On February 24, the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science held senior design project presentations. The event was well-attended by alumni and industry professionals who provided valuable feedback to students on their projects.
One of the students who presented, Duncan Marshall, found the experience to be beneficial for pitching ideas. Although he felt nervous initially, he was confident in the progress his group had made throughout the project. Marshall also noted that they received unexpected but important questions specific to their project, which helped them prepare for future presentations.
Daniel Schwartz, an alumnus and lead electrical engineer at Honeywell Federal Manufacturing and Technologies, praised the teams for effectively summarizing their design work from the past semester and a half. He highlighted the event as a valuable opportunity for evaluating students for potential employment and identifying parallels between their projects and industry work.
Presenting at the event taught Marshall important lessons about patience, clear communication, and addressing concerns promptly. Despite some questions regarding safety that they planned to address later, feedback from experienced professionals emphasized starting early on critical aspects of the project.
Arielle Williams, a controls engineering manager for Marshalltown and a graduate of the department, enjoyed attending the presentations and applauded the presenters for doing an excellent job. She reflected on her own nervousness during presentations as a student and appreciated supporting current students while seeing her former interns presenting their projects.
The next opportunity for students to showcase their projects will be at the annual Engineering Expo on April 25 in Bud Walton Arena where they can further refine their presentation skills by sharing their work with a broader audience.