Employer Summit and Capstone Showcase brings students and employers together
Published: Apr 8, 2024 2:00 PM
By Cassie Montgomery
With a goal of broadening recruitment pathways for Auburn Engineering students and potential employers, the Engineering Office of Career Development and Corporate Relations (CDCR) hosted its second Employer Summit, April 3-4 at the Brown-Kopel Center. The event brought representatives from nearly 50 companies to campus to network, engage with and, ultimately, recruit some of the nation’s brightest engineers in Auburn students.
“Part of our mission is to cultivate industry-focused partnerships and I think this year’s Employer Summit provides an opportunity to build these relationships as a unit and a college as a whole,” said Apryl Mullins, CDCR assistant director of corporate relations.
Building off the first Employer Summit, held at the Auburn University Huntsville Research and Innovation Campus in 2022, this year’s event featured a series of panel discussions and roundtables, the topics of which ranged from student engagement, recruitment expectations versus reality, respectful recruitment and expanding the recruitment pipeline with Auburn Engineering, how to incorporate research into a recruitment plan and developing workforce through Auburn Engineering Online.
New to the program this year was a Capstone Showcase – an opportunity for current students to discuss their work face-to-face with employer representatives. More than 300 students from across the college participated in the Capstone Showcase, highlighting the variety of technical disciplines present in the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering.
“The capstone design experience is a critical component of an engineering education,” said Jeffrey Fergus, associate dean for undergraduate studies and program assessment. “The showcase provides students with the opportunity to describe what they have done and learned from that experience to employers, including those who may be outside of their technical discipline. The ability to not only meet technical objectives, but also to communicate effectively to a range of audiences is critical for success in engineering.”
The following teams were awarded first, second and third place for their capstone research posters:
1st Place – Poster #33
- Team: Ayden Kemp, Melisa Shaffer and Grace Wood
- Project Title, AU Dining Hall Green Food Waste Composting Facility
2nd Place – Poster #39
- Team: Justus Smith, Ann Inskeep and Easton Foreman
- Project Title, Designing an On-Campus Pilot Composting Facility for the AU Wellness Kitchen
3rd Place – Poster #61
- Team: Katelyn Wolfe and Elijah Parker
- Project Title, Distributed Network for Agricultural Monitoring
Special awards were given for the category Equity in Design. The winners in this category included:
Best Equity in Design – Poster #79
- Team: Rob Campbell, Regan Clare, Marissa Arias, Chandler Bryant and Sam Jones
- Project Title, Temperature Regulation Suit
Honorable Mention Equity in Design – Poster #68
- Team: Drew Dunn, Mark Smith, Jessica Bozhko, James Glass and Ismaeel Mian
- Project Title, jAUnt
CDCR offers employer networking opportunities throughout the year designed to connect employers with students for recruitment purposes. More about the various engagement opportunities through CDCR can be found on their website.
Media Contact: , cmontgomery@auburn.edu, 334.844.3668
Engineering Dean Mario Eden addresses attendees at the second Employer Summit.
