April 7, 2025

Schulich design fair sparks students' creativity

Projects ranging from nanotech to municipal infrastructure feature in annual showcase of innovation and technical skills

Fourth-year Schulich School of Engineering students put their knowledge and skills to the test during the annual Engineering Design Fair. Adrian Shellard, for the Schulich School of Engineering

It is a cornerstone of the academic calendar for fourth-year students at the Schulich School of Engineering.

They spent months, if not years, dreaming of the opportunity to showcase their knowledge and technical skills during the annual Engineering Design Fair – and they did not disappoint in the 2025 edition of the fair, which was held April 1.

More than 130 student teams worked with industry and academic partners, or have started their own entrepreneurial ventures, on a range of ideas from the smallest of nanotechnologies to large plans for buildings and municipal infrastructure.

“It’s so impressive, and especially when you think of how they’ve done this over the last seven months or so,” Schulich Dean Anders Nygren told LiveWire Calgary. “It’s not the only thing they have been doing over the last seven months. They’ve probably been taking four courses or so in addition to working on these projects.”

He says he was most impressed by the scope of the projects, with a wide range of solutions to everyday problems in a variety of engineering disciplines.

“When you think about these students four or five years ago entering as first-year students straight out of high school, and getting to this level today, it blows me away every year.”

Jenny Hua is part of a team that focused on developing a special boot to improve traction for hip replacement surgeries.

It’s placed on the foot, then used to pull the leg out of its socket during the procedure to provide better support for surgeons.

“We talked to a lot of clinicians and industry professionals to get their feedback and to understand where the complications are with patients because a lot of surgeons are interactive with these kinds of devices,” Hua told CTV News. “There’s a lot of improvement points we want to address given that there can be a lot of problems that can come out of hip surgeries.”

Each project was seen by several judges during the fair with winners declared in several categories at the end of the day.

The Engineering Design Fair was sponsored by TD Insurance while the Judge’s Room was sponsored by Calgary Economic Development.