March / April, 2001
BE Showcase
- Here to Stay!
By:
Dr. John Gerrish
This year marks the fifth year of BE Showcase, the annual display and evaluation of the Biosystems Engineering program. Each year, the event has become better established, and now we talk of "traditions." Here are some of the traditions.
Elegance and professionalism are the hallmarks of the occasion. Every year, at least one professor fails to recognize one or more of the students because the students are so well dressed and carry themselves with such dignity. Visitors from industry are key participants in the event, judging the program by the talent that they observe in the students. The visitors (typically 30 percent of whom are MSU alumni) love to come to campus at apple-blossom time, especially if MSU has just won another basketball trophy. Freshmen, sophomores and juniors attend Showcase in order to learn what the program expects of the seniors, and what future employers demand of graduates. And of course, faculty are strutting around, scarcely able to contain their pride in the new crop of engineers.
Showcase features a session in which our guests from industry and government hold mock interviews with the students. In the mock interview, students sharpen their communication skills and learn to handle the interview situation. More importantly, the visitors assess the quality of the Biosystems Engineering program and provide feedback to the faculty. This feedback is an important element of the Continuous Quality Improvement campaign that underpins the BE program's accreditation by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology.
The students take the mock interviews very seriously because in every one of the past five years, at least one placement has resulted from the contacts initiated at Showcase. Life is full of surprises.
The centerpiece of BE Showcase is the session in which senior design teams present the results of their projects. The projects demand six-credits' effort over two semesters. During the Fall semester, the students form their teams and formulate a real-world problem that they want to address. They start approaching faculty members and industry partners to act as consultants. By the end of the semester, they submit project proposals for approval by the faculty. During Spring semester, the teams apply their engineering knowledge to solve the problem they have undertaken. They do the practical work of designing and, in some cases, building. Projects start taking shape.
The projects have required many hours of hard work by the students, and frequent guidance by faculty and consultants from industry. The projects are diverse, but they have a common theme: they all reflect "systems thinking" and a strong link with life-processes.
After the presentations, the guests from industry and government report their findings for the day. They assess the program against established criteria that they have also helped to define. It is this assessment, in part, that keeps the BE program in touch with the "real world," the world beyond academia.
A fine dinner caps the event. The pressure of preparing and presenting projects gives way to satisfaction and happiness. The alumni-soon-to-be take their turns at the microphone. There are always some poignant moments.
Rumor has it that the festivities continue long after dinner and adjournment. They say that faculty and alumni sometimes tag along.
