UPEI Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering holds annual Student Design Expo

The UPEI Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering (FSDE) showcased the best in sustainable design engineering projects by its students at the annual Student Design Expo on Friday, April 19, 2024.

The students had the opportunity to highlight their design skills, to network with design clinic partners, and to be recognized for their hard work as aspiring engineers. In addition to student project teams and members of the UPEI community, including Dr. Greg Keefe, Interim President and Dr. Greg Naterer, Vice-President Academic and Research, Kim Levesque from the Association of Professional Engineers of PEI, and Philip Brown, Mayor of Charlottetown, attended the event.

Dr. Sheldon White, an assistant professor in the FSDE, said it is amazing to see the projects the students come up with each year.

“It's always fascinating to see a project go from simply a problem on a piece of paper to a student team picking it up, brainstorming to come up with possible solutions, and working through the design process to come up with something that actually solves the problem,” he said. “It’s fascinating to watch how quickly that can happen and how the student team can work together to come up with solutions.”

The 2024 Student Design Expo was supported by event sponsors Innovation PEI and Springboard Atlantic. Sponsored awards announced after the event included Parks Canada Awards, Engineers PEI Awards, OCII Innovation Award, Cleantech Award, FSDE Awards, CSME Gold Medal Awards, and FSDE Graduate Student Awards. For a complete list of awards and winners, go to 2024 Student Design Expo.

“Design projects allow engineering students to work with community and industry partners on actual technical challenges identified by the organization,” said Naterer. “These provide a form of experiential learning for students and tangible benefits to external partners. The students should be proud of their quality design work and their ingenuity, resourcefulness, and determination in finding creative solutions.”