Student Work

For my main project I want to make something car related and cool. I’m thinking of making something like BMW’s new concept mirrorless rear view mirror. It reduces wind drag and gives the car a new and high tech feel. Below is a picture of BMW’s version:

For me, the concept of “time” is pretty fundamental to my outlook on life. The way people value time and who (or what) they give their time to say a lot about a person, and the variety of ways people spend it fascinates me. Athletes and artists dedicate the majority of their time to a skill, often…

This summer my buddy and I built some alcohol stoves from aluminum cans like the one shown above. These stoves are very light and run on isopropyl alcohol. I’ve always thought minimalist camping stoves are really incredible and look really cool, like the model above. Many of the compressed gas stoves look very similar to…

One of my favorite movies growing up was Tron not for the plot or anything, but because I thought the Tron universe was the coolest thing.  The discs are cool and light bikes are awesome (I’d kill to have one), but I realized later I was most in awe with the LED aesthetic.  In high…

Deciding on my final project was actually very hard, I had no idea where to start. Although I am not a musician by any means, I really enjoy playing some music to relax while I work. The problem that I encounter sometimes was that I had to connect my music devise into something to listen to…

When I first declared my major as mechanical engineering, one of my best friends gifted me a mechanical gear necklace. It was made of simple balsa wood and the gears were connected in such a way that they rotated altering the shape of the necklace. I loved the necklace, but the fragile wood soon broke…

As I mentioned in a previous post, the idea to create a barn door to divide my guest bathroom and laundry space has been largely due to necessity.  Currently, the bathroom and laundry are not  separated and guests have a front row seat to our dirty socks (among other things) and shelves of cleaning products.  This…

As I approach my final year of college in the mechanical engineering department, I can’t help but be filled with wonder at how quickly these years have gone by, elation I am almost to the end, fear of the future and of the unknown, and relief to finally, at long last, be done. And I…

I’m still juggling between a few different ideas, but the two top ideas I am debating between are a light-up fan bed canopy and Neo’s parasol from the show RWBY.  I will write my blog post mapping out both of these ideas. Light-Up Bed Canopy This idea is inspired by my team member Brittany Warly…

For my final project, I have a few ideas that I am bouncing around with… but I think I might go with this one. The current idea is to create a table top or wall mounted sculpture using ferrofluid. I have been fascinated by ferrofluid ever since I came across it years ago in a…

I’ve always loved the look of wood furniture and products. I grew up in a house with hardwood floors and as I grew up, I went from looking up at where I was going while sliding along the floor in socks to looking down at the incongruous grains as they slid out of view. Wood…

My overall project inspirations were two things; something I will actually use, and something that is important to me. This lead me down two roads, one which will be more likely and reasonable, and one that I will eventually do regardless of this class but am restricted by resources and time. The first idea is…

I’ve always loved these bikes: http://i.imgur.com/R2VrM6H.jpg They’re a natural evolution from the lugged steel frames of the 60s-80s. Among bike enthusiasts, this is often recognized as a very 90s thing. The best the 90s had to offer. Unfortunately, they are not exactly becoming more common. Their component compatibility, increasingly obsolete. But I gotta have one. If I’m…

Junior year of high school I may have been a bit of an adrenaline junkie.  One frosty February morning, just outside of Boston, where ice covered half the roads and paths, I was hanging out with my friend Abby.  Abby longboarded and on this day I found a board in her car and asked if I…

I have still been bouncing ideas and inspirations around in my head for my final project. I always find this part of the design process the hardest. I generally have multiple ideas that inspire me or that I want to create, but have trouble narrowing down my imagination and honing in on what is feasible.…

For my final project, I’d like to create an expanding table. Nothing quite like some of the intricate examples we saw in class, but a simple clean design. The aesthetic for this table will draw on a contemporary mix between organic materials and functional but attractive shapes, very much like my side table. I saw…

A few weeks ago I was looking for some inspiration for this design project and was having zero luck with finding something I actually wanted to make and would keep.  Somehow I managed to stumble across an Infinity Mirror and instantly knew that this would be my project.  The infinity mirror is a regular mirror…

I knew from the beginning of the semester that I wanted to make a mobile. In case you didn’t know what a mobile is exactly, a mobile is an device which typically hangs from the ceiling in a nursery and has objects balancing from all sides of it to hold the device in equilibrium. The…

Basically, I want to make a completely 3D-printed toy (for children or the young at heart!) that is capable of transforming from one configuration into another through simple manipulation (twist, push, pull, etc). The most difficult aspect of the project will be designing the snap-fit/sliding/rotating features that allow the transformation to occur. This will surely require lots of test prints,…

For my design project, I am inspired to build a swing bike. What is a swing bike, you ask? Well it’s quite simple, it’s a bike that swings. An extra pivot is added to the seat tube, effectively decoupling the front of the bike from the rear. This allows the rider to do all sorts…

I enrolled in this class because I hoped to explore the intersection of art and engineering. Having to go through intense technical classes for four years can be frustrating, and it is very refreshing to be part of a course with a different format and focus. In the remaining months of the semester, I hope…

I think I mentioned this in my skill sets post, but my background is pretty diverse, and it’s been a long road to the point where I have an idea what I might like to do after school. But here goes. I did my undergrad in Environmental Studies here at CU, and I focused primarily on sustainable…

What brought me to this class (as we talked about on Wednesday) is my past internships. I have seen the give and take between the engineering department and the design department at Boa technology. What I really wanted to get out of this class is the knowledge that will help me make something, not only…

Careers, like the design process, are constantly being iterated and improved upon. While it was once commonplace to have a job or trade that carried people through their adult lives and into retirement, that scenario is increasingly rare. According to an article published in Psychology Today, “Millennials have almost twice as many job and organizational…

In the years that I have been studding Mechanical engineering I have taken very interesting class. I noticed that although I learned the theory of how things should work, I have not learned the practices to the extent that I would like. What do I mean by this? Well looking back in previous classes and…

For this semester, I would like to gain more knowledge in air pollution control and heat transfer. That’s the reason for me to choose energy as my graduate track. In the future, I want to be involved in sustainable energy or anything related to improve the environment. So, In my first job, I would like…

What are my aspirations? This class is one of few classes that I have been assigned to do my own project at. Being used to group project it is somewhat weird. However, I appreciate the aspects of individualism and aesthetic required for this class. Before this class my mindset as and engineer was that functionality…

As I journey toward completing my undergrad in Mechanical Engineering there are a few areas I’d like to refine in my craftsmanship. I understand that this is a process toward a goal that will probably never be completed, but I’d like to better articulate my design intents. In this sense it’s largely about executing the…

This semester, I’m hoping to add an organic aspect to my design portfolio. I’ve worked a lot with sharp/straight cad designs, but recently started working with surfaces and more natural features. I’d like to continue working on the aesthetic side of my designs, rather than focusing on functionality exclusively.   In my first job, I…

What are you hoping to gain in experience and skills this semester and by graduation? By the end of this semester and graduation, I will have hoped to improve in the following ways.  Firstly. I hope to increase my overall acumen for industrial design.  I also wish to be more efficient in the areas of…

As I complete each milestone of my final semester of college, I often find ask myself what I’m working towards. What am I aspiring to do? Why have I gone through the rigors of engineering school; pulling all-nighters to turn in a seemingly insignificant homework assignment on time and stressing over minute details within complicated…

As I am still a few years from graduation and have little to no experience with design or production, I hope to gain experience with laser cutters, 3D printing and prototyping. I think 3D printers are very cool, so I am really excited to work with them this semester. In general, I hope to gain…

As a second semester senior, I’m hoping to stay afloat. In all seriousness, the past couple of weeks have been very difficult with balancing school (predominantly senior design and advanced product design) and part-time work (I intern at LASP), in addition to trying to be a functional human being. It’s been difficult to be exposed to…

“This week, what are you hoping to gain in experience and skills this semester and by graduation?” I just wanna dance the night away! Not really, but I do want to increase my skills in all engineer aspects and be more creative in my designs. This class allows me to look at both the function…

What I plan to learn in this class is to get a feel of how aesthetics works with engineering. After 4 years in mechanical engineering, we learned lots of stuff but not anything art related. We all know that a product needs to be good looking to sell. That’s the reason why I am in…

In this, my last semester of college, I’m just hoping to gain as much knowledge as I can before I start the next chapter.  At this point I’m just trying to expose myself to as much as I can, which was my main motivation for taking this class.  Even at this early stage in the semester…

A large part of me going to grad school was me attempting to duck the permanence of employment. One year later, though, and I’m right back where I was, with nowhere to hide and the working world on the horizon. I’m much more excited about it now than I was last year, though. I have…

To be honest I have never really had any particular aspirations regarding my a future career.  I want to do something that helps people. I know that can be broad.  I love it when people are inlove with life and feel alive.  I have been a ski instructor at a local resort for a few…

This semester, my main goals are focused around manufacturing. With my senior design project, I find myself spending 20+ hours a week in the machine shop getting acquainted with the mill and lathe. By the end of this semester, I hope to have huge confidence when approaching the machine shop to make anything I want.…

Like many at this stage of life, my aspirations are on my mind a lot of the time. As a mechanical engineering student, graduating with my bachelor’s and master’s in May, the world feels like my oyster. I could have my pick of anything that I want to do; spanning from aerospace to renewable energy…

When I first decided to go into mechanical engineering, I had the idea that I would be personally designing, constructing, and assembling hardware on my day to day job. I have since found out that (most) mechanical engineers don’t actually have a large role beyond design and documentation. My dream job would be wearing the hat of…

This semester, I am hoping to learn a lot more about how to design things in order to be both functional and visually appealing. I would love to work in product design and development after I graduate and aesthetics play a huge role in that field. Most of the design work that I have done is…

The main reason why I am taking this class is to get more exposure to the aesthetics side of product design. I’d like to improve my sketching skills to be able to more comfortably and quickly draw a concept or idea. Eventually, I want to be able to do sketches like this: By graduation, I would…

Currently my aspirations for this semester are to gain a good bit of working experience in manufacturing, 3-d printing, laser cutter, and Arduino skills are all up for grabs at the ITLL and my lower credit hour semester is allowing for more time to explore these avenues. By graduation I expect to have completed at least one…

Two years ago I transferred to CU Boulder from a small public college in Charleston, South Carolina. At the College of Charleston, I was introduced to computer science and fell in love with learning it. It was so different from my experiences in my other liberal arts classes. Instead of regurgitating the same writing and…

Before I graduate I hope to learn more about the different technologies that can be used to manufacture products as well as more experience with electronics.  I have experience with wood working and I’m learning a lot about machining through senior design, but I would like to learn more about 3D printing and laser cutting. …

This semester I would like to to gain more experience taking a project from a initial idea to a fully executed design. This involves identifying project objectives, developing a realistic schedule, and staying on track  complete a project. At the end of the semester I would like to have a product that is refined enough…

As a fifth year BS/MS student with a track in bioengineering, I am taking this class solely out of interest. All of the design project classes I’ve taken so far has always been with a group all working toward a single product with no concern towards aesthetics, so I’m very interested in gaining more project…

As I come to my final semester of college, I expected to have more direction than I first did walking into CU. I could barely pick a major, originally I was chemistry, and by chanced ended up switching to mechanical engineering. However, I find myself just as unsure about my desired career field as I…

My goal for this semester is to try to expand my artistic side.  As I finish up my 5th year of engineering school I feel like my technical knowledge base is pretty solid and well rounded.  Despite this we have seen time and time again that design is more than just the technical side of…