The MSU College of Engineering invites you to a showcase of our best and brightest at the 2024 Fall Engineering Design Day on Dec. 6, 2024. One of MSU’s premier academic events, over 600 Spartan Engineering students will display their creative projects from 8 a.m. to noon in the Engineering Building, 428 S. Shaw Lane, East Lansing. The event is free and open to the public.
Now in its 31st year, Design Day will include students from the Departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Computer Science Engineering and Mechanical Engineering.
According to Executive Director of Design Day and Professor of Computer Science and Engineering Wayne Dyksen, a total of 130 student teams will present their ideas to visitors, faculty, and industry experts during the impressive display of ingenuity and innovation. Capstone projects will feature 378 students on 70 teams this fall.
“It gives our students the chance to show that they can think on their feet,” Dyksen said. “You can walk down the halls of the Engineering Building and see how ready our students are to enter the engineering profession,” he noted.
Design Day includes competitions and project presentations from a variety of engineering classes. The 15-week capstone course, which is required for graduation, provides a platform for students to apply the knowledge and experiences gained throughout their engineering education. Working in teams, seniors put their best efforts into solving real-world problems for big and small companies. At the end of each semester, teams present at Design Day. Eleven top awards will be presented during the Awards Ceremony at 1:15 p.m. in Room 1281 Anthony Hall, which is connected to the Engineering Building.
View the 2024 Design Day projects and teams here.
The following are examples of Design Day projects:
- MSU and Henry Ford Health Research Building: Michigan State University has partnered with Henry Ford Health in the development of a cutting-edge medical research facility for Henry Ford Health + Michigan State University Health Sciences. The students prepared preliminary designs based upon provided land survey and soil sampling data. The students’ designs are independent of the current construction plan, but are based on the same realistic constraints within the project site.
- Rolling Kneeler Cart with Chest Strap: Michigan AgrAbility supports farmers with illness, injury, or aging conditions by developing assistive solutions to help them continue to do what they love. Common conditions that impact farmers include arthritis, cancer, strength issues, and fatigue. In partnership with Easterseals and MSU Extension, Michigan AgrAbility consultants work with farmers to create affordable tools and research methods that aid those in these situations. For this project, the goal was to create a rolling kneeling cart that enabled the user to get close to the ground to pick fruits or vegetables or to weed garden rows. Also, this design used simple machining processes and readily available materials so farmers could build the cart without the need to purchase any additional machinery or customized parts.
- Increasing Awareness of Meijer-Branded Products: This project is a web application that helps Meijer promote its branded products and business practices. The core of the website is the integration of product purchases and donations. When customers purchase three Meijer-branded products, Meijer donates the value of the highest priced item in the customer’s cart to one of the many food pantries it supports through its ‘Simply Give’ donation program. The web application also incorporates gamified rewards through the rebranded mPerks program.
Fall 2024 Design Day by the numbers
Design Day
- 31st Year for Design Day (Began in Spring 1994)
Engineering Student Participation
- 130 Teams
- 623 Students
Capstone Projects
- 378 Students
- 70 Teams
- 70 Sponsored Projects
- 55 (79%) Michigan-Based Companies and Institutions
K-12
- 3 Schools + Women in Engineering
- 135 High School Students
- 12 Teachers
Awards
- 11 Awards
- Conferred by Corporate and Faculty Judges
For more information, contact Professor Wayne Dyksen (dyksen@msu.edu, 517-353-5573) or Courtney Kosloski (marti884@msu.edu, 517-353-8133).
MSU College of Engineering Media and Public Relations page