Engineering students graduate August 5

Students graduating from the School of Engineering at Grand Valley State University will conclude their college experiences by showing off their industry work in a special ceremony Friday.

The School of Engineering Senior Design Conference will be Friday, August 5, from 1:30-4:30 p.m. in the Keller Engineering Lab Building on the Pew Grand Rapids Campus. The Order of the Engineer ceremony will follow. Some 56 students will display projects that were designed and built to address actual problems and needs of area companies. The projects take two semesters to complete, and at the end, the participating companies have an actual working product. The students are not paid for their work, but instead gain college credit and valuable work experience.

The day culminates in the Order of the Engineer ceremony, which is a special commencement ritual for engineering students. It will take place on the same day, August 5, from 6-7 p.m. in the Eberhard Center on the second floor. The graduates earn their degrees later than the traditional spring ceremony because they must complete a year-long co-op experience. In the ceremony, each student receives an iron ring, placed on the fifth finger of the working hand, which symbolizes bridging the step between training and experience.

The projects on display were completely designed, built, and tested by the students. Sponsors of the projects include: Magnum Engineering, Grand Rapids Children’s Museum, Burke Porter, DornerWorks, Gill Industries, Stanley InnerSpace and Fulton Innovation.

For more information, contact News and Information Services at (616) 331-2221 or Tina Lee from the School of Engineering at (616) 331-6508.