Hands on but having fun: College of Engineering & Mines Expo 2025

At UND, work on applied engineering projects can start in freshman year

From independent student research to industry-sponsored research, student engineering projects were on display in the Memorial Union Ballroom on April 29, at the College of Engineering & Mines annual Senior Design Expo.

The Expo is when students distill their research projects down into one poster, then stand ready to explain to everyone from casual viewers to industry experts exactly what they are doing, and why. Dozens of research projects were on display that Tuesday, in an event that Interim Dean Ryan Adams said allows students practice their presentation skills.

And that practice also happens to give students a glimpse into the life of a working engineer.

“It gives our students a chance to practice what they’ve learned, not just the technical but their presentation skills,” Adams told UND Today about the event. “It’s nice to see them see themselves as engineers.”

In his introductory remarks, Adams said he is grateful for all the hard work put in by the students, faculty and staff, and that they should be ready to speak about their projects, but still “have fun” with the day.

“It’s my pleasure to kick this event off, although you the students have done all of the hard work,” he said. “I really appreciate all you’ve done this year and am grateful for all the dedication you put into it. I’m also grateful for the dedication of your instructors and the staff members, and everyone else involved.”

Anyone attending the event that Tuesday would have seen a Formula race car at the bottom of the stairs leading to the second floor. The idea is to design a car, then put it through its paces at different competitive events. Nine students from various subgroups (mechanical and electrical engineering) are working on the project, under academic advisor Djedje-Kossu Zahui, associate professor of Mechanical Engineering.

“We have made the conversion from IC (internal combustion) to electrical,” said Donovan Watson, one of the students working on the project. “That was what this whole project was about: creating a new car for us in the school to take to competition.”

That competition is set to take place in Michigan in June, and will include a variety of different tests such as braking and acceleration tests.

Oh, and Watson and Dylan Baker, another student on the team, said that – at least on paper – they should be able to get the car up to 60 miles per hour.

While the Expo is a chance for seniors to showcase their capstone projects, hands-on research happens much earlier for students at UND than in just their senior year. That’s because “experiential learning,” is a strategic priority of the “Learning” pillar of the UND LEADS strategic plan. It calls for the creation of “learning opportunities with real-world applications, (and) rewarding collaborations that are built on applied learning.”

Just ask freshman Sylvia Galindo. She was at the event with her sophomore partner and fellow Biomedical Engineering student Samuel Temgoua, and they were standing ready to speak about their project to develop a sensor-embedded mattress pad that can monitor pressure ulcers (otherwise known as bed sores).

When asked, Galindo said she never thought she would be engaging in applied and important research in her freshman year.

“No, definitely not,” she said. “I was expecting only taking classes like calculus, chemistry — you know, my basics. I do think the hands-on approach benefits you a lot, because after doing it four years, by the end, you’re pretty much a pro at it.”

And then there are the sponsored research projects. These occur when local companies reach out to engineering students and give them a problem to solve – and a solution for the company.

One example was a project for Marvin Windows, which was looking at testing a gas-insulated window against wind and heat conditions, as well as functions within building codes.

Yet another example was that from Fruitful, a company that has worked with UND for years on making a fruit slushie vending machine. Company owner Cole Levine (a UND graduate who operates Fruitful as a startup business/passion project) tasked this years’ group with cleaning up software issues and exploring how to expand the slushie capacity of the machine.

“Our team was in charge of bug fixing, testing, improving the efficiency of the code, and then overall, maintenance and the running of the machines,” said senior Tanner Kirkeby, the project manager of the group, under faculty advisor Clement Tang, associate professor of Mechanical Engineering.

Then it was time to vote. Each year, participants can vote on projects in different categories — a competition that Adams made sure people knew was a “friendly competition.”

This year’s winners are:

First Place Prototype: NASA Lunabotics. Mechanical Engineering team members included Gunnar Anderson, Cole Graner, Kevin Jean-Baptiste, Michael Nordstrom, Dillon Schulz and Jacob Warrick.

On the electrical Engineering side of the team were Lucy Bevelacqua, Garrett Manley, Keith Harris, Zach Hilber and Samuel Alness.

First Place Research/Process: Sugar Beet Refining. Chemical Engineering team members included Daniel Poynter, Erin Becker and. Casey Michelsen.

Sponsors at this year’s CEM Expo included AE2S, Air Force Research Lab, Altru Health System, Barr Engineering, Burian & Associates, BTD Manufacturing, Fruitful, Hess, J.R. Simplot, John Deere, Marvin Windows, MindMend Biotech, North Dakota Department of Transportation, Retrax, RJ Energy Solutions and Steffes.