ALTOONA, Pa. — Near the end of the spring 2026 semester, third-year mechanical engineering students at Penn State Altoona competed in an engineering design competition as part of ME 340: Mechanical Engineering Design Methodology.
The course, taught by Assistant Professor Shreyash Gulati, introduces students to the three major steps required to create an engineering design: conceptual design, preliminary design and detailed design. A major component of this course is a project in which students are grouped into teams of three or four.
Students participate in activities to learn about brainstorming ideas, selecting the best ideas, prototyping, implementing engineering analysis for product design, project management, and economic analysis. They then apply their knowledge of engineering design processes and project management to create their designs.
The performance of the student designs is evaluated in two ways. Each student team presents their work through a PowerPoint presentation at the end of each of the three design phases. Finally, the actual performance of the final design is evaluated through a design competition or a final demonstration.
Further, projects were assessed for leadership skills. Students took turns leading the project at different stages. Gulati provided regular feedback to the teams, who then utilized the feedback to improve their leadership, teamwork and project management skills.
For spring 2026, teams were instructed to design and fabricate a printing press jig that can be used to stamp and turn the pages of a notebook. Students utilized their creativity and engineering design skills to design and build the stamper and page-turning mechanisms required for their printing press jigs.
Students voted for the best-performing team, which this year included Jacob Wolfe and Roger Vas.
Watch a video of students participating in the competition below.