Built To Last: Students Design Wind Tunnel for Future Generations
Four Cedarville University engineering students are building the sensors, circuit boards and data systems for a new wind tunnel, creating a lasting teaching tool that will help future students test designs and study airflow.
Four students are building the technology behind a wind tunnel future engineers will use to test designs and collect data at Cedarville University.
Cedarville Students Build Wind Tunnel Technology for Future Engineers
The controlled facility, which will be used to study how airflow affects stationary objects, is being outfitted with student-designed instrumentation after faculty chose a basic model instead of a fully equipped system that would cost more than $200,000.
Through the project, students are applying classroom learning to create equipment that will support Cedarville’s engineering program for years to come.
“A lot of senior design projects are fun while they last, but there’s no lasting impact after the team graduates,” said Clint Kohl, senior professor of computer engineering. “This one is different — it’s a service project. What these students are building will benefit our mechanical engineering faculty and students for years to come.”
Senior Design Project Creates Lasting Impact for Cedarville Engineering
The capstone team — computer engineering seniors Andrew Jankowski of Plymouth, Minnesota, Brayden Sheafer of Cincinnati, Ohio and Zacchaeus Gregory of Brownsburg, Indiana, as well as electrical engineering senior Logan Weathers of Ankeny, Iowa — is creating the physical and electronic infrastructure needed to complete the wind tunnel. Their work includes data acquisition sensors, multi-function electronic boards and an airflow straightener.
“Instead of buying expensive black-box equipment, our students are designing and building the tools themselves,” said Kohl. “They aren’t just using the technology — they understand what’s inside the box and how to make it better.”
Students Design Wind Tunnel Sensors, Circuit Boards and Data Systems
Unlike many undergraduate projects, the wind tunnel capstone places students at the center of a fully integrated engineering system. They are designing printed circuit boards with hundreds of connections, developing multi-sensor data acquisition systems and bringing every component together into a functioning wind tunnel platform. The project gives students hands-on experience with engineering design, instrumentation, data collection and systems integration.
“The project has taught me to step back and think about the system as a whole, not just one component,” said Sheafer. “With so many pieces working together, I’ve learned how important it is to design with the end user in mind because even the best system won’t be useful if people don’t know how to use it.”
When completed, the wind tunnel will give future students a hands-on way to study airflow, test designs and collect real-time data. For mechanical engineering students, it will turn abstract equations into practical experience and provide a lasting teaching tool for applied engineering education.
“The wind tunnel won’t just be a showcase; it will be a core teaching tool,” said Kohl. “Future students will plug their sensors into these boards, run experiments and collect data on systems that today’s seniors designed from the ground up.”
Cedarville Turns Lab Upgrade Into Long-Term Engineering Tool
By choosing innovation over outsourcing, Cedarville has turned a lab upgrade into a long-term engineering platform. What began as a cost-effective solution will become a permanent part of the university’s engineering labs, giving future students a tool they can use, refine and build upon.
About Cedarville University
Cedarville University, an evangelical Christian institution in southwest Ohio, offers undergraduate and graduate residential and online programs across arts, sciences and professional fields. With 7,265 students, it is among Ohio's largest private universities and is ranked among the nation’s top five evangelical universities in the Wall Street Journal’s 2026 Best Colleges in the U.S. Cedarville is also known for its vibrant Christian community, challenging academics and high graduation and retention rates. Learn more at cedarville.edu.