More than 400 senior engineering students will take over the Lory Student Center and Plaza for the annual E-Days Showcase on April 24. Members of the campus and Fort Collins community are invited to campus to see the incredible senior design projects and interact directly with student teams, including some who compete in a version of “Shark Tank.”

Coordinated by the student leaders of the Engineering College Council (ECC), in partnership with the college’s Office of Academic and Student Affairs, E-Days is the premiere event for the college. Student teams work throughout their senior year getting ready for this final capstone event.

“Not only does it showcase the hard work of the senior design teams, it allows underclassmen to preview the project opportunities they will have,” said Dylan Scheller, Vice President of the ECC and a mechanical engineering student. “Also, many students receive job offers through E-Days, since industry sponsors are in attendance.”

Students supporting students through the ECC

ECC students work with the Lory Student Center on planning, with the college’s Dean’s Office on sponsorships and communications, the college’s Office of Academic and Student Affairs for coordination and events, and senior design project advisors and team leaders.

The event fits with ECC’s mission in the college and for engineering students.

“Our mission is to facilitate opportunities for student leadership,” said Scheller, “while fostering an environment of engagement and community within the college.”

Beyond E-Days and Senior Projects: Venture Funding

As an example of one type of senior design project, some senior design teams pursued ideas that combined technology with entrepreneurship. These proposals received up to $5,000 in venture funding to develop their ideas into a business while designing their product or process. On the day after E-days, these teams will present their businesses to a friendlier version of “Shark Tank” that includes a panel of industry leaders.

“Senior design teams apply for these grants based on having an idea for a technological solution to a customer need that they would like to explore from an engineering and a business standpoint as their senior design projects,” said Bert Vermeulen, who teaches a technology entrepreneurship course in the college.

This year’s entrepreneurial senior design projects include:

• The Enzymatic Recycling Project is developing a process that uses bio-engineered enzymes to convert plastic bottles, made out of polyethylene traps (PET), back into the original chemical components. Those can then be used to make new PET bottles and other products (chemical and biological engineering students).
• SensiSwab is developing a lateral flow assay to detect peanut allergies (chemical and biological engineering students).
• The Open Insulin Project started by identifying a process for making insulin that avoids the current patents to reduce cost. The project appears to have come up with a way to make insulin storable without refrigeration (chemical and biological engineering students, mechanical engineering students).
• Sniftek has developed a low-cost internet-connected alcohol breathalyzer for a client that provides alcohol addiction recovery services (biomedical engineering students also pursuing degrees in chemical, mechanical, and electrical/computer engineering).
• Project Pitter Patter is developing a low-cost process for making dynamic response prosthetic feet for residents of middle-income countries (mechanical engineering students, biomedical engineering students also pursuing degrees in mechanical engineering students).
• Course Rover has developed a lightweight and low-cost golf wheeled golf carrier for casual golfers (mechanical engineering students).
• Ruck Moto has fabricated an electric utility motorcycle they plan to take to market (mechanical engineering students).