Engineering Source talked with a few students on the SnifTek team, one of the venture-funded senior design projects, about the opportunity to showcase their hard work in person at E-Days on Friday, April 22.
In their own words:
Turner Solheim, Biomedical/Mechanical Engineering
How would you describe your project simply to a general audience?
Similar to how a dog is able to smell whether or not someone is sick, SnifTek develops medical technology and devices that smell people’s breath in order to tell if someone is sick or if they have a health condition, just like dogs can.
What’s been the most fun you’ve had working on this project?
The most fun the team has had working on this project is growing together as engineers. Whether or not this is sitting down in meetings and discussing the different engineering aspects of a design, or talking about manufacturing processes over lunch, we have all grown as engineers based on each other’s knowledge and experience.
What’s one thing you’ll take from this process to graduation?
From this senior design, I will take away the fact that managing multidisciplinary teams into a coherent and organized manner with a vision in mind is very difficult, but necessary. Making sure that everyone has the overall idea of what lies ahead and the purpose behind their actions is clear is important to developing a successful engineering team.
What are you doing after graduation?
After graduation, I will be working as one of three founding members of a startup pharmaceutical commercialization company centered around making nerve therapies and neurotechnology more accessible.
Emily Smith, Biomedical Engineering/Chemical and Biological Engineering
What’s been the most fun you’ve had working on this project?
I’ve enjoyed having the opportunity to join the SnifTek team through Engineering Entrepreneurship! I’ve had a great time working with Turner brainstorming out-of-the-box commercial ideas while applying for the CSU Venture Business Showcase! Meeting the rest of the SnifTek team and observing their positive team dynamic was also very fun!
What’s one thing you’ll take from this process to graduation?
I’ve already learned so much about the business component of product production in the field of healthcare, especially with grant opportunities and funding. Being able to look at engineering and medical device production from a different perspective that I would not have been exposed to overwise is something that I will definitely take from this process of joining the SnifTek team. Being able to see how turning an initial idea into a potential commercial success is very exciting and inspiring!
What are you doing after graduation?
After graduating from Colorado State University, I am looking forward to making a positive impact in the field of healthcare. I am not exactly sure where I will be yet but I aim to work as an engineer at a medical device company or provide an interface between engineers and surgeons. I am very excited to see the positive impact that I can make on the world with all of the acquired knowledge and experiences that I gained while at Colorado State University!
Brandon Rouault, Biomedical Engineering/Mechanical Engineering
What’s been the most fun you’ve had working on this project?
The most fun part of the project has been the weekly meetings as we not only caught up on each other’s portions of the project, but typically we shared about things going on in our lives. It was always enjoyable to get closer to the team.
What’s one thing you’ll take from this process to graduation?
The one thing I’ll take from this process after we graduate is the engineering design process. Setting goals and objectives, verifying our ideas, then validating them will always be the proper way to complete most things in life.
What are you doing after graduation?
After graduation hopefully I will be working in industry, but I am unsure where I will be as of now.
