NIU Today | Innovation and technology win at Senior Design Day

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The NIU College of Engineering and Engineering Technology (CEET) congratulates two teams who have been awarded by the Engineering and Technology Alumni Society on Senior Design Day on December 3, 2021.

The Senior Design program is a course that engineering and engineering technology students take before graduation, where they undertake a key project that applies what they have learned during their training at the NIU. The program offers a real-world learning experience that gives them a chance to see how engineers operate in the workplace.

“The senior design program is a highlight in our students’ education. They apply knowledge gained in the classroom to put together concepts, theories and build a prototype or process, “said Dean Donald Peterson, Ph.D. of the NIU CEET.” It gives them the ability to start running on the job. Senior designs are often seen as a student’s first career achievement, ”he said.

The winning project in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE) was sponsored by Aurora Specialty Textiles Group. The title of the project was “Improving the use of space and material flow in the chemical mixing area”. Team members, Allie Schneider, Argyle O’Leary, and Samuel Vilmeus, were challenged to assess the chemical blending area and associated storage at the company’s facility in Yorkville, Illinois. Students recommended a layout that would reduce unnecessary travel between the mixing area and the production floor and improve space utilization.

The ISYE department had two other senior design projects this semester sponsored by Motorola Solutions Inc. and SKF USA.

In the engineering technology department, students Brandon Antonio, Chorey Burgess, Allen Melzer and Griffin Ozog won for their “Vertical Farm Sensor Array” project which can be used as part of a system to automatically detect and manage plant health in a vertical agricultural environment. This work is part of research conducted in the laboratory of engineering technology professors Kevin Martin and William Mills’ Building Energy Efficiency, Ergonomics and Management (BEEEAM).

The BEEEAM Lab was established to research light-related issues and focuses on three main research areas: human-centered intelligent building control systems, reconfigurable lighting testing, and lighting fixture design and testing. BEEEAM is currently working with the Illinois Science and Energy Innovation Foundation (ISEIF) on a consumer awareness program to educate consumers about energy efficiency and smart electricity meters.

The senior design program is made possible by clients and sponsors, who present to student teams the challenges faced by their organizations. CEET is currently looking for projects for the 2022-2023 academic year. For more information on the senior design program and how to submit a senior design project, visit go.niu.edu/SeniorDesignDay.

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