Meredith Students Participate in First-Year Engineering Design Day 

Students in Meredith’s Dual Degree Engineering program participated in the First-Year Engineering Design Day (FEDD) at NC State at the end of the 2021-22 academic year.

FEDD is an opportunity for first-year engineering student teams to showcase their design projects, which were completed as part of the Introduction to Engineering and Problem Solving course. They learn the engineering design process and gain teamwork skills.

Javi Brito, Alexee Estes, Amelia Irvin, Sarah Manis, Tiana Smith, and Carson Wood were the Meredith College participants, on teams with NC State classmates. Irvin was the only Meredith student on her team, while the others were on teams together. 

Smith and Wood (shown at left with teammates) were on a team called The Chicken Littles. The team designed and created an automatic chicken coop door. The project earned an honorable mention.

“We felt proud of ourselves for achieving such a difficult task in only four months,” Smith said. “Overall, we have learned that having good time management is crucial for the success of any engineering project as well as utilizing each member’s strengths during the design process.”

Estes, Manis, and Brito were on a team (shown in photo two with their team) together that designed a “Beverage Buddy.” This transportable cup holder was stable on the ground and included a key holder and ice pack space. The project was required to be created on a 3-D printer.

“This was truly a wonderful experience. It was gratifying to be able to use techniques and lessons learned in other math and engineering classes and apply them to the project,” Estes said. “This is the first project I’ve engineered and produced. It will be inspiring to look back on it in four years.”

Photo info: Amelia Irvin, second from left, with her team.

The Dual Degree Engineering Program is an agreement between Meredith College and NC State through which students simultaneously complete the academic requirements of both institutions.