RAMPING UP INGENUITY Engineering students vs. the thief

from The RECORD, Summer 2020

ALL TURTLES ON THE LOG And the persuasive voices that will keep them there

Ingenuity

Engineering students vs. the thief

By Carla Morris

Some people look at a wheelchair ramp and see handicap assistance; others look at it and see a chance to make a quick buck. Residential aluminum wheelchair ramps touted as lightweight and easy to install prove just as easy for thieves to remove, haul to a scrap yard, and convert into cash.

“It’s a lot more common than you’d expect,” says Cameron Tanzyus, a senior engineering major at GU. He tells a story about a homeowner whose ramp went missing only two hours after its installation.

Cameron presented the dilemma to members of GU’s Engineering Advisory Board, who visited campus last fall. They registered a mix of surprise and appreciation for the thieves’ ingenuity. As their laughter wound down, Cameron and his three co-presenters launched into an update of their senior capstone project that would span two semesters: designing an affordable thief-proof ramp.

The idea sounded simple, but the product development process proved complex. Volumes of research set them up for dozens of decisions about details: the ramp’s extension and incline, its strength requirements, parts, surface materials, lighting enhancements, and more. The students tracked down suppliers, mulled over quotes, and weighed priorities.

Additional challenges emerged as the project moved into second semester. “Two of us having internships and three of us in spring sports makes it extremely difficult to find time all together,” said Erick Garcia. By mid-March, Isaiah Canales still pronounced the task of finding proper materials and vendors “complicated.” He and his team awaited a few more quotes to know just how much money they’d have to invest before they began building a model.

The students’ project timeline reveals more than the path from idea to prototype. It reflects a broad mix of applied art and science—collaboration, critical thinking, analysis, empathy for consumers, problem

Clear Goals, Deep Gratitude

An area where I’ve improved is thinking and planning how to tackle a challenge. I’ve learned to think strategically. Hard work has paid off. Thank you for helping me pursue higher education and reach goals that my parents had always desired for me to reach.

– Erick Garcia ’20, Commerce, California; recipient of GU’s donor-funded Dean’s Scholarship

Thank you for giving.

solving, understanding of materials and the physical world, economics, markets, and persuasive communication.

Even when the students presented the early stages of their project last November, they engaged the art of storytelling and chose a problem-solution approach. They imagined what their listeners would want to know and struck a good balance of information. In under 20 minutes, they presented relevant tables and diagrams, summarized explorations into concepts and materials, explained next steps, and invited questions.

In short, they demonstrated skills and understanding that future employers value. The project gave them meaningful experience to include on their resumes and talk about during job interviews.

With such breadth in skills, it’s not surprising that top business leaders have backgrounds in engineering. Harvard Business Review reported that 24 percent of the CEOs on its list of “Best Performing CEOs in the World” studied engineering.* The young engineers in Snyder Hall on GU’s campus may one day entertain that vision. For now, however, they would gladly settle for starting to build the ramp that has consumed them for months, and possibly, finally, foil that thief.

*Martin, R., Goleman, D., Collins, J., & Harvard Business Review Staff. (2017, June 14). The Best-Performing CEOs in the World. Retrieved April 14, 2020, from https://hbr.org/2014/11/ the-best-performing-ceos-in-the-world