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Student team explains project to visitors
May 2, 2025

Student innovation and alumni experience converge at ECE Capstone Design Open House

Written By: Allyson Crowley

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On April 30, the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) once again opened its doors for the ECE Capstone Design Open House. Students from three senior design courses showcased their semester-long projects to peers, faculty, alumni, and family members, competing for awards and sharing their technical accomplishments.

Alumni judge John Hester listening to capstone team project demonstration
Alumni judge John Hester speaks with members of ECE 453 Team Tisch Turtle

Attendees explored interactive demos highlighting the foundational engineering knowledge and hands-on skills the senior students developed throughout their ECE coursework. Each project stemmed from an original student idea and was designed, built, and refined over the course of the semester by the teams. This semester’s projects continued the tradition of technical ingenuity and thoughtful problem-solving, and included a low-cost, high-sensitivity magnetometer for magnetic dating of volcanic rocks; a dance recognition and rating system powered by a custom compute pipeline for real-time camera-based motion tracking and scoring; and a robot that detects Wisconsin colors, chases non-wearers, squirts them with water, and provides audio feedback.

The following capstone design courses participated in the event:

  • ECE 453 – Embedded Microprocessor System Design, instructor Teaching Faculty Joe Krachey
  • ECE 455 – Capstone Design in Electrical and Computer Engineering, instructor Assistant Teaching Professor Nathan Strachen
  • ECE 554 – Digital Engineering Laboratory, instructor Assistant Professor George Tzimpragos

ECE alumni and course instructors served as judges, selecting standout projects in each course and awarding the title of Best Project. The alumni judging panel brought a rich mix of industry insight and engineering leadership to the event.

Group photo of ECE Capstone alumni judges
ECE alumni judges

Alumni judges pictured from left to right:

  • Olivia D’Souza (BS’24) – PhD Student, University of Wisconsin–Madison
  • Cole Burek (BS’18) – Embedded Engineer, Extreme Engineering Solutions
  • Justin Reed (BS’05, MS’07, PhD’14) – CTO, C-Motive Technologies, Inc.
  • Rick Abegglen (BS’82, MS’84, JD’99) – Shareholder, Casimir Jones, S.C.
  • John Ziehr (BS’71, MBA’95) – Retired VP of Manufacturing Operations, Rockwell Automation
  • Terry Sartori (BS’80) – Retired Engineering Project Manager, GE Healthcare, Accuray
  • Bill Berg (BS’71, MS’72) – Retired CEO, Dairyland Power Cooperative
  • John Hester (BS’91) – Retired President, Techtricity Corporation
  • Kenton Smith (BS’14) – Senior Embedded Engineer, Extreme Engineering Solutions

Projects were evaluated for presentation and demonstration, technical contribution, execution and results, and originality and creativity. Judges and visitors alike were impressed by the professionalism of the student teams and the scope of their work.

“Just three months ago, all of the projects that my students completed were just ideas presented in lecture,” reflected Strachen. “To see these ideas being actually implemented is incredibly rewarding. I’m very proud of my students for all that they have learned and accomplished.”

This event, launched in 2024 and recurring at the end of each spring and fall semester, offers a compelling look at the future of electrical and computer engineering. It’s also a powerful example of how alumni, faculty, and students collaborate to foster innovation and support the next generation of engineers.

Students and faculty playing Battleship

Team Battleship member Joshua Cobian (left player) takes on ECE Teaching Faculty Eric Hoffman (right player) in their naval combat game which runs on custom RISC-V processors deployed on two serially connected boards with VGA displays
Student team explains project to alumni judge
Members of Team The Magic Hatters explain their project, an embedded system that detects inversion to raise and rotate a figurine while playing synchronized music, to alumni judge Olivia D’Souza (center).
Four students standing with Susan Hagness - Best Overall Project Alumni Decision
Best Overall Project: Alumni Decision – Tisch Turtle – Turtle bot with a custom LiDAR sensor, DC drive motors, stepper-controlled scanning, Bluetooth control, and Python-based obstacle avoidance
Left to right: David Tisch, Evan Wiedemeier, William Fitzgerald, Dylan Knott with ECE Department Chair Susan Hagness
Joe Krachey and four students with Susan Hagness - Best ECE 453 Project
Best ECE 453 Project – Team Omni Rover – 4WD rover with collision and fall prevention, controllable via voice and PS4 controller, providing audio feedback and featuring an LCD display.
Left to right: Instructor Joe Krachey, Devansh Agrawal, Geoffrey Rossow, Isaac Prem, Lucas Grad and Susan Hagness
Nathan Strachen and four students standing with Susan Hagness - Best ECE 455 Project
Best ECE455 Project – Team USS Sea Slug – Low cost autonomously navigating low frequency magnet field emitting survey boat
Left to right: Instructor Nathan Strachen, Chi Wang, Ivan Micanovic, Justin Tischaefer, Norbusamten Amatsang, and Susan Hagness
George Tzimpragos and five students standing with Susan Hagness - Best ECE 544 Project
Best ECE 554 Project – Team Photon Phantoms – Motorized laser defense system powered by a custom processing pipeline for real-time enemy target detection using a camera feed and precision laser control
Left to right: George Tzimpragos, Nathan Woolf, Harrison Doll, Cullen Krasselt, Jake Neau, Samuel Cooper, and Susan Hagness
George Tzimpragos standing with five students and Susan Hagness - Best Overall Project - Peer Team Choice
Best Project: Peer Team Choice – Battleship
Left to right: George Tzimpragos, Alan Ekstrand, Zach Simons, Joshua Cobian, Jaime Campos, Jacob Edmundson, and Susan Hagness

Photo at top of page: Dane Breaker (center) from Team Circuit Breakers explains their door security system using OpenCV facial recognition and numeral code, with a PIR sensor, stepper-adjusted cameral, alarm, lighting, audible messages, and remote interface access. (Right of Breaker: Team members Grace Allas and Tina Li)