Pitching Ideas and Receiving Valuable Feedback: The Benefits of Senior Design Project Presentations in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science”.

On February 24, the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science held senior design project presentations. The event was well-attended by department alumni and industry professionals. During the presentations, students had the chance to showcase their projects, practice their public speaking skills, and receive valuable feedback from their peers, faculty members, alumni, and industry professionals.

One of the students who presented was Duncan Marshall. He found the experience to be very beneficial in terms of pitching ideas. Although he felt a bit nervous initially, he ultimately felt confident in the progress his group had made throughout the project. Marshall also noted that they received unexpected but important questions specific to their project that helped them prepare for future presentations.

Daniel Schwartz, an alumnus and lead electrical engineer at Honeywell Federal Manufacturing and Technologies, praised the teams for their ability to effectively summarize their design work from the past semester and a half. He highlighted the event as a valuable opportunity for evaluating students for potential employment and identifying parallels between their projects and industry work.

Presenting at this event taught Marshall important lessons about patience, clear communication, and addressing concerns promptly. Despite some questions regarding safety that they planned to address later, the feedback from experienced professionals emphasized the importance of starting early on such critical aspects of the project.

Arielle Williams, a controls engineering manager for Marshalltown and a graduate of the department, enjoyed attending the presentations. She applauded the presenters for their excellent job and reflected on her own nervousness during presentations as a student. Williams also appreciated the opportunity to support current students and see her former interns presenting their projects.

The next opportunity for students to showcase their projects will be at