Students’ Project Helps Light up the Sky at Firefly Festival
Raritan Valley Community College Engineering students helped the public gain a better understanding of fireflies during Duke Farms’ recent “Firefly Festival,” held July 13-14. The students, Anthony Sibaja of Bridgewater, Alec Mulder of Bridgewater and Alec Zarzor of Scotch Plains, had created firefly simulators out of bamboo sticks for the public to use during the annual festival in Hillsborough.
Working as part of RVCC’s Authentic Engineering Experience, the three-student team had been engaged by Duke Farms Foundation to develop and deliver firefly simulators that were “green” and sustainable, using natural materials and no batteries. The RVCC team developed simulators for five firefly species, accounting for the variances in color, pattern and timing of the “lights” of the actual species. The flashing of the firefly lights was simulated by LEDs powered by battery-free “green energy,” which was created by shaking the simulator to move a magnet through wire coils.
The Firefly project met with great success: Approximately 1,700 people attended each night of the two-night Festival and all ages tried out the simulators. Pleased with the RVCC students’ effort, Kate Reilly, Manager of Education at Duke Farms, said the team’s work was an “educational highlight of the year and directly aligned to Duke Farms’ mission statement: ‘to serve as a model of environmental stewardship, and to inspire our visitors to become informed stewards of the land.’”
Through team-based challenges, students participating in RVCC Professor Peter Stupak’s Authentic Engineering Experience are introduced to real-world problem solving. Students team in groups of 2-4 to make a real product for an actual customer in one semester. Working with the customer, students design a prototype, made changes based on feedback, and deliver the product on deadline. The hands-on projects are funded by the RVCC Foundation.
For additional information about RVCC’s Authentic Engineering Experience, contact Peter Stupak, Professor of Engineering and Physics, 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.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 25, 2018
Media contact: Donna Stolzer, 908-526-1200, ext. 8383
PR #7