Hosted by the Pavlis Honors College and the College of Engineering, Design Expo highlights hands-on, discovery-based learning at Michigan Tech.
More than 1000 students in Enterprise and Senior Design teams showcase their work and compete for awards. A panel of judges, made up of distinguished corporate representatives and Michigan Tech staff and faculty members, critique the projects. Many team projects are sponsored by industry, which allows students to gain valuable experience through competition at Design Expo, as well as direct exposure to real industrial problems.
2021 Design Expo Award Recipients
ENTERPRISE AWARDS (Based on video submissions)
First Place
Husky Game Development (Team 115)
Led by: Gabe Oetjens, Computer Science; Keira Houston, Civil Engineering
Advised by: Scott Kuhl, Computer Science
Sponsored by: Michigan Technological University Pavlis Honors College’s Enterprise Program
Second Place
Aerospace Enterprise (Team 106)
Led by: Nolan Pickett, Mechanical Engineering; Matthew Sietsema, Electrical Engineering
Advised by: L. Brad King, Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
Sponsored by: Auris: Air Force Research Laboratory, Stratus: NASA
Third Place
Innovative Global Solutions (Team 116)
Led by: Lynnsey Hooker and Kat Miller, Biomedical Engineering
Advised by: Radheshyam Tewari, Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics Nathan Manser, Geological and Mining Engineering
Sponsored by: Tree Frog Aquagric LLC, Ford Fund–Collegiate Community Challenge, General Motors, Cleveland Cliffs
Honorable Mention:
Consumer Product Manufacturing (Team 111)
Led by: Samantha Appleyard, Engineering Management; Jacob Michaud, Chemical Engineering
Advised by: Tony Rogers, Chemical Engineering
Sponsored by: Sussex IM, Libbey, Mel and Gloria Visser, Kimberly Clark, General Motors, Doll n’ Burgers
SENIOR DESIGN AWARDS (Based on video submissions)
First Place
Advanced PPE Filtration System (Team 240)
Team Members: Matthew Johnson, Electrical Engineering; Bryce Hudson, Mary Repp, Carter Slunick, Mike Stinchcomb, Braeden Anex, Brandon Howard, Josh Albrecht, and Hannah Bekkala, Mechanical Engineering
Advised by: Jaclyn Johnson and Aneet Narendranath, Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics
Sponsored by: Stryker
Second Place
ITC Cell Signal Measurement Tool (Team 204)
Team Members: Reed VandenBerg and Andrew Bratton, Electrical Engineering; Noah Guyette and Ben Kacynski, Computer Engineering
Advised by: John Lukowski, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Sponsored by: ITC Holdings Corp.
Third Place
Development of a Beta Brass Alloy for Co-Extrusion (Team 234)
Team Members: Anna Isaacson, Sidney Feige, Lauren Bowling, and Maria Rochow, Materials Science and Engineering
Advised by: Paul Sanders, Materials Science and Engineering
Sponsored by: College of Engineering
Honorable Mention
EPS Ball Nut Degrees of Freedom Optimization (Team 236)
Team Members: Brad Halonen, Rocket Hefferan, Luke Pietila, Peadar Richards, and David Rozinka, Mechanical Engineering
Advised by: James DeClerck, Mechanical Engineering- Engineering Mechanics
Sponsored by: Nexteer
Honorable Mention
Electric Tongue Jack Redesign (Team 230)
Team Members: Jack Redesign and Brandon Tolsma, Mechanical Engineering; Collin Jandreski, Christian Fallon, Warren Falicki, and Andrew Keskimaki, Electrical Engineering
Advised by: Trever Hassell, Electrical and Computer Engineering
Sponsored by: Stromberg Carlson
Honorable Mention
Bone Access and Bone Analog Characterization (Team 212)
Team Members: Sarah Hirsch, Mechanical Engineering; Elisabeth Miller and Christiana Strong, Biomedical Engineering; Morgan Duley, Electrical Engineering; Katelyn Ramthun, Biomedical Engineering
Advised by: Hyeun Joong Yoon and Orhan Soykan, Biomedical Engineering
Sponsored by: Stryker Interventional Spine Team
Honorable Mention
Blubber Only Implantable Satellite Tag Anchoring System (Team 221)
Team Members: Quinn Murphy, Lidia Johnson, Joshua Robles, Katy Beesley, and Kyle Pike, Biomedical Engineering
Advised by: Bruce Lee, Biomedical Engineering;
Sponsored by: NOAA
DESIGN EXPO INNOVATION AWARDS (Based on application)
First Place
Consumer Product Manufacturing Enterprise, Shareable Air project (Team 101)
Advised by: Tony Rogers, Chemical Engineering
Second Place
ITC Cell Signal Measurement Tool (Team 204)
Advised by: John Lukowski, Electrical and Computer
Engineering
Third Place
Hospital Washer Autosampler Implementation (Team 218)
Advised by: Sang Yoon Han and Houda Hatoum, Biomedical
Engineering
DESIGN EXPO PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD (Based on receiving most text-in voting during Design Expo)
Consumer Product Manufacturing (Team 111)
Advised by: Tony Rogers, Chemical Engineering
ENTERPRISE STUDENT AWARDS (Based on nominations)
Rookie Award:
Jack Block, CFO - Supermileage Systems Enterprise
Innovative Solutions:
Cory Rorick, Alternative Energy Enterprise
Outstanding Enterprise Leadership:
Andy Lambert, CEO - Supermileage Systems Enterprise and Daniel Prada, Spark Ignition (SI) Team Lead - Clean Snowmobile Enterprise
ENTERPRISE FACULTY/STAFF AWARDS (Based on nominations)
Behind the Scenes Award:
Dr. Kelly Steelman, Associate Professor and Interim Chair, Dept. of Cognitive and Learning Sciences
DESIGN EXPO IMAGE CONTEST (Based on image submitted by the team)
First Place
Blizzard Baja (Team 101)
Second Place
WAAM Die Components (Team 237)
Third Place
Aerospace Enterprise (Team 106)
Tour the 2021 Virtual Design Expo
Previous Years
Design Expo 2020
The 2020 Design Expo was a time of celebration and a sudden challenge. We celebrated the 20th Design Expo—and due to COVID-19, we did it virtually. In mid-March, school moved from face-to-face to online-only instruction, the Expo pivoted from posters and demos in the MUB to video presentations. The result? We missed everyone. We wished we could have celebrated in person. But it created a new way for people around the world to experience the Expo simultaneously. View the opening remarks, the closing awards, see the winners, or check below to see the videos from nearly 80 senior design and Enterprise teams.