VCU news

By Leila Ugincius

More than 80 teams of engineering and business students will show off their innovative research and design prototypes at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Engineering Capstone Design Expo.

The annual expo offers capstone design teams an opportunity to display and demonstrate their prototypes, which are the culmination of eight months of effort. The expo has become a signature event for the School of Engineering and VCU. School of Business students are once again partnering with some of the teams as part of their entrepreneurship capstone course, New Venture Strategy and Initiation.

The expo also provides an opportunity to increase awareness of the engineering profession among visiting middle and high school students.

The event will be held Friday, April 27, from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Siegel Center, 1200 W. Broad St. Awards will be presented at 2:30 p.m. The expo is free and open to the public.

The Capstone Design course teaches leadership, teamwork and design skills in a collaborative environment and provides students an opportunity to develop and complete projects that could lead to product innovation for the benefit of society. Each year in the fall semester, student teams can compete for additional financial support for their projects through a gift from Mark A. Sternheimer, a VCU School of Engineering Foundation board member and president and owner of Richmond-based Sternheimer Brothers Inc.

“The Senior Capstone Design experience is a critical component of engineering education. It brings together all of the coursework and lessons learned during internships and engagement in community service and teaches students to work in teams to solve problems,” said Barbara Boyan, Ph.D., dean of the School of Engineering and Alice T. and William H. Goodwin Chair. “VCU’s Capstone Design teams also work with business school students to determine how best to translate their innovations into commercializable products. We are immensely grateful to Mr. Sternheimer for making it possible to invest resources in these innovations and to our industry colleagues for serving as judges.”

Among this year’s projects and prototypes are a smart birdhouse that gathers data for conservation efforts, a safer — and greener — refrigeration system that uses magnetic cooling technology instead of conventional compressors, and a more efficient encapsulation machine for production of pharmaceutical soft gel capsules.

A number of Vertically Integrated Project (VIP@VCU) teams also will be present at the expo. These are larger teams of undergraduate and graduate students from multiple disciplines whose long-term projects address complex needs in medical, engineering development and environmental areas.

For more information, including full lists of projects and sponsors, visit egr.vcu.edu/capstone/. Groups from middle and high schools are encouraged to attend and can email askengineering@vcu.edu for information about scheduling a field trip.