Innovation was on display at the Hursey Center as more than 200 sophomores and seniors from the College of Engineering, Technology and Architecture (CETA) gathered to show off their design skills at the spring 2024 CETA Design Expo.
Held at the end of each semester, the expo gives students a chance to present projects intended to help others or solve a problem. Not only are teams expected to design and create prototypes of their inventions, they are also expected to pitch their ideas just as they would in a real-world setting. The projects are evaluated by a group of judges including industry professionals, faculty and staff, and student ambassadors.
Seniors Brendhon Franco and Alex Thornberg won first place in their division for a redesign of a spillway channel for the Granville Reservoir that was heavily damaged during Hurricane Irene in 2011. Thornberg was quick to share his gratitude for UHart’s civil engineering department: “It truly is a great program made up of amazing professors that want to see their students succeed.”
The 95 projects were evaluated based on the following criteria:
- Performance: Did the product work as designed?
- Creativity: How creative was the final product?
- Level of Difficulty: How complex was the product?
- Experimental Verification: Was the product performance evaluated according to a set of criteria?
- Poster Presentation: Was the project goal clearly illustrated?
- Oral Presentation: Were students well-rehearsed/prepared?
Hisham Alnajjar, Dean, College of Engineering, Technology and ArchitectureIt’s all about seeing how students and their projects can improve people’s lives. We’re showcasing all engineering disciplines, and it’s also a chance to give feedback. It’s fun to see first- and second-year students with their projects because it’s unique to be designing projects that early in their college career.
We want to extend a huge congratulations to this year’s winners!
Seniors
Engineering
1st Place: Design of the Granville, MA Reservoir Spillway
- Brendhon Franco
- Alex Thornberg
2nd Place: Pancreatic Cancer Detection Program
- Keenarah George
- Clarence Jubac
3rd Place: MINI-HART
- Kit Kannan
- Jolie Trinh
- Brandon Cook
- Bryant Ortiz
Technology
1st Place: Band Splitting Audio Equalizer
- Christopher Costello
- Kayden Wolf
Architecture
1st Place: Holyoke YMCA
- Kayleigh Luke
2nd Place: Mountain View Community Center
- Mary-Elle Ofoegbu
3rd Place: The Embassy of the Plurinational State of Bolivia
- Sofia Rodas Antelo
Sophomores
Engineering
1st Place: Hawk A-Eye
- Melvin Ayala
- Michael Robert
- John Sabovik
- Mohammad Amarri
2nd Place: Rain Garden
- Autumn Raffone
- Avery O’connell
- Ayameh Aaquil
- Lily Desautels
3rd Place: Knee Brace of the Future
- Andrew Seipold
- Younes Fedda
- Ahmed Alamer
Honorable Mentions
IOT Augmented Reality Glasses
- Kiden Scruton
- David Cole
- Justin Niziolek
“SMART” Floor Tile System
- Chloe Coale
- Sara Costa
- Elia Bllani
- Tomasz Cichon