First-Year Engineering Design Day (FEDD)

First-Year Engineering Design Day (FEDD) is an end-of-semester opportunity for first-year engineering student teams to showcase their design projects and compete for awards. The projects are completed as part of the E 101 – Introduction to Engineering and Problem Solving course and allow students to put core design concepts into practice during their first semester while learning how to work successfully in a design team.

FEDD is More than an Competition

Zack Carson, a freshman in the PSE program commented, “Working on the FEDD engineering project was a learning experience. Beyond the fact that my team and I learned how to build a concrete canoe (our project), I believe the class was built for something much more. I was thrown in a group with three people whom I did not know and we had to be able to mesh together. We had our challenges, but learned how to communicate and work well together. The design day itself was a large conglomeration of projects and experiences I haven’t seen before. I was excited at the chance to present and was confident in my group to place well. It might not have worked out as I had hoped, but I now know how to approach team projects in the future!”

And the Winner is….

Wallace Layman commented,  “FEDD kicked off by being crammed into a bus that should have had about twenty fewer people on it. These were inspired engineering students looking to show off their grand designs. The last test was to simply make it to the McKimmon Center unscathed. I luckily arrived with my solar still project intact; however, I found that my group, The Waterboys, was going to be cluttered onto a table with three other solar still projects. Next, a few opening remarks were made, and the madness began. Inspectors and judges were running about, and objects were moving in spontaneity as students showed people the work they had done. When the judges finally arrived at my group’s project, my eyes gleamed to show off the solar still. What ensued after was an hour of nail-biting suspense to see if the judgments were made in my group’s favor. Finally, they announced the winners of the solar still competition and The Waterboys received first place. I was overjoyed and excited that the work that was put in was not in vain.

Until next year, but we are glad that we can come observe next time, as our work is done!

by guest blogger Zach Carson and Wallace Layman