Campus & Community
Villanova University Receives $87,000 Grant from the United Engineering Foundation to Launch the Career Compass Collaborative
The Career Compass Program was established in 2015 as a tool to help engineering students think critically about professional outcomes throughout their academic career. A recipient of the 2021 Innovation Award by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc. (ABET), the program is now slated to continue its trajectory of success, thanks to an $87,000 grant from the United Engineering Foundation that will help pilot a new initiative called the Career Compass Collaborative. The enhanced program will include a collaborative workshop to be held on Villanova’s campus in summer 2022, and an increased focus on ethics and equity in the engineering profession.
CubeSat Club and AIAA Launch Villanova’s First Weather Balloons
In early May, two groups of Villanovans launched the University’s first weather balloons. For the CubeSat Club, the goal was to test the radio beacon and ground station antenna they built last year on the roof of Tolentine, and gather telemetry readings including pressure, altitude, temperature, and humidity.
Engineers Take Top Awards on Pitch Day 2021
Though this year’s event took place virtually, the results of Pitch Day 2021 did not disappoint Villanova Engineers who took the top Meyer ICE Awards and were represented on winning teams in the Villanova Student Entrepreneurship Competition.
Villanova student leads design team for Mars capsule | KYW NewsRadio, April 26, 2021
Nicholas Florio ’20 EE, ’21 MSEE, leads a team from Villanova, Drexel and Rutgers universities in NASA’s student competition to develop a Mars expedition crew capsule.
Villanova Students Develop Innovative Solutions at First-Annual Health Hackathon Focused on COVID-19
Students from Engineering, Nursing, Business and Liberal Arts & Sciences competed in the three-day virtual event hosted by Villanova University’s Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship Institute. In the process they learned design thinking frameworks, conducted design research, and built prototypes. Faculty from the schools and colleges shared expertise and experiences, providing guidance to the participants, who worked as teams in virtual breakout rooms.
Communicating with Frankie: Progress on a Nova Solution
After a crowdfunding campaign helped raise more than $40,000 from Villanova donors, Computer Engineering seniors Michael DiGiacomo and Christian Berger made significant progress on a system to help Villanovans with spastic cerebral palsy communicate more independently.
Frank Falcone Recognized with Outstanding Service to Engineering Award
The College of Engineering’s Director of Professional Development and Experiential Education, Frank E. Falcone ’70 CE, ’73 MSWREE, AP, PE, D.WRE, is the recipient of the 2021 Delaware Valley Engineers Week Outstanding Service to Engineering Award. He is lauded for his contributions to the engineering industry, Villanova University, the United States NAVY, a water resources master plan for Panama, the Institute for Environmental Engineering Research, and more.