Department Life


Bridge Busting Competition

Part of becoming a great engineer is applying fundamentals to solve open-ended problems. One place a student will learn to apply fundamentals to open-ended problems is through the annual Bridge Design Project as a part of the Statics and Strength of Materials course.

Teams of students creatively design a bridge, print it on our 3D Printer and present their work in the JBU commons area. The designs are judged on aesthetics and ability to successfully support an applied force. This project also has a service aspect as the students educate their peers on the nature of engineering.

This experience helps students become great engineers who can apply 'book knowledge' to 'real world' problems, and helps make them excellent problem solvers.

Robot Competition

Students' engineering skills are put to the test during JBU's Robot Competition. (Part of elective course EN4303.) Sophomore, junior, and senior students work together in teams of two to build a robot using Lego Mindstorm NXT and the NXC programming language.

The challenge is that each robot must be fully autonomous or able to "make decisions" using sensors, and cannot be remotely controlled. The contest consists of a double elimination tournament with pairs of robots competing against each other in heats as they race through identical mazes to reach the finish line. The robot reaching the finish line in the fastest time wins.

BUV Design Competition

The annual Basic Utility Vehicle (BUV) Design Competition, sponsored by the Institute of Affordable Transportation, harnesses the creative energy of college students from across the nation in an effort to develop a simple, low-cost utility vehicle to the benefit of low-income people in rural areas of developing countries. Student teams design and build BUV vehicles to compete in a series of tests and events that determine the best design.

In 2009, JBU senior engineering students, Mark Delavan and Alan Hill took first place in the BUV Design Competition. Read full story.

Watch video clips of the BUV Design Competition.

For more information on the BUV competition, please see the Institute of Affordable Transportation website.

 

Senior Design Projects

Bryce Burchfield, Annunciated Cargo Container Stop Design, American Airlines

Laura Carcamo, Interface Between a Photovoltaic Array and an Electrolytic Capacitor, NCREPT

Mark Delavan, Basic Utility Vehicle, Institute for Affordable Transportation

Henry Fennell, Transportable Turbine Test Tower (T4), University of Tulsa

Caleb Gutshall, Maturity Meter with an Embedded Microsystem, Citadel Technologies

Alan Hill, Basic Utility Vehicle, Institute for Affordable Transportation

Adam Luchies, Data Acquisition System for the Transportable Turbine Test Tower, University of Tulsa

TJ Mitchell, Slow-Sand Filtration Optimization, Institute for Biblical Community Development

Jose Pena, Pig Friction and Driving Pressure Analysis, T.D. Williamson, Inc.

Carlos Ramirez, Analysis on Reliability Processes, Cargill, Inc.

Carlos Salinas, Integral Wrap Heater and Heat Integrator, Citadel Technologies

Jamin Schweiger, Water Vapor Pipeline Sensor, T.D. Williamson, Inc.

Sam Stewart, FAA Lighting Protection Counterpoise Research and Study, Garver Engineers

Preston Young, Point-of-Use Water Filtration, Institute for Biblical Community Development

 

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