In a day-long event on Friday, November 30, 100 seniors – representing all four degree programs offered by the Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Department – presented their capstone projects to ABE faculty, staff, students and industry representatives.
Capstone projects are the culmination of engineering and technology education for senior undergraduate students in the Agricultural Engineering (A E), Agricultural Systems Technology (AST), Biological Systems Engineering (BSE), and Industrial Technology (ITec) degree programs of the department.
The projects are executed over a two-semester period, with the first semester focusing on problem and solution identification, and the second semester focusing on the development and design, testing with evaluation of the projects. Teams typically consider multiple criteria including cost, safety, and environmental impact as they develop solutions to their client’s problems.
The vast majority of capstone project clients are regional industries who value the novel ideas and technical expertise represented in ABE’s students. Industrial projects provide students the opportunity to apply their engineering and technology knowledge to real-world applications as a final step in preparation for joining the workforce.
“These projects provide senior students opportunities to apply their classroom, laboratory and textbook knowledge and to participate in the type of hands-on activities they are likely to face after graduation,” explained Raj Raman, professor and associate chair of education. Raman emphasized that the outstanding outcomes projects seen on Friday reflect the excellence of capstone instructors including Professor Jay Harmon, Dr. Gretchen Mosher, and Mr. Lloyd Snell, as well as the mentoring of faculty and industrial advisors for each project.
Companies interested in working with future capstone teams are encouraged to contact the department at any time.
(Pictured, left to right, are student members of the Model Crating Design team for Polaris Industries – Kelly Graham, Gary Harward, Holly Davis and Gustavo Folhadella)