Engineering the Real World

In 2023, while testing a new motion sensor in its Cadillac Lyriq, General Motors ran into a highly specific engineering problem. The sensor had to be rigidly mounted inside the vehicle, in exactly the right location, while meeting precise requirements for vibration, temperature, and electrical isolation.

The solution came from a team of Tufts seniors.

As part of Senior Design Project, the School of Engineering’s capstone course for mechanical engineering students, the four-person student team designed and built an aluminum fixture that could securely mount the sensor inside the vehicle and delivered a model of it to General Motors. GM then implemented the students’ fixture in two rounds of testing, including one round of testing conducted long after the students had graduated, says Curtis Hay, a technical fellow at General Motors whose team develops technologies used in automated driving.

“We wouldn’t have been able to evaluate the sensor’s performance without the work the Tufts students did,” he adds.

That kind of practical utility is precisely what the capstone course is designed to foster. Each fall, teams of three to five seniors partner with companies, nonprofits, entrepreneurs, community organizations, or individuals to address problems they face in the real world. In the past, students have designed assistive technologies, medical devices, industrial systems, educational tools, and a whole range of other solutions.

“The capstone gives seniors a culminating opportunity to bring together the skills they have developed throughout their undergraduate education,” explains Jason Rife, professor of mechanical engineering. “We could not achieve the same thing if we used hypothetical design problems. Instead, we structure the course around real clients with actual needs. The goal is to add a layer of accountability—and, ideally, motivation—for the students.”

Briana Bouchard, assistant teaching professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, points to another benefit. “Students know they’re not just completing an assignment,” she says. “There’s an actual person or an organization on the other end who genuinely needs what they’re designing. That reality genuinely affects how they approach the work.”

“Problems We Actually Have”

For Hay at General Motors, the idea is simple. “I like being able to bring students problems we actually have at GM and say, ‘Fix this for us,’” he says. “That gives future engineers exposure to the kinds of challenges that industry is actually facing.”

(Left to right) Ronny Corcino, Javier Hurtado, Connor Ryan, and Jonah Fox, all E24, stand alongside their capstone project, one of several projects that General Motors has brought to Senior Design Project students since 2023.

The motion-sensor fixture for the Lyriq was the first of several projects GM has brought to Senior Design Project students since 2023. In 2024, the company asked students to investigate radio frequency interference between a camera and a GPS antenna that had the potential to affect the performance of a hands-free driving system in a Cadillac.

For that challenge, the students built a mock-up of the relevant parts of the vehicle and tested different materials to reduce the interference. They identified a material that worked better than the one that Hay had initially selected. GM ultimately pursued a different solution because of practical mounting considerations, but Hay says the students’ experiments helped engineers confirm the source of the problem and determine how it could be addressed.

“What the students showed us was that we really understood the problem,” he adds. “They helped us see what was possible, and that was as important as finding a solution.”

From Need to Prototype

That experience reflects another reality of professional engineering: clients often have important questions they need answered before they can decide what to build, change, or pursue. A capstone team can give clients the time and technical capacity to investigate those questions. For Nick Carlson, that opportunity is a major part of the appeal of working with Tufts students.

Carlson, who is business development director for Goodwill Industries of West Michigan, has worked with Tufts seniors for the past five years, bringing them operational and sustainability challenges that the nonprofit organization wants to tackle but doesn’t necessarily have the resources to pursue. 

“These are things we genuinely need,” Carlson says. “The students give us a chance to explore what a solution could look like.”

Sol Brizuela Baez, Ariana Olivares, and Nathan Henderson, all members of the class of 2026, alongside their capstone project: a secure, automated system to move Goodwill donations into a building while preventing anyone outside from gaining access.

One project focused on the handheld tagging guns that Goodwill employees use to attach price tags to clothing. Repeatedly pulling the trigger throughout the day can contribute to wrist strain and carpal tunnel problems, Carlson says. A Tufts School of Engineering team developed a prototype that would allow an employee to slide a garment beneath a device and have the tag inserted automatically.

The prototype needs further development before Goodwill puts it into use, Carlson says, but he sees the potential for “a massive impact” if the system could eventually be adopted by Goodwill stores across the country. As he puts it, “If you could automate that across the whole network of stores, think about how many people you could help by taking the repetitive motion out of their day.” 

Another student team tackled donations left outside stores after closing time, where they can be stolen or damaged by weather. Students designed a secure, automated system that would move donations into the building while preventing anyone outside from gaining access. Carlson has shared the model with Goodwill’s safety team for possible future use.

But the finished designs are only part of the value Carlson sees in the partnership. Students also get practice working with a client: clarifying the problem, communicating progress, responding to feedback, and adapting as the project develops. Carlson and the student team begin each project by setting expectations and establishing how they’ll communicate, then meet regularly as the students refine their designs.

“They come back with questions, show me where they are, and make sure they’re still solving the problem we actually need solved,” Carlson says. He hopes students come away understanding that good engineering requires not just technical skill, but the ability to stay responsive to the people they are designing for.

Perhaps the strongest evidence of the partnerships’ value is that both organizations keep coming back with new problems for Tufts students to tackle.

For Rife and Bouchard, that kind of continuity is crucial: it sends students an important message, Bouchard says. 

“When a partner comes back with another problem, it shows that the students’ work is being taken seriously,” she explains. “They’re not being treated simply as students completing an assignment. They’re being trusted to contribute.”

The partners, meanwhile, have their own reasons for wanting to keep the relationship going. Hay calls the arrangement “a nice win-win.” Carlson enthusiastically agrees: “It’s a total win-win,” he says. “I would love to see this going forever.”