The ME-EM Senior Recognition Banquet and Order of the Engineer Program was held on April 19, 2016.
The keynote speaker was Seth Newlin, Chief Engineer, Oshkosh Airport Products, Oshkosh Corporation. Newlin is a 1994 alumnus with both a BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering.
Outstanding Student Performance Award
From time to time we observe exemplary and outstanding performance of an individual or group of individuals in Senior Capstone Design or Enterprise, and when that happens we recognize those students with an Outstanding Student Performance Award.
Alexandria Bonner and Nate Campbell
Nate and Alex led the team’s use of simulation and test to understand the root-cause of their design problem on Team 11 Driveline NVH Improvement for Ford Motor Company. Although Alex and Nate were responsible for different aspects of the driveline NVH, they worked together to learn how to use new simulation tools and used test data to validate models of the current driveline system. They used the models to gain insight to limitations of the current design and study the effect of design options rather than guessing or hoping for a successful prototype at the end of their project. Nate and Alex demonstrated that hard work and cooperation are key elements of a successful project.
Josh Dillon
Josh Dillon has demonstrated outstanding dedication to Formula SAE. Over the past three years, Josh held leadership positions in the FSAE Enterprise, the SAE Student Chapter, and Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity. As the 2016 FSAE Chief Engineer, Josh was responsible for the concurrent design, build, and test of three successive competition vehicles. Through these experiences in leadership roles, Josh has developed a leadership style based on responsibility and cooperation. Preparing for the 2016 competition provided many learning opportunities for FSAE leadership. The initial attempt to make a one-piece body was an epic failure. Two aspects of the chassis did not meet rules criteria; one was noted by a design judge just last week. Josh worked with the sub-team leaders to correct the issues and focus on good engineering. With Josh’s leadership, Formula SAE is looking forward to improved success at competition in May.
Marissa Graziano
Marissa has performed outstanding from day 1 of the Team 19 Magna Seating Design Project. She is an excellent communicator and kept everything going smoothly between the client and MTU as well as the client and the team. She managed the team, asked for help when needed, communicated with faculty, staff, team and customer in an organized and effective manner and when the project changed scope organized the document scope rewrite and approval on the MTU and Magna Seating side. She was very effective in leading her team through a complex and challenging project and with her team tackled any challenges that occurred during the project.
Connor Kmiec
Connor Kmiec is the team lead this year for the Ferro Pedal project. Not only did Connor do a great job leading this team, he differentiated himself by doing the majority of the machining work on this project. He even sacrificed his Spring Break to perform machining work when outsourcing quotes came in much more expensive than forecasted. To save time and money, Connor allowed the team to use his personal 3D printer to create prototype parts to verify fit and size. Connor also led the team to raise additional funds for this project and placed first for both the best Marketing Plan and Most Unique Visitors in the Superior Ideas Rekhi Challenge. Connor’s strong engineering skills coupled with great hands-on know how and leadership skills is exactly the type of engineer we want to represent Michigan Tech and our Mechanical Engineering department.
Paul St. Louis
Dr. Endres has the following to say about Paul St. Louis, a member of Senior Design Team 4 Surgical Tool Attachment, sponsored by Stryker Instruments: Occasionally there is a student who exhibits outstanding organization and team leadership skills that keeps things well on track with great communication and scheduling. This team as a whole did very well with a great team effort, and with the great organization of this team member, things progressed incredibility smoothly. The technical results of this team are truly exciting in my opinion and I look forward to our customer taking it to the next level and ultimately a potential new product. This award goes to Paul St Louis of the Stryker Instruments Surgical Tool Hub Interface project.