Last night was anything but relaxing for many University mechanical engineering seniors.
These students labored late into the night to put the finishing touches on their senior design projects, which will be displayed today in Design Expo '97 on North Campus.
"I guess our group is unusual, as we finished early," said Engineering senior Joel Jacobs.
Jacobs worked with three other Engineering students to design a special glove to help physicians insert breathing tubes into patients' tracheas. The final design was the product of many tested ideas, Jacobs said.
"We basically brainstormed and designed a lot of prototypes to see what aspects of them did and didn't work," Jacobs said. "We later combined all of the designs' best qualities."
More than 70 students in ME 450 designed and built 23 prototype machines as a final design project before graduation. They will display their creations in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Building atrium today from 1:30 to 5 p.m. Some of the projects were sponsored by industrial giants such as General Electric, General Motors, Ford, Hewlett-Packard and National Standard Co.
"We met with GM to get the project statement, see what they are currently doing and what their problems are," said Engineering senior Matt Memmer. "You have to keep an open relationship with your sponsor - they're investing time and money in us."
Other projects were related to work being done by other organizations at the University. The Solar Car Team, Future Car Team and Hydrodynamics Lab all sponsored projects related to their own design goals. In addition, one group worked with the U.S. Army to design a high-speed, high-mobility seat restraint system.
"They gave us their vision and gave (the project) initial guidelines," said Engineering senior Michael Zick, who helped design and build the seat restraint system. "We came up with all kinds of wacky designs."
Jacobs said the students gained real-world experience in applying the concepts they learned in the classroom to practical applications.
"We learned how to take a problem all the way to completion," Jacobs said.
Memmer stressed the importance of teamwork in achieving the goals of the project statement.
"Everybody had different abilities and skills they brought to the team," Memmer said. "Teamwork is a big thing because the engineering industry relies heavily on it."
Despite the practical aspects of the projects, Zick admitted that his group's design might not be feasible in the real world.
"This (our design) is so impractical that it will probably never be implemented," Zick said.
According to Zick, practical knowledge isn't the only advantage to completing the senior design project - nor is engineering all work and no play.
"Our professors are taking us out tomorrow night and buying us beer," Zick said.