Stevens hosts first Technical Communication Competition
Funded as part of a generous grant from Engineering Information Foundation
HOBOKEN, N.J. — On April 29, 2009, Stevens Institute of Technology hosted the first Technical Communication Competition. This event allowed senior design students to compete presenting their projects to a non-technical audience. The competition was funded as part of a generous grant from Engineering Information Foundation (EIF) to improve the communications skills of engineers who must spend an important part of their careers communicating their findings to lay audiences.
Seven teams of students were nominated by their senior design instructors
| Advisors | Projects |
|---|---|
Leslie Brunell (Civil) |
Concrete Canoe |
Bruce McNair (ECE) |
Crontablet |
Raju Datla (Naval) |
Design of a Reconfigurable SuperYacht |
MG Prasad (ME) |
Hybrid electric vehicle drive train testing platform |
Erik Hole (SSE) |
Municipal Energy Frontiers: Biodiesel raw material collection and distillation |
Vikki Hazelwood (BME) |
Team Versi-Chair |
Xiaoguang.Meng (Env. E) |
Wind Generation for the Babbio Center |
Three judges, all not engineers, scored the competing teams awarding points for organization, development, presentation skills, use of slides, content, and ability to speak to lay audiences. In addition to Professor Deborah Sinnreich-Levi (director, Writing and Communications at the Institute and co-PI on the EIF grant with Ms. Susan Metz), Dean Kenneth Nilsen (Student Life) and Ms. Lynn Insley (Director, Career Development) served as judges. The scores were tabulated on the spot, and the winners immediately notified amid applause from students and faculty alike.
The winning team (Municipal Energy Frontiers), made up of Mary Kelly, Gustaf Rath, Christopher La Pilusa, and Mike Munley, shared a $500 prize. They have also been invited to speak to middle school students in Hudson County as part of a program that the Stevens Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education (CIESE) is planning on June 12 th. The goal of the program is to get younger students interested in engineering and science careers and open their eyes to the world of invention and innovation.
About Stevens Institute of Technology
Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.
Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.
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