Fresno State senior Carter Dana dedicated more than 300 hours during the school year to developing a laser rangefinder that measures the distance between the user and a specific target by transmitting laser pulses at a specific frequency — his final project to meet graduation requirements.
Dana’s innovation will be one of about 100 creations on display, highlighting research and design at the 12th annual Lyles College of Engineering Projects Day Showcase from 2 to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 7, at Fresno State’s Satellite Student Union. The free, public event will display projects from students in civil, computer, electrical, geomatics and mechanical engineering, as well as construction management.
The showcase will also include hands-on demonstrations.
“Projects Day is really the culmination of your time at Fresno State as an engineering and construction management student,” Dana said. “Everyone presenting has the opportunity to put their best foot forward and show what they’ve learned during their time here. There are some incredibly cool projects that are sure to inspire many, especially high school students who are thinking about becoming an engineer and current engineering students who are looking for ideas.”
Dana’s QuadPlane project will also be on display. The QuadPlane is a long-range aerial platform for use in agricultural data gathering and takes images of crops with a multispectral imaging sensor.
“It wasn’t just me that put in the hours and made these projects a success,” Dana said. “Without the hard work of Matthew Stilwell, my senior design partner for the rangefinder, I’d be floundering. Over the course of three years, I personally put in 400 hours in the development of the QuadPlane project, but I also had help from several of my mentors, like Dr. Gregory Kriehn and Freddy Lopez and peers like my project partner Erik Martinez.”
Other projects include smart technology, 3D printing concepts, structural designs and solutions to a variety of challenges in communications, signal processing, agriculture, automation, energy and transportation.
“The research, innovation, design and teamwork experiences provide our students with the skills they need to be successful in industry or graduate school,” said Dr. Ram Nunna, dean of the Lyles College. “It is for these reasons that our graduates are making great contributions in industry in our region, across the state and country, and in some of the most innovative companies in the world — including Apple, Boeing, NASA, Chevron, GE, Intel and Tesla.”
There are currently 1,700 students pursuing degrees in the Lyles College, which has offered engineering courses and programs at Fresno State since 1922.
