Building a tradition
Just a few months away from becoming the inaugural class of graduates from the University鈥檚 Human-Centered Engineering program, 28 seniors鈥攚orking in five teams鈥攁re undertaking their Senior Impact Projects and preparing to present their results next month.
Class presentations are nothing new, but in the engineering discipline, they can take on an exalted status. Some engineering schools cancel classes on presentation days so the student body can attend. Even accrediting agencies take note of a department鈥檚 approach to these senior projects and the lessons learned in presenting the essential challenge and solutions to an audience of peers.
鈥淲e really want to test our seniors at this point,鈥� said Professor Glenn Gaudette, the John W. Kozarich 鈥�71 Chair of the Department of Engineering. 鈥淭his is our first go-round, so we are all learning. But along the way, we will build a tradition that all of our students will be proud to participate in.鈥�
Gaudette added, 鈥淎ll accredited engineering programs do capstone design projects. They are even recognized as part of our accreditation process. This is an essential part of our students鈥� education and preparation for their future careers.鈥�
Engineering senior Wiliam Gotanda during his mid-semester presentation in the class of Professor Siddhartan Govindasamy.
The University鈥檚 human-centered approach to engineering aims to provide a broad sweep of engineering education and training, infused with an underlying philosophy that the practice of engineering must take into account how applications and solutions will impact individuals and society.
鈥淲hat is distinct about our program is it brings together social, environmental, and other factors into the process that are so important to decision making, and we ask our students to also reflect on how their decisions will affect others,鈥� Gaudette said. 鈥淭his is the influence of Boston College and the liberal arts on engineering education that we think will make a big difference in the world.鈥�
The teams recently assembled in a brightly lit room in the Service Building to run through their talks and update progress in meeting the objectives that have been laid out for them as part of the project-guiding course taught by Gaudette, Professor and Sabet Family Dean鈥檚 Faculty Fellow Siddhartan Govindasamy, and Associate Professor of Engineering聽Susan (Shufen) Pan.
Team Waterlogged has been working on a rain gauge for deployment in schools to help teach students lessons about the environment and climate. They hope to create a connective precipitation collection data system that provides high-quality data and is cheap to operate, according to one team member, adding that the team hoped to partner with schools in Boston using a 鈥渃ommunity science approach.鈥�
They described a process of interviews with officials at the National Weather Service and the Boston Water & Sewer Commission, as well as with specialists about their ideas, especially the 鈥渢ipping bucket鈥� design that can empty the collection basin after each rain event.
Waterlogged members discussed how they assessed the technical components they considered to make a unit that can relay new data as part of an interconnected network of sensors, empty the catch basin after each precipitation event, and survive the wear and tear of the elements.
“This is the influence of Boston College and the liberal arts on engineering education that we think will make a big difference in the world.”
Team AQIQ is developing an indoor air quality-monitoring platform that can be deployed in multiple locations within a residential or commercial space to determine the levels of airborne particulate matter, a central component of air pollution.
The team has incorporated machine learning to give the monitoring system the power to predict indoor air quality in the future, said team member Jaxen Farrell.
鈥淲e decided to combine machine learning with indoor air quality data collection in order to create the capacity of our device to predict future air quality and give the users the knowledge to take action to ensure healthy and safe environments."