Emphasizing Individual Responsibility within an Undergraduate Project Structure

Secondary education is a chance to increase a person’s independence, professionalism, and creativity. Extra-curricular organizations have the ability to inhibit or catalyze these characteristics depending on their structure. In these organizations is the key to creating a well-rounded student an emphasis on individual responsibility? This study aims to highlight the effects different structural elements have on the students and their project’s respective successes or failures. In order to accomplish this an original poll was administered to several undergraduate research and design groups during the spring semester of 2016 that allowed the students to self-report on their growth. This study then analyzed the results and offered its criticisms. The preliminary results show that an organization that allows students to be responsible for the tasks they complete leads to more than 75 percent of those students reporting that their communication, time-management, and leadership skills have grown due to the project

Project Daedalus: An Additive Manufacturing Vending Machine

The project was a research endeavor focused on designing and building a vending machine for 3D-printed parts. It also had the secondary objective of catalyzing leadership qualities among its membership by emphasizing individual responsibility and forward thinking. The project began in the spring of 2015, when the topic of autonomous 3D-printing was chosen, funding was secured, and the majority of the leadership was brought on. Over the summer and into the fall semester the team developed project requirements and infrastructure, and gathered members from the parent organization. By December of 2015 most of the machine design had been completed, and the parts were en route so that building could be started in the spring semester. Due to a combination of time constraints, underestimated difficulty, and unforeseen logistical circumstances, the project was not able to achieve its primary goal of having a working prototype by May 2016. However, it is the belief of the project’s leadership and many of the members that it succeeded in its secondary goal of creating competent and confident leaders, several of whom went on to lead projects of their own

Designing Inflatable Pontoons as Boat Stabilizers for Dock Safety

Rowers with physical disabilities, adaptive rowers, often use pontoons to help stabilize their boats on the water, however additional problems have been recognized with entering and exiting the boat. The problem of this project is to research and design a device or system of devices to increase stability at the dock while adaptive rowers are getting in and out of the boat. This project addresses how the docking process can be made more efficient and safe through boat stabilization. It further explores how well inflatable pontoons stabilize the boat at the dock in addition to the water. Using a design process, a system was developed where an inflatable pontoon is partially deflated at the dock to provide resistance to the dock, thereby decreasing boat movement. This device helps adaptive rowers’ autonomy at the dock by eliminating the need for assistive personnel to keep their boats steady