The Next Generation of Innovation Unveiled: USU Senior Design Night

At Utah State University, senior engineering undergraduates have the chance to present their Senior Design Projects — 400-hour capstone projects that address real-world engineering problems — which are then presented at USU’s Senior Design Night. This year, nine students used their expertise from ASPIRE to inform their projects. 

“ASPIRE gave me the basis of knowledge I needed for this project. Working with the fantastic people there has trained me to be meticulous, and to comb over the fine details of how things work,” said Joshua Merrell, a mechanical engineering student. “Without my experience at ASPIRE, I doubt I’d have enough skills to make the assumptions necessary for our model, let alone build the project.” 

Another mechanical engineer undergraduate, Ethan Black, used the skills he learned at ASPIRE to help guide his team of four to build a Baja SAE buggy. 

“Working as an ASPIRE research assistant under a very organized mentor showed me the importance of setting clear goals, staying on track, and thinking through problems ahead of time,” Black said. “I was able to bring those same habits into my senior design project by being more intentional with planning and clearer in how I communicated with my team. Overall, it helped me grow not just technically, but also as a more confident and organized leader.” 

These leadership skills proved vital to the project, as effective collaboration — stemming from a clear and detailed plan — proved essential to finishing the project. 

“One of the biggest takeaways from my senior design project was realizing how challenging large-scale redesigns can be,” he explained. “It required constant coordination across multiple sub teams to ensure that design goals were aligned and that parts were being manufactured and integrated on time. I learned that without clear communication and organization, projects can slow down a lot.” 

Computing the Future 

Several of the computer engineering students used their knowledge of programming and emerging technology to design robotic senior projects. 

“At ASPIRE, I gained experience with Python programming, the robot operating system (ROS2), and technical communication,” shared Joshua Taggart, whose project was designing a mini self-driving car. “I used Python and ROS2 to develop the software for my project, and I used my technical communication skills to complete the various writing assignments we have to do for senior design, such as a requirements document, user guide, and final report.” 

Through the testing and designing of his car, Taggart discovered the trade-offs between machine learning and traditional control systems for robotics. 

“Instead of manually programming the car with lane-following behavior, I trained a neural network to learn how to steer the car from human driving data,” he said. “While machine learning eliminated the need for hand-engineered control logic, the process of collecting data and training the neural network was time-consuming and challenging.” 

Another ASPIRE student, Zac Maughan, paired up with a fellow engineering student to build a bipedal RL walking robot. They built the robot from the ground up, then had to train it how to walk using Reinforcement Learning. 

“I personally have experience with Reinforcement Learning because of my position with Dr. Mario Harper, but my partner and I have never built a robot before. So, we really were able to walk through the engineering design process as we would research how we were going to build a certain part of the robot, draw out the rest of the system, find flaws in the system, and then redesign until we find a working system that we liked,” he explained. “Though that sounds super frustrating, it actually was fulfilling because I was able to utilize the knowledge that I gained during my time at ASPIRE and my courses and answer the questions that we were facing throughout this project.” 

Electrified Projects 

Electrical engineering student Matthew Shawgo used his understanding from ASPIRE to design a small-scale, hybrid motor system. Though these exist in large-scale in vehicles, him and his partner wanted to create a smaller model, something that hasn’t really been done before. 

Through their process, they discovered their sparkplugs gave off electromagnetic interference (EMI), which required shielding wires and filtering noises in order to improve the signal for the EV system. Fortunately, through his work on the Kenworth project at ASPIRE, Shawgo had the necessary skills to address them. 

“Something that ASPIRE really helped with was when we got to the EMI issue,” Shawgo said. “That’s something that in ASPIRE and in the projects I worked on we had to deal with.” 

After working on the Kenworth project, Shawgo had the experience necessary to filter out the higher noises and improve the signal for their system. 

Two other electrical engineering students, Ethan Moser and Austin Smith, worked together to create E-Ink Cards, which involved an exploration of Near-Field Communication (NFC) — short-range wireless technology that allows devices to exchange data when they are in close proximity, like the tap option on credit cards. 

“Beyond theoretical research, we gained significant hands-on experience in advanced printed circuit board (PCB) layout and strategic component selection,” Moser said. “A major highlight was our experimentation with form factors; we successfully integrated and tested various flexible displays and flexible PCBs, pushing the boundaries of traditional hardware design.” 

These students’ experience at ASPIRE paved the way to the development of this project. 

“My time at ASPIRE was foundational to this project’s success. It provided me with the practical skills needed for PCB population and design, which were critical during our prototyping phases,” Moser explained. “Additionally, the rigorous PCB testing protocols I practiced at ASPIRE allowed our team to maintain high quality-control standards throughout the development of our capstone hardware.”  

About ASPIRE  

ASPIRE, a National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center headquartered at Utah State University, leads groundbreaking research and development to accelerate electrification. With over 400 global collaborators, ASPIRE focuses on creating seamless, affordable electrified transportation systems, accessible for all vehicle classes, along with the public infrastructure needed to support them. By reducing emissions, improving air quality, and fostering economic growth through job creation and workforce training, ASPIRE’s work spans engineering, social science, policy, and business. Partnering with top universities, industry leaders, and community groups, ASPIRE is driving the future of advanced transportation. Learn more at aspire.usu.edu.     

Contacts:  

Kat Webb  
Content Director
ASPIRE ERC

Writer:  

Kayleigh Kearsley
Marketing & Communications Intern 
ASPIRE ERC