Keynote Speaker
Dr. Brandon Dilworth is the Group Leader of the Mechanical Engineering Group at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, a federally funded research and development center within the Department of Defense. Brandon is a graduate of Michigan Tech, completing a Master’s in ME in 2006, and a PhD in ME in 2009, with Dr. Jason Blough serving as the advisor for both degrees. Brandon has served as a member of the Executive Board for the Society of Experimental Mechanics, and is a current member of the External Advisory Board for Michigan Tech’s Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department. He also completed the Program for Leadership Development with Harvard Business School’s Executive Leadership Program in 2021. Outside of the professional environment, Brandon is the father of two children, Lucy (14) and Jack (11), and attempts to utilize as much “free time” as possible to explore hobbies that blend outdoor activities with spending quality time with his children.
MAE Teacher of the Year
Cam Hadden
The department honored three faculty for their instructional excellence. Dr. Cam Hadden received the MAE teacher of the year award. Drs. Chloe He and Jaclyn Johnson were honored as runner-ups.
Spring 2025 Outstanding Student Awards
Zander Worm – Formula SAE Enterprise, Nominated by Dr. Steven Ma
This student has been with the FSAE team for three and a half years. He is now the most knowledgeable and skilled person on the team.
Over the years, he has always made sound business and technical decisions on any issue relating to the operation of the team. As an example, under his leadership the team scored 94% in the cost event for the 2024 competition. Another example of his excellent engineering judgement is seen in his senior design work where he is utilizing dyno tests to build a mathematical model for the Yamaha engine. And he further complements these abilities with excellent communication skills, which were clearly demonstrated in his previous leadership positions, specifically as Chief Engineer last year and President the year before that.
For these many reasons, Zander Worm is recognized for his outstanding student performance.
Nicholas Miller- Multiplanetary INnovation Enterprise, Nominated by Dr. Paul van Susante
This student is the Lunabotics team lead this year and has successfully led the forty-plus student team through all NASA deliverables. With the help of his leadership, the team designed, built, and tested a completely new robot design that is approaching autonomous operation capability in just nine months. He managed the team well and developed techniques for communicating with all the sub-teams so that progress could be well monitored. In addition, he implemented several improvements in the NASA deliverables and facilitated an excellent fundraising year in addition to his technical contributions on his subsystem. For these reasons, Nicholas Miller is recognized for his outstanding student performance.
Evelyn James- Multiplanetary INnovation Enterprise, Nominated by Dr. Paul van Susante
This student took over leadership of the Trencher team, and during the semester she actively sought guidance on leadership improvement and team management challenges which in turn led to improvements in team performance and progress. Specific changes involved implementing several team management tools to improve communication, project planning, and accountability. With her technical work as well, she has set a new standard for the Trencher team. For these reasons, Evelyn James is recognized for her outstanding student performance.
Kade Nielsen- Multiplanetary INnovation Enterprise- Nominated by Dr. Paul van Susante
Ethan Hanson- SCD Team 6 Center Console Design Project, Nominated by Dr. Cameron Hadden
As the MINE enterprise manager this year, this student did an excellent job organizing and running the weekly meetings and other the enterprise activities like the open houses. He instituted signup sheets and organizational tools to improve running the enterprise, while also overseeing the overall MINE deliverables among the many teams and students. He also led the leadership meetings and communication with the faculty advisor. While doing all of that, his technical work on the bucket ladder excavator — part of the Lunabotics robot — was excellent. For these reasons, Kade Nielsen is recognized for his outstanding student performance.
Will Johnson- SCD Team 8 Los Alamos National Laboratory, Nominated by Dr. Scott Miers
This student enthusiastically volunteered to run mine-drop penetration equations and never complained about additional analysis or work. He maintained a positive attitude throughout the entire project and took constructive criticism with an open mind to improve his analysis. When the team lost their electrical engineering student, this student stepped up and learned more about 555 timers than he probably ever wanted to. He went on to design a custom electronics board to provide the required device operation. For this, in particular stepping up on the electrical front, Will Johnson is recognized from Team 8, which is working for Los Alamos National Laboratory on an anti-mine ground penetrator.
Aidan Doyle- SCD Team 15 Small Batch Composite Manufacturing, Nominated by Dr. Cameron Hadden
This student’s team was tasked with creating a mold that will cure a composite following a very specific dynamic temperature profile. The most difficult aspect of the project was developing the control scheme to heat and cool the mold to user specifications. This student was able to learn LabView to a degree that I’ve only seen in graduate students or faculty at MTU. His work in integrating the software and developing the control scheme was paramount to the team’s overall success, though you would never hear that from him. He took on the task as if it was his job, with no complaints along the way, once again showing that MTU students simply get things done. For this, Aidan Doyle is recognized from Team 15, which is working on a Small Batch Composite Manufacturing process and hardware.
Caleb Sanders- SCD Team 1 Android Industries, Nominated by Dr. Scott Miers
In the beginning of this project, evolving objectives provided by the customer led to several running changes during the first semester. Never deterred by this, this student and the team persevered through these changes while he took on the most challenging aspect of the project. His attention to detail, pleasant demeanor, and machining skills made him a valuable member of the team, yet he openly listened to new ideas and repeatedly encouraged other members to provide input. For this, Caleb Sanders is recognized from Team 1, which is working for Android Industries on an automatic tire de-mounting system.