Design II, or Senior Design, is the MAE Department capstone class where students participate in an engineering society sponsored design contest such as Baja, Electric Snowmobile or Design-Build-Fly for two semesters or a theoretical mechanical design project for one semester. The MAE students have been very successful in the design contests and learn to apply their engineering skills to a project that they design, manufacture, and test in a contest. In the theoretical design class the students conceive, specify, and design a complex mechanical system such as an automotive transmission and learn the theory of bearings, gear design, and system integration in a teamwork environment. In both of the Senior Design classes the students learn how to integrate their engineering skills to solve a complex engineering problem, present their engineering designs in an oral presentation, and document their design in a written report that is the basis of their engineering portfolio. The Senior Design experience is the final course that prepares students to enter the mechanical engineering profession.
Design I, or Junior Design, is a multidisciplinary class that teaches engineering students the theory of design, the social impact of engineering, and the role of engineers in society. Students from the MAE and ECE Departments work in teams of 4 to design an electromechanical system that includes embedded controllers, pneumatics, dynamics, power transmission, CAD, manufacturing and many other fundamental engineering principles. Students consider the social, ethical, and economic issues associated with their design and engineering in general. All of the students complete a design request and a proposal in this class and learn how to manage a project in preparation for the senior design project and professional engineering practice.
Active Projects
Electric Snowmobile
Clean Snowmobile Challenge™ is an intercollegiate engineering design competition that challenges engineering students to reengineer an existing snowmobile for improved emissions and noise while maintaining or improving the performance characteristics of the original snowmobile. The modified snowmobiles are also expected to be cost-effective.
- Project Homepage: Electric Snowmobile
Baja
Baja is an intercollegiate engineering design competition for engineering students. Each team's goal is to design and build a prototype of a rugged, single seat, off-road recreational vehicle intended for sale to the non-professional weekend off-road enthusiast. The vehicle must be safe, easily transported, easily maintained, and fun to drive. It should be able to negotiate rough terrain in all types of weather without damage. The Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at Utah State University has been competing for the last several years and has traditionally had many successes.
- Project Homepage: Baja
Chimaera Hybrid Rocket
The Chimaera Hybrid Rocket project involves students from freshman to graduate students in hybrid rockets at the Air Force's Utah Test and Training Range in the west desert. Students participate in an annual competition with other universities, launching, and recovering rockets with 300 to 3,000 pounds of thrust and 10-20 feet long.
- Project Homepage: Chimaera Hybrid Rocket
Previous Projects
AIAA Design Build Fly
Design, Build, Fly is an annual international competition sponsored by AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics), and Cessna. Each year universities are invited to design, construct, and demonstrate the flight capabilities of an unmanned, radio controlled aircraft that can complete missions predetermined by the contest organizers. The contest offers a real-world aircraft design experience for engineering students. The Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering department at Utah State University has a strong tradition of success in this competition.
The Great Moonbuggy Race
The Great Moonbuggy Race is a competition sponsored by NASA and AIAA. The contest is held at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Each year students from around the United States design and build human powered lunar vehicles. These teams are then judged on design, assembly time, and size. Each Moonbuggy is driven by two students, one female and one male. The course includes over a half-mile lunar terrain simulated by "craters", rocks, "lava" ridges, inclines, and "lunar" soil.