Design Day Project Highlights Spring 2025
Throughout the year, student teams design, build and test tools and technologies for their senior capstone projects in areas ranging from aerospace to electronics to energy to medicine.
18
biomedical projects
24
energy/ environment/mining
78
corporate & UA sponsors
7
optics related projects
470
students
Spring 2025 Design Day
Spring 2025 Design Day is the culmination of a year-long effort by University of Arizona faculty, staff and 470 senior engineering students. Close to 100 experienced industry professionals, including many UA alumni, will help judge the 79 projects that compete for 35 sponsor awards and $51,000 in cash prizes.
75 percent of the teams were interdisciplinary, featuring students from several different undergraduate majors. The remaining 25 percent of the projects were specific to individual majors at the College of Engineering, such as aerospace engineering and chemical engineering. Out of the 79 projects, 65 percent were sponsored by corporate partners and 35 percent were supported by departments or units at the University of Arizona.
Number of Design Day Projects Over the Years
Interdisciplinary Capstone has grown significantly since its inception more than a decade ago, and Design Day gets bigger each year. In 2011, the event featured 60 student projects; in spring of 2025 there were 79. In our peak year, 2020, there were 115. Projects sponsored by faculty researchers and university units have seen notable increases in recent years.