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This Friday is an exciting day for the College of Engineering. It is our third annual Senior Capstone Innovation Day, where students from all five of our engineering departments come together to showcase unique and creative engineering design projects they have created during the course of their senior year.

The projects you can see at Innovation Day represent the culmination of years of study by our students and showcase both their engineering expertise and their creative ability to design technical solutions to societal problems.

Every year, our students tackle a range of projects, and they have a great deal of freedom to choose a project that interests them. Each year, I am impressed by the challenges they take on and the societal impact their work can have. From adaptive devices for individuals with disabilities to projects that address drought, traffic safety and health care challenges, our students aim to engineer a better world.

This year, student projects include collaborations with industries such as Genentech Corporation, Barrick Gold and General Electric. Our civil and environmental engineering students are partnering with local municipalities and state departments of transportation in Arkansas, California and ÁùºÏ±¦µä to improve water infrastructure and roadways in local communities.

Other projects include mobile applications for women's health, traffic management systems for drones, a smart watering system that can keep plants green by optimizing water usage, and a fire prevention system using multiple kinds of sensors and prevention techniques.

A number of our student projects feature work in established and emerging areas of strength in the College of Engineering, including autonomous systems, cyber security, infrastructure and sustainable technology. These areas are also key sites for growth in our region's economic diversification efforts, and the College is committed to providing educated professionals with skills in these important areas.

As Northern ÁùºÏ±¦µä's business community grows and changes, the College seeks to be responsive to industry needs, proving both an educated workforce and research expertise for area businesses. In turn, our industry partners provide key internship and employment opportunities for our students, enabling them to gain crucial experience as they develop their proficiency as engineers.

Innovation Day would not be possible without the hard work of our senior capstone instructors in every department. In particular, Sergiu Dascalu and Yantao Shen have worked very diligently to coordinate this event this year, and I want to thank them for their efforts and dedication to making this event happen.

We'd like to invite you to attend Innovation Day on Friday to see these projects and have a chance to visit with the students. Complete event details are available on the Innovation Day website.  

Indira Chatterjee is the associate dean of the College of Engineering and foundation professor of electrical and biomedical engineering. As associate dean, Dr. Chatterjee is responsible for developing industry partnerships, expanding research productivity in the College of Engineering and overseeing undergraduate affairs.