ECE Senior Wins Leadership Prize at First Virtual Design Day

For nearly two decades, the University of Arizona College of Engineering Design Day has been a celebration of seniors, who spend their yearlong capstone course designing and building technology for industry and university sponsors. COVID-19 restrictions meant that this year's students could no longer work together in person, and that timelines were cut short. But despite this, engineering seniors presented their creations online and got their due in a virtual awards ceremony.

This was also the first year the day was celebrated as part of the Craig M. Berge Engineering Design Program. Craig M. Berge earned his degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Arizona in 1957. After his passing in 2017, his family, including his wife and fellow UA alum Nancy, made a generous gift to the college. The funds endowed a dean’s chair and named a program that provides hands-on design experiences for undergraduates at all levels.

Engineering seniors designed a Bicycle Handlebar Mounted Automobile Proximity Sensing, Warning and Reporting Device. ECE major Rachel Sinclair, who led the CycleSafe team in creating a device to detect the proximity of automobiles to bicycles, won the second-place Honeywell Aerospace Award for Team Leadership. Sinclair's fellow team members were Tyler Mills, Gavin Scott Mitchell, Ricardo Padilla Vera, Bridget Slomka and Daniel Christian Taylor. The team also took home the $2,000 RBC Sargent Aerospace & Defense Voltaire Design Award for their device.