A team of three Purdue University Calumet mechatronics engineering technology students placed first in a recent national packaging contest.

Gautam Agarwal of New Delhi, India/Hammond; George Dalka of Tinley Park, Ill.; and Kenneth Beckett of East Chicago will share a $4,000 scholarship for their collaborative achievement in the Student Design Contest held earlier this month in conjunction with PACK Expo in Las Vegas, Nev. PMMI U, the educational arm of PACK Expo organizer Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute, introduced the first-ever competition, which required college student teams to address a unique, real-world packaging challenge.

The challenge? Creating an automated palletizing system that combined production speed and efficiency with low cost and maintenance. In response, the competition called for the student teams to produce a paper and 20-minute presentation about their solution.

Faculty advisors to the Purdue Calumet team were Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology Masoud Fathizadeh and Mechanical and Manufacturing Laboratory Specialist Rick Rickerson.

“Our students accomplished a great task, as two of them are only sophomores in a program that is less than a year old,” Rickerson said. “They were able to beat colleges that have had an established program for over 10 years. Hopefully, this will inspire continuing engagement by mechatronics engineering technology students, and, more so, expose industry leaders to the quality and integrity of Purdue Calumet graduates.”

Plans call for the Student Design Contest to become an annual event at PACK Expo, which is scheduled next year at Chicago’s McCormick Place.

Purdue Calumet’s mechatronics engineering technology baccalaureate degree program integrates mechanical engineering technology, electrical engineering technology, computing and controls relative to designing, building, installing, maintaining and troubleshooting the complex, high speed equipment that drives the $6 billion packaging industry.