The College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture (CETA) hosted its Virtual Fall 2020 Design Expo on Friday, December 4. The event was the first opportunity for first-year students to showcase their fall semester final projects, and also featured graduating seniors’ Capstone design projects. Many projects were inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic, offering new solutions for cleaning, sanitizing, and temperature tracking. During the event, which CETA hosts at the end of each semester, students showcase their innovative ideas, designs, and projects to various guests and judges—including CETA alumni, faculty, and Board of Visitors.
Hisham Alnajjar, dean of the College, shared, “Despite all the challenges, I was very impressed with the quality of the projects at this semester’s expo. I am very proud of what our students achieved, and thought our instructors did an excellent job working with students in all modalities. Thank you to all who made this event possible.”
First-year students in particular stayed resilient this semester as many had to learn in hybrid settings and work on their team projects virtually throughout the semester. Students from ES 143P: Engineering and Design and ECT 110P: High Impact Practice: First Year Seminar were tasked with proposing, building, and demonstrating a final project that shows new knowledge and skills pertaining to an Arduino controller. This device is an open-source electronics platform that allows hardware and software to talk to each other (such as detecting the edge of a table and activating a motor sensor to move the device). Teams needed to choose an electronics kit that they must construct, troubleshoot, and demonstrate as a working final product. They were asked to consider several factors in choosing the kit, including components in the kit, tasks involved in construction, ability to customize, and evaluation of its performance. Due to the expo being virtual this year, students recorded videos of their projects that were shown during their presentations to demonstrate their operation.
First-year students were judged on a variety of criteria, including:
- Performance (Successful completion of the intended task)
- Creativity (How creative is the final product?)
- Level of Difficulty (How complex is the new sensor/coding/knowledge?)
- Presentation: Poster (Does the poster clearly illustrate the goal of the project?)
- Presentation: Oral (Are the students well prepared and rehearsed?)
Students presented to industry professionals from companies including Pratt & Whitney, JCJ Architecture, The Metropolitan District, and VN Engineers, whom served as judges during the event.
Dan Patrick, Owner of Wrisley AbrasivesThe first-year students in the University of Hartford’s College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture are the most prepared group I've ever witnessed. Their professors are clearly teaching them how to problem solve using defined, engineered methods. I look forward to seeing their progression through the program as they prepare for real-world applications.
First-year winners included:
Winners for ECT110P Course
Poster #F1-4 | Arduino 3D Printer
Emmanuel Magbene ’24, electromechanical engineering technology
Dillon Stan ’24, computer and electronic engineering technology
John Marrero Roman ’24, biomedical engineering
Poster #F2-4 | Basketball Robot
Koniel Byfield ’24, electromechanical engineering technology
Jose Sanchez ’24, computer and electronic engineering technology
Terique Shakes ’24, compter and electronic engineering technology
Torrick Taylor ’24, electromechanical engineering technology
Winners for ES 143P Course
Poster #F3-2 | CoronaRoomba
Na'ilah Amin ’24, computer science and engineering
Aishat Banire ’24, biomedical engineering with pre-med concentration
Leif Farber-Krug ’24, mechanical engineering with robotics concentration
Ethan Foligno ’24, computer science and engineering
Poster #F4-6 | Automatic Canal Locks
Alexander Schneidler ’24, robotics engineering
Max Westphal ’24, robotics engineering
Ashley White ’24, mechanical engineering with acoustics concentration
Poster #F5-3 | Glove That Controls Drone
Evan Bouchard ’24, biomedical engineering
Nick Denave ’24, mechanical engineering
Daniel Jimenez ’24, civil engineering
Jonathan Ho ’24, computer engineering
Poster #F6-3 | Sound Security System
Ian Corn ’24, mechanical engineering
Jacob Molea ’24, acoustical engineering and music
Aaron Pelchar ’24, acoustical engineering and music
Poster #F7-3 | Home Automation
Colin Ferrer ’24, mechanical engineering
Josh Mott ’24, biomedical engineering
Keenarah George ’24, biomedical engineering
Eli Freilich ’24, mechanical engineering
Poster #F8-5 | Roy G. ByPass
Deyanna Williams-Barnaby ’24, biomedical engineering
Tom Dziekan ’24, acoustical engineering and music
NyJae Pacheco ’24, computer science and engineering and physics double major
Jake Field ’24, mechanical engineering
Poster #F9-4 | Table Cleaning-Bot
Alexander Thornberg ’24, civil engineering
Aidan Duda ’24, civil engineering
Select seniors who are projected to graduate at the end of this semester also participated in the expo. They were tasked to work on projects in their field of study with faculty mentors or external project sponsors to design, fabricate, and/or test a device, process, or system. Students who participated were enrolled in the following classes:
AUD 481P—Senior Project II for Audio Engineering Technology
CE 465P—Civil Engineering Design Project II
ECE 483W—Capstone Design II for Computer and Electrical Engineering
ECT 481P—Senior Design Project II for Engineering Technology
ME 473W—Capstone Design Project II for Mechanical Engineering
Seniors were judges on a variety of criteria, including:
- Clarity of the poster and oral presentations
- Student’s overall responses to the questions of the judges.
- The completeness of the work.
- Quality of the project.
Senior winners included:
Poster #SR1-5 | Greenwich Ave Improvements, Stamford, CT
Gina Depasquale ’20, civil engineering
Poster #SR1-7 | Guitar Pedal Emulator Plug-in
Jacob Cayetano ’20, computer engineering with audio engineering technology minor
Poster #SR2-3 | Bluetooth Guitar Pedal
Ryan Levin ’20, electrical engineering and audio engineering technology double major
Christopher Villano ’20, audio engineering technology and music production and technology double major
Rick Luciano ’20, audio engineering technology
Poster #SR2-4 | IoT Pantry System
Erik Rodriguez ’20, computer engineering with computer science minor
Katherine Fauci ’20, computer engineering
Keshawn Smith ’20, computer engineering with computer science minor
Please join CETA in congratulating all students who participated in this semester’s event. Please save the date for our Virtual Spring 2021 Design Expo on Friday, April 30, 2021. Any questions or comments, please contact us at cetacomm@hartford.edu.