Ian Scheffler
Today, Lyle Brunhofer (EAS’14, GEng’14) advises companies on digital transformations, applying the skills he learned at Penn Engineering to modernize firms’ understanding of customers in industries as diverse as pharmaceuticals and consumer products.
He also helps run Penn Engineering’s annual Senior Design Project Competition, which recruits dozens of alumni to evaluate seniors’ year-long capstone projects. As the Vice President and Senior Design Chair of the Engineering Alumni Society, Brunhofer works hand-in-hand with Bradley Richards (C’92, LPS’17), Director of Alumni Relations, to coordinate the year-long competition and multi-day concluding extravaganza — part Shark Tank, part science competition — in May.
While at Penn Engineering, Brunhofer’s own Senior Design team developed assistive technology to help those with physical disabilities interact with their environment using modular, 3D printed switches. Assist3D partnered with the HMS School for Children with Cerebral Palsy, located in West Philadelphia, to ensure that products met users’ needs. “We set out to create ability switches that would be affordable, customizable and simple, in contrast to the ability switches available on the market,” Brunhofer recalls. After graduation, the team provided the finished products to the HMS School.
As Brunhofer sees it, Senior Design instills skills far beyond the scope of typical engineering courses. “As a student, I felt that Senior Design was an extremely challenging, but rewarding experience,” he says. “It was also unlike any assignment we had been given previously.”
In a Q&A with Penn Engineering Today, Brunhofer discussed what motivates him to stay involved with Penn Engineering as an alumnus and the impact of participating in Senior Design.
How did you get involved as an alumni volunteer with Senior Design?
Senior Design was such an incredible part of my senior year and Penn Engineering experience that when I joined the Board of the Engineering Alumni Society, I knew immediately that I would focus on helping the event continue.
What do you feel makes Senior Design unique?
The mentorship. Students get to work with industry experts, faculty members, alumni and other professionals who help students hone their technical and soft skills, and foster networking opportunities for future careers.
How would you describe the impact of Senior Design?
Senior Design celebrates Penn Engineering seniors across all of the School’s majors, and marks the culmination of four years of engineering education and hard work.
Students have flexibility in developing a project objective and planning its execution, allowing them to creatively showcase their talents and interests. This freedom results in unique projects that continue to impress the judges year after year, not only for their impact on real-world problems and applications, but also for the commitment of the students to their individual causes.
The impact of Senior Design on the community is also not to be understated. It’s been great to see the Senior Design program cultivate a strong community feeling that links the students, alumni and the school.
We consistently receive feedback from students, mentors, faculty and judges that it is a highlight of their spring every year. We are grateful to have this opportunity to come together each year and continue to build these lasting relationships through this wonderful collaboration.
What advice do you have for rising seniors about Senior Design?
Embrace the challenge! Not every school includes a Senior Design curriculum that is as developed as Penn Engineering’s. You have the opportunity to partner within and across majors to work with your classmates toward a common goal.
While things might not be clear at the start, by the end of the year, you have a polished project in your portfolio that you can be extremely proud of and can take anywhere you go.
It is not uncommon for the students of Senior Design to take their project externally, win competitions and funding, and evolve their project into a full fledged entrepreneurial endeavor.
What should alumni know about volunteering for Senior Design?
Senior Design celebrates the students and their accomplishments, but it wouldn’t be successful without the help and support of our amazing engineering alumni.
This past year, we were fortunate to have over 40 judges, both in person and virtually, assist us with the Senior Design competition.
For in-person judges, it is an all-day event to watch the students present their projects to a wide audience and engage with them via a Q&A.
For judges who would like to participate but are unable to be there in person, we have a virtual judging option through which judges can watch the groups’ pre-recorded presentations and score the projects throughout the week prior.
Our judges are vital to the event because they bring industry expertise, scrutiny and the insight to make the project showcase a truly fantastic learning experience for everyone. If you are an Engineering alumnus and are interested in helping out, I would strongly encourage you to sign up to participate next year.
Alumni interested in participating in Senior Design as volunteers can contact Bradley Richards, (C’92, LPS’17), Director of Alumni Relations.