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Senior Design Demo Day winners announced

May 20, 2019

The College of Engineering and Engineering Technology (CEET) held its inaugural Senior Design Demonstration Day on May 3 at the NIU Convocation Center. More than 200 seniors representing nearly 80 teams showcased the capstone projects they’ve been working on all year that aim to solve real-life problems.

Senior Design Demonstration Day

Each year, CEET seniors form teams and compete in the college-wide competition. The students draw upon years of instruction in NIU’s engineering program.

The teams were judged by the Engineering Technology Alumni Society and industry representatives and the winning teams won cash rewards; $250 for third place, $500 for second place and $1,200 for first place.

“We are thrilled with these projects that represent everything the students have learned over the course of their education,” said NIU CEET Dean Donald Peterson. “Many of these projects were collaborations with sponsor companies that resulted in a win-win synergy between the teams and their sponsors.”

In 2019, NIU’s winning teams included team one “Plastic Separation via Hydro-Cyclonic Methods” whose project devised a way to automatically separate plastics for recycling. The team consisting of seniors Kimberly McIntyre, Downers Grove; Gregory Solomon, Bartlett and Jacob Leeney, Waterman.

Second place went to team 46 for the project entitled “Data Collection Device with Smart Phone App.” The device sends data via Bluetooth that tells the sponsor company, Wahl Clipper, how their product is being used by consumers, streamlining the customer feedback and improvement loop. Team 46 members included Matthew Kleszynski, Manteno; Kristan Koeplin, Sycamore and Francesco Pascolini, Sycamore.

Third-place went to team 50 “Optical Image Tracking,” which has the capability to track and align objects within the software using a two-dimensional camera. Team 50 members included Katelyn Zastrow, Aurora; Laura Vogl, Rockford, and Amy Kofoed Mendota.

Honorable mention went to team eight’s “Asset Management System” project which helps sponsor Collins Aerospace to manage assets in its manufacturing facility. Team members included Jack Moore, Roscoe; Alex Jossendal Rockford and Aaron Cooling, Rockford.

Team 28 also received an honorable mention for the “Real Flight Animation as a Learning Tool” that creates a flight simulator to help train airplane pilots in a safe setting. The project was developed with the assistance of pilot Kris Siuba of Ekolot America and the team consisted of Mike Hood, Maple Park; Matthew Gallagher, Carol Stream; and Manuel Badillo, Round Lake Park.

A third honorable mention went to team 29’s “Design of a Three-Way Bypassing Valve to Divert Fuel in Test Stands” by Arton Seferi and Kevin Mejia. The project was developed in cooperation with sponsor company Woodward, Inc.