The first semester of UVA Engineering's new Engineering Foundations course wrapped up this week with student presentations of their semester-long group projects.
Student groups in each section of the course presented posters and prototypes of their design projects. Each project tackled a different barrier to accessibility for the UVA community.
The proposed solutions included a device that allowed for hands-free door opening, a solution for carrying dining hall trays while using crutches and a special mesh bag that could help students with limited mobility move laundry into and out of dormitory washing machines and dryers.
Engineering Foundations is a new two-semester course for first-year UVA Engineering students. It integrates engineering design education, career development programming and embedded academic advising, and is taught by a dedicated faculty cohort who are trained in advising.