Innovation and Industry at CSUF's

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE

Each year students in the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) at Cal State Fullerton celebrate the completion of year-long design projects at the ECS Student Projects Showcase and Awards. This event provides students the opportunity to share new design ideas and exciting prototypes across all five disciplines represented in the college: Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Civil and Environmental Engineering.

In 2017, ECS achieved a record number of 70 student projects on display during the ECS Student Projects Showcase and Awards. This year will likely be even bigger with the success of the college’s Corporate Partners program, which connects local industry with students and facilitates industry sponsored student projects. These projects give students the opportunity to work on real life problems facing companies that believe in the power of a student’s fresh perspective. Not only does the company benefit from student ideas, but the students receive critical, hands-on applied learning experience that will benefit them as they enter the workforce after graduation.

ECS student Mohammadreza Hajy Heydary discusses his project, Automatic Identification of Use of Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) Buses from GPS Data, with industry guest Fred Alexander, President and CEO of Alexander Consulting Group, LLC.

This year, the college has 16 corporate partners spanning Orange County with four of them based in North Orange County: PacMin, Inc., Disney Parks, Raytheon, and Bristol Industries. The projects are focused on skills that include smart modeling, roller coaster track inspection, navigation tools and robotics. Collectively, our corporate partners are sponsoring 20 different student projects, which will be on display at the ECS Student Projects Showcase and Awards. Dan Ouweleen, President of PacMin, Inc., has said of the program: “PacMin has discovered a hidden gem of practical engineering talent right here in Fullerton with CSUF’s program that allows companies like ours to provide real-life engineering challenges we face to the ECS students through CSUF’s ECS Corporate Partners Program. It is a win-win benefit for the students and the partner, in that the students get to work on practical engineering challenges and the corporate partner gets to potentially implement these solutions directly into their business.”

Among the many student projects on display was: Micromouse - The Autonomous Maze-Solving Robot. More than 50 projects were presented at the showcase.

Our corporate partners like PacMin offer invaluable learning experiences to our students mentoring them throughout their projects and modeling professionalism and quality work ethic. Susan Barua, interim dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science, has expressed sincere gratitude to the corporate partners who have supported student projects this year. “Without our corporate partners, we would not be able to provide these learning opportunities that enrich our students’ educational experiences.”

ECS students Ashley Matarelli, Alvin Nguyen, Michael Do, Joel Zarate, Christian Aerts and Clayton Nelems presented their project: ROSHA PORTAL - Regionally Optimized Smart Home Architecture at the 2017 ECS Student Showcase and Awards.

This year’s ECS Student Projects Showcase and Awards is scheduled for Monday, May 7, 2018. As the event continues to expand with the growth in student population and the Corporate Partners program, the college is offering unique sponsorship opportunities that include logo placements and the option for a company to name one of the awards given to top-notch projects at the event. The College of Engineering and Computer Science welcomes the community to visit campus during this wonderful celebration of students and industry. Businesses interested in attending or sponsoring the ECS Student Projects Showcase and Awards or learning more about becoming a corporate partner, should contact Nicole Bailey at 657-278-4847 or nbailey@fullerton.edu.

The Edwards Automated Sewing, which placed 3rd, was designed to contribute to Edwards Lifesciences endeavors in fully automating a sewing process of an implantable cloth onto a trans-catheter heath valve (THV). This 2017 senior design team showcased the precision and accuracy of the robotic system.

“IT IS A WIN-WIN BENEFIT FOR THE STUDENTS AND THE PARTNER, IN THAT THE STUDENTS GET TO WORK ON PRACTICAL ENGINEERING CHALLENGES AND THE CORPORATE PARTNER GETS TO POTENTIALLY IMPLEMENT THESE SOLUTIONS DIRECTLY INTO THEIR BUSINESS.”

- Dan Ouweleen, President of PacMin, Inc.