A Look Back to Where it All Started; First-Year Design Expo Winners

Looking at the Capstone Design Expo, it’s easy to wonder, how do students learn all the skills needed for a successful capstone project? 

For many of these students, they built a good foundation in Fundamentals of Engineering Design Innovation. Students take this course in their first year at CU Denver. The course is project-based and team-based, introducing the principles of the engineering design process, while developing effective teamwork practices.

Students work in cross-disciplinary teams, learn low-fidelity prototyping methods and testing processes, and produce a series of presentations to both showcase their work and seek feedback. At the end of each semester, their projects are on display at the Expo. 

Here are the award winners of the Spring 2024 projects:

Walking Sip (ENGR 1200 -002) for People’s Choice award (voted on by Expo attendees)

Team members: Sebastian Mendivil, Gwenyvere Hunt, Jesus Rodriguez-Ruiz, Robin Luckett, Brennon Hiser

This hiking stick is hollow and includes survival gear inside, including a compact water filter.

The rest of the awards were chosen by the course instructors:

Best prototype: Modular Snowboard (ENGR 1200-005)

Team members: Hanad Ali, Zach Weir, Hana Atinaf, Ella Haggarty, Ethan Martinez

Best use of DI methods: Ski and Snowboard Rear Collision Detector (ENGR 1200-004)

Team members: Joseph Ahn, Abdalwahab Alenezi, Samuel Marvel Bibombe, Zachary Morse, Ryan Spencer

Best Consideration of stakeholder needs: Crampon Cleats – (ENGR1200-001)

Team members: Jesus Ayala-Grimaldo, Julian Balajonda, Joshua Brown, Nathaniel Cepeda, Risa Hirsch, Amanda Liedtke