For the fifth year in a row, engineering students at Utah Tech University gathered to showcase their skills and hard work at the annual Engineering Design Day. Community members, students, and families were invited to visit campus to enjoy the projects created by UT engineering students.
Utah Tech Engineering Students Show Off Their Skills at Engineering Design Day
By Grayce Payne
“Design Day is the engineering department’s flagship showcase for students,” David Christensen, assistant professor of engineering and chair of the engineering department, said. “This is when students get to show off their engineering prowess.”
The projects that people could enjoy during Engineering Design Day included a series of nine mini golf courses created by the freshmen, carnival games made by the sophomores, and a turbo regatta race created by the juniors, which featured battery-powered pedal boats. Senior engineering students also had the opportunity to showcase their industry collaborative capstone projects.
Engineering students who participate in Design Day receive an immense amount of pride from watching community members and students interact with projects that they’ve spent hours designing. Through Engineering Design Day, the engineering department is preparing its students to find success in the engineering industry after they graduate.
“When you’re learning about things in theory, that’s one thing, but to put it into practice and then to see people actually play on your carnival game or on your golf course, that’s a whole different thing,” Christensen said.
When this event first started out five years ago, it only involved mechanical engineering students, but as the engineering program has continued to grow, computer and electrical engineering students have also started participating in Design Day. Christensen hopes to involve additional departments in the College of Science, Engineering and Technology as Engineering Design Day becomes a bigger event in the coming years.
“My biggest hope is that every year that we do this event, our student projects will continue to improve and become more sophisticated and more industry worthy,” Christensen said.
To learn more about the engineering program at Utah Tech University, visit mech.utahtech.edu.