Flash

The Environmental Design team preparing for competition.
The Environmental Design team
preparing for competition.

One of the most effective discipline-spanning academic programs at Clarkson is SPEED (Student Projects for Engineering Experience and Design), which promotes multidisciplinary, project-based learning opportunities for some 250 undergraduates annually. In the late 1990s, Clarkson created SPEED to expand a tradition of engineering project competitions to include 14 different events ranging from robot creation to timber and steel bridge building.

The hallmark program has won both the Boeing Outstanding Educator Award and the Corporate and Foundation Alliance Award for its effectiveness in promoting experiential learning by hands-on application of academic theory to real-world problems. SPEED projects involve engineering design and analysis, fabrication and the enhancement of professional competencies such as budget management, effective teamwork, and communication skills.

Among notable SPEED achievements this spring, the Environmental Design team took top honors at the annual competition sponsored by the Consortium for Environmental Education and Technological Development, in which students tackle real problems submitted by private industry and government agencies. The Clarkson team, which included students in civil engineering, chemistry and chemical engineering won first place for developing an economical process to sequester carbon monoxide gas from coal-fired power plant flue gas. Also, as co-recipient of the USDA award for excellent team performance, the Clarkson students and faculty advisor Stefan Grimberg were invited to Washington, D.C. to present their process to FDA, USDA and Department of Energy program officers and congressional aides. Their winning process utilizes steel slag from the steel manufacturing industry that can be implemented in an already functioning coal-fired plant.