the mechanical engineering student team that took second place in their category with a document preservation tool had a very positive experience with their sponsor the texas a&m university libraries the team worked to help the library staff preserve historical document integrity from oils environmental influences and moisture they created a welding encapsulator that uses ultrasonic energy to create a seam or spot weld around a document or item showcase has been awesome in that ive never seen so many engineering students work so hard on a project said sheila khodadad mechanical engineering senior a lot of us didnt have any experience coming into this then you get this new idea and youre trying to figure out how to solve this problem its just really worthwhile learning how to problem solve in real life seeing a design all the way to development is just a really good feeling you work so hard with your teammates and its been amazing industry judges were impressed with this years projects many found themselves interacting with the teams beyond those they were asked to judge simply because the projects were so impactful many of the industry judges had participated in the past citing the interesting and unique projects as a main cause for returning originally from mexico jose quintana 86 president of advent gx came to study computer science at texas a&m and ended up staying in the area for work this was his second year to judge for the showcase these are technologies that contribute to the betterment of our community said jose quintana ‘86 president of advent gx even judging the freshman students with their marble-sorting technology is great to see [showcase] gives us the opportunity to see the kids at work have them go through a process where they have to manage their teams and the design process itself judges and visitors arent the only ones to benefit from the team project experience as roger kittrell 86 sector leader in transportation with the wood group pointed out the students gain skills outside of the classroom that polish them as a potential hire my son is a sophomore electrical engineer said kittrell i told him that once he graduates all you are going to have is one sheet of white paper that represents all youve done they arent going to know anything about you except whats on that one sheet of paper and by talking to you youve got to get as much experience as possible the projects allow students to interact as a group just like a work environment where they would have a problem that needed to be solved and collaborate on solving it together the interaction and communication skills gained through team interaction is a large part of why showcase participants enjoyed it because few engineering industries have individual work scenarios students learning to collaborate and communicate in a real-world environment helps round them out ensuring the showcase happens annually is very important to me said magda lagoudas executive director of industry and nonprofit partnerships for the college of engineering i know these students benefit immensely from the experience of interacting with industry and the journey to getting their projects and themselves ready for the judges we are extremely grateful for industry involvement each year especially as our showcase grows larger to accommodate more majors and more diversity in projects this event was made possible by the 2018 engineering project showcase sponsors and supporters: kubota texas a&m engineering experiment station baker hughes boeing elbit systems of america emerson houston airports peak nano student project sponsors industry judges and support staff and faculty winners of of the 2018 engineering project showcase: biological and agricultural engineering capstone design winners:kubota tractor corporation award: sasle nicaragua water conveyance and distribution systemsecond place: controlled atmosphere storage biomedical engineering capstone design winner:development of a non-blood contacting pediatric heart augmentation device various department capstone design winner:commbo: modernizing augmentative and alternative communication electrical & computer engineering capstone design winner:elbit systems of america award: east texas climate tracking engineering technology & industrial distribution capstone design winners:emerson award: nasa class-1e facility monitoring and control systemsecond place: mobility worldwide industrial & systems engineering capstone design winners:houston airport system award: autonomy as a service: the optimal experiencesecond place: revitalizing american manufacturing with lean practices mechanical engineering capstone design winners:kubota tractor corporation award: shredder for recycling plasticssecond place: texas a&m university libraries document encapsulator project aggie_challenge winners:the boeing company award: ecomoldsecond place: advanced vapor compressor desalination (desalination & power team) design competition winners:baker hughes a ge company award: marlin auv tees commercialization award:smart harness system: the future of fall protection | mechanical engineering capstone design team non-capstone other course project winner:lazarus specialty ammunition engr 112 winners:team 9team 5