Newsroom

Raritan Valley Community College Engineering students Trevor Rokosky of Bernardsville, Mark Romero of North Plainfield, and Jakub Sitarz of Bridgewater presented their “Authentic Engineering Experience” projects at the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Mid-Atlantic Conference. Rokosky, Romero and Sitarz were the only community college students to speak at the conference, which was held April 8 at Morgan State University in Baltimore.

Rokosky presented a “Laser Music” project, while Sitarz and Mark Romero presented an “Illuminated Umbrella” project. Both presentations were accepted for publication in the Conference Proceedings.

During the Fall 2016 Semester at RVCC, Rokosky, Romero and Sitarz participated in the "Authentic Engineering Experience" course in which they were part of two teams of four Engineering students tasked to design, prototype, build, and deliver a real product to a real customer. Rokosky’s team produced a laser-music system that used only modulated laser-light to transmit music across a room to multiple receivers with audio-speakers. The team’s “customer” was RVCC Music Professor Tony Strong.

Romero and Sitarz’s team worked in collaboration with RVCC Visual Arts students to design and deliver to their customer, RVCC Professor Darren McManus, an umbrella that illuminated 200 LED lights when opened—without the use of batteries. Professor McManus’ Visual Design 2 students worked collaboratively as a class to generate ideas to improve the overall design and functionality of the Illuminated Umbrella. The Visual Design students also developed a unique graphic-identity for the product.

While working on the projects, Rokosky, Romero and Sitarz and their teammates were treated as working professional engineers, not students. The objectives of the “Authentic Engineering Experience” course is to expose students early in their academic careers, and under "authentic engineering" conditions, to vital skills and practices used daily in industry. A secondary goal is to give students product development and project execution experience that could relate to potential internship opportunities and professional employers.

For additional information about the Authentic Engineering Experience at RVCC, contact Professor Peter Stupak, peter.stupak@raritanval.edu.

Raritan Valley Community College’s main campus is located at 118 Lamington Road in Branchburg, NJ. For further information, visit www.raritanval.edu.

###

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 19, 2017

Media contact: Donna Stolzer, 908-526-1200, ext. 8383

PR #162