On May 3rd, students in Dr. Kelsen LaBerge’s Introduction to Engineering course demonstrated their Hovercraft projects. This project serves as a class capstone, where the 79 students in the course were divided into 13 teams that must successfully design, build, and fly a hovercraft that adheres to a specified budget.
Students work with their teams to come up with a preliminary design before giving a presentation of their work. After passing this presentation, teams begin building their hovercraft using balsa wood, propellers, and electronics such as servos, motors, and electronic speed controllers. After successfully constructing their hovercraft, teams are then tasked with flying their craft using remote controls. The hovercraft must successfully complete a timed obstacle course in the atrium of the Aeronautics and Engineering Building, and teams are presented with the additional challenge of moving as many golf balls into a target location in a set time limit.
Hands-on projects and capstone projects are a major component of many College of Aeronautics and Engineering courses. Even early in their academic careers, Dr. LaBerge highlights the value of this work, “Doing a hands-on design/build project is important to all of our engineering and engineering technology students. The main point here is to get them excited about engineering and understand design life-cycles! As freshmen, this is their opportunity to get their feet wet with an engineering design problem.” These projects teach students more than just how to design a hovercraft, as Dr. LaBerge adds “The project requires problem-solving as well as teamwork, analysis, thinking in three dimensions, budgeting, etc. It’s a low stakes opportunity to apply logical thinking skills that culminates with a final competition…We don’t expect perfection here; it’s more about the process!”
These hands-on projects allow students to see the connections between the concepts discussed in their classes and real world situations engineering. First year student Leo Yefimov says that the project “has been an essential learning experience. Over the span of two months, we spent countless hours in and out of the lab designing and building the craft, down to every little detail.” Lilly Kensicki, another first year student enrolled in the course, says that this type of work helps her better understand certain concepts. “I learn best using a hands-on approach and this project was a perfect example of that. Having an assignment that I could see developing in front of me helps me to truly understand a problem and find a better way to solve it.”
Introduction to Engineering is offered in both Fall and Spring semesters, and covers engineering basics such as technical writing, problem solving, and engineering standards. Students in majors including Aerospace Engineering, Mechatronics Engineering, and Aeronautical Systems Engineering Technology take this course, usually early in their academic careers. The class has previously been taught by other College of Aeronautics and Engineering Faculty members, including Dr. Benjamin Kwasa, Dr. Syed Shihab, and Dr. Christina Bloebaum.