CORVALLIS - Engineering students at Oregon State University's School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science will display their latest innovations during the annual Engineering Expo on Wednesday, May 5.

Among the more than 30 senior projects featured at the expo will be a miniature energy extraction system capable of converting the energy from ocean waves into electricity, a new data collection system designed to help breweries, and a traction control system used on OSU's award-winning mini-Baja car.

Many of the projects are funded by industry sponsors like Hewlett-Packard, Tektronix, Bonneville Power Administration, Intel, Mentor Graphics, and others.

The expo will also feature a TekBots Triathlon, including an artistic challenge with scores based on creative bodywork, an agility course and an innovation contest. Approximately 160 TekBots, which are OSU student-built robots, are expected to enter the competition.

"The Engineering Expo is a fun way of showing the public how electrical engineers and computer scientists improve our lives through innovation," said Terri Fiez, director of the OSU School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. "Our students not only do the highly technical work, but they are also able to describe their projects so that non-engineers can understand them. There's lots of learning that happens at the expo."

In addition, Oregon high school participants in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics competition will display their robots, which the students built in six weeks.

The free event is open to the public and takes place between 2 and 5 p.m. at Owen Hall on campus. For more information, call 541-737-3617 or e-mail [email protected]. Free parking for this event is available at Reser Stadium.

Source: 

Terri Fiez, 541-737-3617

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