Student Projects Win Top Honors at Prestigious IEEE Engineering Symposium

Two Sweet Briar engineering teams took top honors at the prestigious SIEDS 2025 Symposium, highlighting the College’s innovation and academic excellence.

SWEET BRIAR, VA, UNITED STATES, May 9, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Fourteen Sweet Briar faculty and students attended this year’s IEEE Systems and Information Engineering Design Symposium (SIEDS), several of which presented and were recognized for their research.

Held at the University of Virginia (UVA), the symposium is the leading showcase for undergraduate and master’s engineering design projects, including those from capstone design courses or baccalaureate, honors, or design-oriented graduate theses. Projects extend beyond system analysis and include the synthesis of alternative solutions to a problem.

This year’s SIEDS was chaired by Sweet Briar’s Dr. Bryan Kuhr, assistant professor of engineering. Dr. Kuhr also accompanied the group of Sweet Briar students and co-authored four of the presented papers. As chair, Dr. Kuhr oversaw a team of professors from various institutions in planning the conference, including advertising the call for papers, working with authors to prepare manuscripts, and designing the program and schedule.

“SIEDS is a great professional ice-breaker. Although a formal industry gathering, it’s a constructive, collaborative environment,” Dr. Kuhr said. “The students can get feedback on their work from students, faculty, and industry professionals from many different institutions, get published in IEEE conference proceedings, and watch numerous other presentations, which gives them a great perspective on different research and design approaches.”

Of the 90 papers presented by nearly 400 participants, three groups of Sweet Briar students shared their capstone engineering projects, and two students presented their honors research. Elizabeth Wells ’26 and Dr. Jonathan Bender’s project, “Cost-Effective Method for Detecting Water Leaks on a Large Rural College Campus,” was recognized as the Best Paper of the Health and Environment Track I. In the Optimization, Data, and System Design Track II category, Ana Patiño Rojas ’25, Ashley Maggiora ’25, Molly Booth ’25, Samantha Champion ’25, and Dr. Kuhr also earned the Best Paper Award for their project, “Experimental Validation of Capacitive Touch Sensors: Recommendations for Human-Machine Interface.”

“Our paper reflects months of rigorous experimentation, analysis, and collaboration. This recognition is a testament to the hard work and problem-solving we have engaged in at every phase of the project, and we look forward to this paper being published in IEEE soon,” said Booth, who served as lead on their award-winning capstone project. “I am beyond grateful to work with such a dedicated group of peers, and I am thankful to our advisors at Sweet Briar College and clients who supported us throughout the journey.”

The proceedings also included tributes to the late Dr. William “Bill” Scherer, longtime chair of the UVA systems engineering department, a champion of SIEDS, and a friend to Sweet Briar’s engineering department, who helped to establish the UVAccelerate partnership program.

Sweet Briar’s continued success at high-profile conferences like SIEDS demonstrates the exceptional quality of its ABET-accredited engineering program—one of only two at women’s colleges nationwide. With hands-on projects, personalized mentorship, and opportunities for publication and presentation, Sweet Briar engineers graduate with real-world experience and research credentials that set them apart. To learn more about studying engineering at Sweet Briar, contact Admissions at admissions@sbc.edu or call 434-381-6142.

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