The Kanbar College of Design, Engineering and Commerce gives students the unprecedented opportunity to gain valuable real-world experience by working collaboratively across disciplines on industry-sponsored projects.

The Federal-Mogul Innovation Competition presented student teams with a real-world product challenge: come up with an innovative and commercially viable product for component protection in the automotive market. Forty undergraduate students majoring in design, engineering and commerce disciplines competed in this innovation competition. Students were split into teams of eight, were given specific customer requirements and were asked to develop a viable product solution that was both innovative and commercially viable. The winning team’s concept, Reflexo Coil, is a self-locating component protector for automotive cables, wires, and tubes. Click here to read more about this project.

As part of the industry collaboration, sponsored by Dunmore Corporation, an international film manufacturer, students developed new solar film models for residences, film used in thermal management for solar insulation and reflection, and new market research for antimicrobial products for film surfaces. A collaborative team made up of architectural engineering student Ashley Echols, MBA student Nicole Lemanski, and industrial design students Faye Rice and Jordan Cammarata developed an aesthetic film that could be applied to solar panels to improve their aesthetics, without dramatically impacting their efficiency. Click here to read more about this project.

Construction Specialties, Inc., sponsored a hybrid solar control/hurricane damage protection project, for which student teams had to propose concepts to meet government and industry protection standards while responding to critiques from some of the nation’s largest architecture firms. Students formed multidisciplinary teams to work with Construction Specialties and increase the utility of their products. Design students Carolyn Hannan ’11 and Sam Ryan ’12, engineering student Christopher Anderson ’11 and MBA student Andrew Forsythe M’11, created a dynamic product that can protect a building during a hurricane, up to a category 3, while simultaneously providing solar protection. Click here to read more about this project.

The FXI Student Design Competition challenged students to collaborate on the design of new products utilizing the firm’s memory foam. As a result of extensive research, design and collaboration, the project finalists designed innovative products to uncover the next great design utilizing memory foam. Junior textile design majors Lily Kubiak and Joanna Lee won the top prize of $4,000 for their glove design that helps promote muscle mobility and dexterity. Other product designs included a multi-use pillow system for pregnant women to improve posture while sitting and sleeping; a vest to help lift and move disabled people; and a head scarf to improve sleep while sitting and/or traveling. Click here to read more about this project.