One of the most common questions I get asked by engineering students is “What is engineering?” A close second is “How does engineering relate to my life?”
The most fundamental definition of an engineer is someone who creates solutions to the problems faced by humanity.
A group of students in my freshmen class created a project that beautifully demonstrates this concept in a relevant way to nearly every college student. They applied the engineering design process to one of the great problems of on-campus life:
Problem
How can a student protect the candy stash in his/her dorm room?
Resources Available
- Laptop computer
- $70 budget
- NI myDAQ data acquisition instrument
Solution
The Gotcha Grab’n: a fully functional security system for their dorm room. Their system detects movement inside a drawer full of goodies and responds to an unwanted invasion by sounding an alarm and recording an image of the perpetrator.
Have a look:
What everyday problems would you like to solve?
The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor offers several exciting programs in Computer Science and Engineering. If you’re interested in a career in one of those fields, stop by for a visit to see if UMHB is right for you.