The program allows students to work alongside the U.S. Coast Guard as well as various other government agencies and naval companies.
Michigan Tech University (MTU) has reported that its SENSE, or Strategic Education through Naval Systems Experiences, program currently has four projects in progress. Students who partake in the program will receive hands-on experience working on naval architecture and systems as well as various defense-related projects. In addition to engineering, the program is open to students with a range of majors and backgrounds. Participants can spend up to three or four years developing the design for their capstones while simultaneously immersing themselves in a community of industry professionals.
According to MTU, the SENSE program was created to equip students with the necessary skills in designing, building and testing engineering systems for Navy applications. This includes space, air, land, sea and undersea applications. In addition, students will experience firsthand encounters with defense technologies that are relevant to the safety of the armed forces.
Anna Isaacson, a materials and science engineering major, is currently part of a team that is working on the Mass Rescue Craft Project, which involves the development of a “lightweight, rapidly deployable foam emergency craft.” The team is currently working in collaboration with the U.S. Coast Guard and the Air Force Research Laboratory. According to Isaacson, the projects she has participated in have provided numerous opportunities related to her future career plans.
“We worked on the integration of exoskeleton technology in military vehicles. I was able to tour the GDLS [General Dynamics Land Systems] state-of-the-art lab and get up close and personal with military vehicles and military testing,” she shared.
Other students have also noted how the program enabled them to use and apply their skills outside the classroom while also learning from real-life mentors. Andrea Udovich, SENSE’s program manager, also added how both parties can benefit from each other through these projects.
“We have a chance to learn from the sponsor and to produce an amazing project that could be of great use to the company. The sponsor has the chance to create with young, bright hardworking students. Both benefit from the mentorship,” she said.
These kinds of university programs have been instrumental in preparing students for employment opportunities while enhancing their innovation capabilities through real-world experience. Students can integrate what they’ve learned in the classroom and apply it to actual projects, simultaneously easing them into the workforce and allowing them to get a feel for workplace culture in their target industries. This also provides students with the opportunity to develop a network of contacts in their field before they graduate.
Other projects that the members of SENSE are currently working on include the Ford Making Experiences with Ford Acoustic Sensor Odysseys (MEFASO), for which the team is designing acoustic collection systems for vehicles in collaboration with Ford; the Naval Engineering Education Consortium (NEEC) Ice Acoustic Project, which aims to detect objects on ice from below using machine learning; the Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC) Buoyancy Compensation Device in partnership with the Department of Defense, which will design and prototype devices for the underwater vehicles of the Navy; and Nautical Emergency Rescue Device (NERD), which involves the development of a remote-controlled rescue device that can be a quicker alternative to a rescue boat.
SENSE is only one of the 25 enterprise programs at MTU, and it was initially spearheaded by alumnus Andrew Barnard, who is also a member of the campus’ Great Lakes Research Center, which studies lake ecology and fish biology.
For more information on the projects under the SENSE program, visit https://www.mtu.edu/unscripted/stories/2021/april/michigan-tech-enterprise-makes-sense.html.
