UND Engineering Expo: Time, Commitment and Passion
These engineering and design students are not taking the typical final exams
GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Finals week involves test driving race cars and building robots for some students at UND.
Several aspiring engineers showed off their best work at UND’s annual Engineering Design Expo.
A sleek green race car is one of 70 projects built by students from the ground up, many of which are part their finals.
The expo can be a gateway to future careers.
The culmination of an entire school year of work is not only showed off to younger visitors but also to some big name companies.
“So our students have been working throughout the year, putting together solutions to a variety of different problems and today they get to show off everything they’ve done,” said UND Associate Dean and Professor Matthew Cavalli.
A team of 30 have been designing, building and making final touches to their set of wheels since August of last year.
“The competition is you’re designing an open wheel race car that you would market to the weekend autocross enthusiasts,” said UND Mechanical Engineering Senior Brandon Vannelli.
After a several test drives, they’re taking it down to Lincoln, Nebraska to race against other universities in the Formula SAE competition.
“It’s a ton of fun, it’s a lot of work, but so many people get so much enjoyment out of this, it’s great,” said Vannelli.
Another design team placed second in a national competition in Vegas.
Their robot was required to complete tasks which normally seem simple.
But getting a robot to do it took months of work.
“It needed to do five tasks,” said UND Sophomore Isaiah Klingfus. “Climbing up three landings of stairs, sprint ten meters down and back, lift a weight, throw a tennis ball and hit a golf ball.”
For many, the yearlong project was a journey filled with creativity and achievements.
“I see a lot of time, commitment and passion in this room,” said Klingfus
The expo is part of the UND Undergraduate Showcase which goes until May 5th.
