DATE: 12:30-5 p.m., Dec. 10, 2009.

EVENT: Nearly 70 teams of undergraduate engineering students will showcase their capstone design projects at the University of Michigan College of Engineering’s Design Expo.

The number of participating teams continues to grow every semester, as more groups participate and several new College initiatives invite more groups to undertake design projects. A new Multidisciplinary Design minor enables undergraduates to obtain hands-on experience designing, building and testing technology systems. And the Center for Entrepreneurship’s certificate program offers students an academic foundation to support their business aspirations.

This semester students will display projects such as:

• Visual aids for the blind

• A human-powered submarine

• A new and expanded transportation system for the University of Michigan

• A utility-consumption monitoring system for residential and commercial buildings

• “Slotbots,” a competition that pits student-designed robotic machines against one another to move the most ping-pong and squash balls to the opposing side of a specially-designed table. This tournament begins at 1:30 p.m. Thirty teams will participate in 2-minute rounds, with several minutes in between for resetting. Other projects will show off research in biofuels, clean water and more.

PLACE: Duderstadt Center, Duderstadt Connector Hallway, Pierpont Commons on North Campus. For a map, visit http://www.engin.umich.edu/facilities/maps/ppcommons.html and http://www.engin.umich.edu/facilities/maps/duderstadt.html.

CONTACT: Jessica Boria Brakora, Student Affairs Program Manager, College of Engineering, (734) 763-7421, [email protected].

SPONSORS: University of Michigan, Eaton Corp.

WEBSITE: http://www.engin.umich.edu/designexpo/index.html