of this year's teams. The systems and information engineering department has conducted similar senior team projects for several years. This is the first time, however, that engineering capstone design teams have crossed departmental lines, allowing seniors in different engineering majors to work together.
Although each student still must write a senior thesis, the EIC program provides excellent topics that present substantial technical challenges embedded in complex cultural and organizational contexts. The result is an educational experience that more closely approximates how professional engineers really work.
Three SEAS faculty developed the "engineering in context" curriculum that incorporates the senior thesis team project. Dan Bauer, Dana Elzey and Kay Neeley see these team projects as a way for students to get a head start on what to expect in the real world of work, especially when dealing with the concepts of team dynamics, project management and concurrent engineering. These are human interactions that students would not normally experience while working on a solo senior thesis.
In early May, the seven student teams spent a day presenting their endeavors to Lockheed Martin representatives, who in turn selected the two top projects of the seven.
First place went to the team that created a nuclear, chemical and biological sensor communications network. The group designed, developed and tested a "network node" to collect information from remote locations that could detect a nuclear, biological or chemical attack.
Team members were: Ryan Dickey, computer engineering; Tim Franklin, electrical and biomedical engineering; Jake Harmon, electrical engineering; Rachel Jennings, systems and information engineering; and Allen Zimmerman, mechanical engineering. Lockheed presented each student with a $100 check for their efforts.
The second-place team created a smart pharmaceutical distribution system (it was also known as the "smart pill" team). This group designed and developed a system to eliminate error in the doctor-pharmacist-patient loop to prevent an accidental overdose, misuse or harmful combination of prescription drugs.
Team members were Spence Green, computer engineering, and Brad Pinney and Jonathan Kelley, both in electrical engineering. They each received a $50 check from Lockheed.
The other team projects were:
- A potentially lifesaving automated train notification system that would notify railroad maintenance workers of an oncoming train;
- An automated solar energy management system for the U.Va. solar house employing temperature sensors and other technology for more efficient heating and cooling;
- A bus accident detection system that integrates damage detection sensors in major body panels of public-transit buses to ensure that all accidents and other vehicular mishaps, however minor, are properly reported for insurance and driver-safety records;
- A convenient and private system for personal identification using biometrics, specifically fingerprints as well as iris, hand, facial and voice patterns; and
- A robot, known as a "versatile mobile reconnaissance device," that can save lives in the event of biochemical weapons attack and in various situations hazardous to humans.
"This is a momentous day for engineering education at U.Va.; we have created a new paradigm for engineering education," Paxton Marshall, associate dean for undergraduate programs, told the student presenters.
"Pulling together as a team on a multi-disciplinary project has established a great model for future teams to aspire to" Marshall added. "Each team addressed the business, ethical, corporate and environmental concerns of its respective project. And the students could not have done it without the help of Lockheed Martin."
The EIC program, now in its second year, has six multidisciplinary design teams set to start this fall.
Article by Ann Overton
