2022 Purdue Polytechnic Capstone Kick-off

The fall semester is underway at Purdue University, and with it, the opportunity for us to sponsor another capstone project team at the university’s Polytechnic Institute. This year’s team of four students boasts impressive internships in manufacturing environments. Under the guidance their faculty mentor, Dr. Jose Garcia-Bravo, and with assistance from the Proportion-Air engineering staff, they’re working on “Design and Construction of Pneumatic Demonstrator Applications Using Electronic Digital Control.”

The team’s proposal identified the project as “a great opportunity to go beyond control topics and extend into a variety of engineering topics including electronics, data acquisition, pneumatic actuation, pressure and flow control and other related industrial engineering issues.”

The details involve designing and building a demonstration module to add to an existing kit. They’ll also develop accompanying curriculum for teaching electro-pneumatic control. This curriculum will serve both academic laboratory settings and industry training environments.

They’ve met with members of our team, including a visit this week, and are getting started on the project now. Take a few minutes to meet the Purdue team and learn more about their experiences, personally, professionally and with the project.

Tim Metken

Tim is a senior at Purdue Polytechnic majoring in mechanical engineering technology with a minor in electrical engineering technology. He’s from Carmel, Indiana.

Tim has interned for the Canadian National Railway and for Wabash National. He is a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity and serves as the crew chief for the Beta Racing Grand Prix race team. He previously held an officer position with Purdue Rising Professionals, an organization that invites distinguished young alumni to campus for a program.

His dream job to work for an IndyCar team after graduation.

What he’s enjoyed most so far: Collaborating with his Purdue capstone team. “They have been great to get to know and it has been fun to have our project to bond over.”

Sam Burroughs

Sam is from Carmel, Indiana. He’s pursuing a degree in the mechatronics engineering technology program.

Sam’s internship experience includes working for a manufacturer in Georgia last summer. He learned about quality control, programming CNC mills, machining processes and developing preventive maintenance plans.

A crew chief on a Purdue Grand Prix race team, Sam is a motorsports fan and enjoys working on his own car.

What he’s enjoyed most about the program so far: “My favorite part has been figuring out how the existing system works and learning more about pneumatics, since I had never worked with pneumatic systems before this semester.”

Henry Cerneck

Henry is a senior in mechanical engineering technology, minoring in aquatic sciences. He’s originally from Southbury, Ct.

Henry spent the last two summers interning with Lockheed Martin on the Sikorsky Aircraft line in Stratford, Ct. He was a manufacturing engineering intern the first year, then in a senior manufacturing engineering intern role the second.

At Purdue, he’s a member of the Purdue Scuba Team and the Purdue Vinyl Club. He also enjoys 3D printing.

His personal goal for the capstone? “I hope to have an advanced understanding of the principles of pneumatics and pneumatic controls by the end of this project.”

Nick Garcia

Nick is in the industrial engineering technology program at Purdue Polytechnic. He’s from Tinley Park, Illinois.

In addition to his coursework at Purdue, Nick has interned at Boeing in Everett, Washington, and B&J Wire in Chicago. He also participated in a study abroad program at the University of Brighton in England. On campus, he’s in the Spanish Club and the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers.

Why a project involving electro-pneumatic control appealed to him: “I chose this project because I wanted to be challenged with tasks that I am not familiar with and at the same time learn about the process and applications to have more experience in this type of area.”

We’ll provide updates on the team’s progress as they move toward capstone completion and ultimately graduation.