On Thursday, April 28, 2005 the Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering held its first Mechanical Engineering Senior Design Day. NCSU faculty, students and family as well as past and present sponsor company representatives were invited to attend. The day's activities began in the morning with concurrent senior design presentations by students in all three sections of MAE 416. This semester's sponsors and projects are:

Caterpillar, Inc.
Design of a Granular Material Spreader attachment for Skid Steer and Multi-Terrain Loaders

Dimon International, Inc.
Design of Tobacco Packaging System

Global Nuclear Fuel
Design Project for Locking Spring Removal Tooling

Lunchtime activities took place outdoors between Broughton and Mann Halls, and included the annual MAE Graduate Student Poster Competition. The Aerial Robotics Club, Wolfpack Motor Sports Team, and ASME Robot Design Team demonstrated their activities and answered questions from interested visitors. American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) NCSU Student Chapter hosted a Burger Bash.

The senior design teams demonstrated their prototypes in the afternoon. First, second, and third place teams from each class were chosen by the company sponsors. Certificates and prizes were awarded to the teams that placed.