Senior Engineering Students Exhibit Final Project Presentations

Gayu Lakshmanan, Heritage Portraits Editor| May 22, 2023

  • Stressing the threat of microplastics, Valentina Larina ‘23, talks about the potential impact microplastics can have on the environment and the human body. Larina’s team chose to tackle the issue of microplastics, and created a microplastic water filter to prevent the issue before it became irreversible.

    Gayu Lakshmanan
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  • Talking about the effectiveness of his product, Jacob Erattuparambil ‘23 attempts to convince his audience that his project, an all natural energy drink, is effective. NAME’s team wanted to address the problem of teenage exhaustion while avoiding the harmful effects of caffeine, leading to them choosing to create an all natural energy drink as a viable alternative.

    Gayu Lakshmanan
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  • Talking with students about their work, workers from O’Connel Robertson talk to Harshit Dalmia ‘23 and Valentina Larina ‘23 about the fine details of their work. O’Connel Robertson were invited to sponsor the event and watch students as they showcase a full year of engineering.

    Gayu Lakshmanan
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  • Showing off the progression from 3D model to build, Alexandra Hume ‘23 details the intricacies of how their project translated from digital to physical. Hume’s team decided to focus on homelessness, and created a special food dispenser to lessen the physical labor requirement of food distribution.

    Gayu Lakshmanan
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  • Driving through the aisles of Great Room, Justin Lopato ‘23, demonstrates how his team’s car accident prevention system works. Lopato and his team created a lidar system that automatically stops a car when it detects activity. To showcase their product, they attached a mini model to a kids car and invited the audience to stop the car by placing their hands in front of the sensors.

    Gayu Lakshmanan
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On Thursday, April 27 and Friday, May 5, Engineering Design and Development (EDD) students presented their Final Project Presentations (FPP), the culmination of a year long process of product design. 

EDD is a class only available to seniors who have taken at least three engineering or computer science courses, and introduces students to professional product design and engineering. For the entire year, students choose a problem to focus on, and try to create a product that effectively solves it. 

“We knew we wanted to stop a problem [and] affect people’s lives in a positive manner, so we decided to do something based on the environment,” Andrew Kwa ‘23 said. “We looked into things like carbon dioxide and pollution, and eventually we came to know about e-waste, and since [it’ll] only increase as we technologically advance, we decided to focus on recycling it.”

Students spent the majority of the first semester choosing their problem, finding a solution, and planning future events, while the second semester held the bulk of the engineering process. Products chosen included solar powered scooters, a cheap dual toilet flush system, and an all natural energy drink.

“We wanted a way [to] implement dual flush functionalities into a regular toilet without having to replace all the expensive porcelain,” Brian Cook ‘23 said. “We went through a bunch of iterations when making the mechanism, [and] we had to choose a bunch of different sizes. We made one that’s way too small and one that’s way too big, so we found our goldilocks zone.”

After each milestone, students had to do a ten minute in class presentation detailing their progress, keeping students on track and preparing them for their FPP at the end of the year. During the FPP, students invited sponsors, mentors, friends, and family to watch them showcase their final projects. While presentation days were originally scheduled to take place back to back, but were moved a week apart due to weather setbacks.

“[The FPP] is a culmination of all that [students] have learned and all that they’ve worked on,” EDD Teacher Bailey Hulsey said. “Every time you solve a problem, every time you figure out how to put one foot in front of the other and learn how to walk, it’s those kinds of skills that you’re practicing again and expounding on in EDD, problem solving, critical thinking, and communicating.”