Twice every year at the Georgia Institute of Technology, senior engineering students showcase their skills and ingenuity at Capstone Design Expos. 

Successful completion of Capstone Design is a graduation requirement for engineering students and the expos (at the end of fall and spring semesters) at McCamish Pavillion is a chance to show their work to judges, family, friends and anyone else interested in cool new things, and the people who make them. 

The atmosphere is electric, a carnival of science and technology, a living classroom where dozens of student teams compete for cash prizes and the consideration of attendees like Valorie Kimbrell.

“This is a great opportunity to meet students, to see them talk about their research, see how well they communicate, learn about their involvement in the project,” says Kimbrell, who has been attending Georgia Tech expos for the past several years as the principal talent acquisition specialist for Medtronic, one of the top medical technology companies in the world.

An expo is not unlike a pro football combine, where players exhibit their skills in front of coaches, general managers and scouts. So the expo serves as a potential recruiting trip for Kimbrell, who is based in Memphis, headquarters of Medtronic’s spinal business unit and a hub of the country’s orthopedic device industry.

A big part of the expo buzz comes from students in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME), who help fill the arena with prototypes of products and solutions designed to improve the human condition.

Kimbrell says she has been interested in the talent coming out of BME. Medtronic has hired several BME graduates over the past several years, including at least one this year, following the fall Capstone Design Expo in December. Those career opportunities are an essential part of the expos, as James Rains sees it. 

“Over the past few years we’ve been trying to encourage companies to see the value in this event, so we’ve invited them,” says Rains, professor of practice and director of BME Capstone program, who sometimes thinks of the expo as a “reverse career fair.” 

“Company representatives can see the students in action, whereas normally they would be sitting in a conference room, just talking about a project,” Rains says. “At the expo, the prototype is right there and the students are talking you through the process, explaining the rationale and the engineering analysis. It’s much more relevant than what you’d experience in a traditional interview.”

At least 12 medical companies checked out BME teams at the fall expo, according to Rains. Some, like Medtronic, were there to identify talent and in some cases, hire people, like recent grad Scott Renner, whose Capstone team, Biospeal, developed an improvement for a standard biopsy gun, eliminating the risk of post-procedure bleeding and other complications. 

Kimbrell considers the expo as, “something like a mini interview. In that setting they have great energy, a lot of passion for what they’ve just completed. You’re seeing them at their best. And sometimes, you find great talent that aligns with what your business needs are.”

CONTACT:

Jerry Grillo
Communications Officer II
Parker H. Petit Institute for
Bioengineering and Bioscience