Meet The Winners of Huron’s Engineering Expo

Freshmen Tiyana Heatlie-Sindone and Kate Meader pose for the camera. Photos courtesy of Alyssa Cupit.

Julie Heng, Staff Editor
June 4, 2018

On May 24, the Huron Engineering department hosted its annual Engineering Expo for friends and family. Real-world engineering professionals from the University of Michigan, Google, General Motors, and Toyota were invited to judge the projects. A list of the winners from each class can be found below.The expo, now in its 2nd year, is designed to “provide a summative assessment and allow students to obtain feedback from real-world Engineers,” according to engineering teacher Robert Cupit.

The 206 engineering students various class levels demonstrated their different project types.

Introduction of Engineering, taken by 76 students, created Virtual Design Projects using virtual media to 3D-printed prototype.

“Some challenges encountered were making sure the followers aligned and work will along with the CAMs simulated in the construction process,” said Lisbeth Mendoza, who built a mechanical toy. “In the CAD process the main challenge was the switch to fusion360 from inventor and managing the constraints on the object drawn on the computer.”

80 Principles of Engineering students designed, built, and programmed an Arcade Project.

Maddie Bowers and her team created the game Chicken Coop, “a target based game where you shoot eggs out of a spinning wheel and, as a prize, get to pie someone in the face!” Their inspiration came from accuracy-based carnival games with fun prizes. “Building it was fairly challenging, since we made it way too big (we actually had to present outside, instead of in the cafeteria like the other teams, since our game wouldn’t fit through the doors) and had to scramble for time at the end,” Bowers said.

27 Aerospace students created a cumulative aerospace-related project.

A final 23 students designed real-world inventions as part of the traditionally senior Engineering Design and Development class. These prototypes, which lead to funding and patenting, culminate in a final competition and a $100 Cash Prize.

“It provides students with an opportunity to present their solutions and critical thinking skills to real companies and Engineers,” Cupit said. “Students are provided feedback which enhances their learning experience and allows them to learn from their mistakes and challenges.”

Automata (Year 1: Engineering Design):

1st Place: Kathryn Meader

2nd Place: Tiyana Heatlie-Sindone

3rd Place (tied!): Sophie Getzen, Eric Cardwell, Jackson Den Houter, Dawson Hartman

Arcade Game (Year 2: Principles of Engineering):

1st Place: “Defeat the Dragon” Jadyn and Siena Smith, Maia Herrington

2nd Place: “SAM Dash” Surya Rahavendran, Miriam Gandham, Abhishek Thakurta

3rd Place: “Spider-Kill” Sampath Eaty, Richard Chen, Yash Manne

Aerospace (Year 3):

1st Place: “Controlled Descent Rocket” Matt Kelley, Arthur Su, Nick Zacharek, Eli Schmitter

2nd Place: “Humossifyer” Anna Svintsitskaya, Peyton Carroll, Liz Lochocki

3rd Place: “Drone Detection” Cyrus Abadi, Eric Salazar, Josh Tsai, Soham Naik