For many engineering students, a year of hard work finally culminated in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Design Project Day last Friday, when students presented their projects in Marcus Hall.
"It's a load off my shoulders," said Anthony Swochak, who worked on the Crossroads team.
Swochak said the project was like a job because students usually spent a minimum of eight hours in the lab. Swochak said his team was sometimes there all night.
Teammate Jarrod LaBarge agreed, saying that the project required "hundreds of hours" to complete.
The crossroads project was a warning system, designed to prevent car accidents that occur when a driver runs a red light. The system monitors each car as it approaches a red light and alerts others in the area when it becomes clear that a car isn't going to stop for the signal.
Swochak said the group went to a football stadium to test the system, with a roadside operator serving as the red light.
Both Swochak and LaBarge said their design seemed to go over well on design day.
LaBarge said there was a lot of interest in the project, partly because "it's a very everyday thing."
Swochak said a woman who spoke to him told him she had been in an accident because a car had run a red light.
"People like the idea that it was a problem that was out there," said Swochak.
The project is a requirement for electrical and computer engineering students in their senior year. Students form teams of four during their junior year, and each team works with a faculty advisor. This year, there were 15 teams at the Design Project Day, with a total of 60 students working on the projects.
Senior Design Project Co-Coordinator T. Baird Soules said the design day was a "showcase of the projects [students have] been working on since September" and called the day "a big success."
He said visitors included people who work in the industry as well as graduate students and friends and family members of the students.
LaBarge and Swochak worked with Sean Morrell, Daniel Marcq and with faculty advisors Hossein Pishro-Nik and Daiheng Ni. LaBarge said that the team's advisors suggested the project, which he said was talked about before but was never tested.
"It really simulates the work experience," said Swochak, citing the pressure of working on deadline, the need to budget the project and the division of labor.
"There's a lot you learn about what it would be like [to have an engineering job]," said LaBarge.
Friday marked the 18th anniversary of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Senior Design Project Day. Other designs included a program that would help poker players calculate odds and wireless drum sticks that can make sound and record it on any surface. Highlights also included an Internet remote control for appliances that can tell how much energy a device is using.
"Everyone's project was really interesting," said Swochak, adding that after so much time spent in the labs together "you kind of feel good for [the other teams]."
Elizabeth Hawley can be reached at ehawley@student.umass.edu.
Be the first to comment on this article!