By Tom Knox
Within years, a new bolt design developed by a team of enterprising Ohio State engineering students could be in use in Honda’s vehicle suspension.
The team will be among more than 50 exhibiting their projects at the Engineering Capstone Showcase from 2 to 5 p.m. Thursday, May 22, in Scott Lab E100. The event, presented by the Engineering Education Innovation Center, is open to the public.
Ben Haushalter, a fifth-year mechanical engineering major from Boardman, Ohio, who is working on the Honda bolt design project, has already learned valuable outside-the-classroom skills such as working with software vendors and LabVIEW, an engineering platform and development environment for a visual programming language. Honda has wholly assisted his group, which consists of mechanical engineering and industrial and systems engineering majors. The team designed a test, based on Honda’s idea, to compare the torque-retaining capabilities of the current bolt and the new bolt design.
“They’ve given us valuable feedback,” he said, “and provided a tour of the Honda plant in Marysville, Ohio, to see the application of bolts and how they’re used.”
“Capstone projects like these enable students to work on design-build-test engineering projects, often for companies such as Honda and John Deere,” said Bob Rhoads, EEIC capstone design program coordinator.
Haushalter’s capstone team members are fellow seniors Chris Crane of Cincinnati and Pete Guindon of Bellbrook, Ohio, who are majoring in industrial, welding and systems engineering, and Ricky Dehner of Canal Winchester, Ohio, and Angela Meier of Beloit, Ohio, both mechanical engineering majors.
This is the first year of the Engineering Capstone Showcase, which also is supported by Shell.
“The showcase is a great way for students to highlight their abilities in a multidisciplinary work environment in which they learn valuable communication skills and how to network with established industry veterans,” Rhoads said.
The Engineering Education Innovation Center was created last year and is the focal point for the College of Engineering’s innovative undergraduate instructional programs. It builds upon the college’s outstanding reputation for and commitment to creative undergraduate education.
Bob Rhoads, EEIC capstone design program coordinator, (614) 292-9340 or rhoads.2@osu.eduMay 19, 2008
