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Engineering is distinct at Loyola University Chicago. By mandate, 70 percent of every course must be organized using the principles of “active learning.” Mini-lectures constitute the remainder.

When founding director Gail Baura moved from the Claremont Colleges in California to launch Loyola’s department, in 2014, she devised the hands-on requirements. Representatives from the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology visited Chicago last year and identified Loyola’s emphasis on active learning as its primary strength. They did so, of course, before a notoriously contagious pandemic took hold. “It was a great idea when I put the curriculum together,” Baura says, with a hint of facetiousness. “Now, not such a great idea!”

Still, Baura “begged and pleaded” Loyola administrators for permission to run as many engineering courses in person this fall as possible. Her requests were partially honored in the form of a third-year lab—“How do you replicate water-type experiments and circuit-type experiments in somebody’s house?”—and two senior capstone classes.

The capstone, in particular, serves a crucial role in an engineering student’s professional development. Each fall, seniors embark on an industry-sponsored design project that extends over two semesters. The subject of those group projects changes annually depending on the needs of Loyola’s clients. So does the necessary equipment.

See more: View our gallery of fall semester classes at Loyola

Baura oversees the biomedical engineering capstone, lecturing on the Food and Drug Administration’s approval process and replicating, to the best of her ability, design conditions one might find outside the academy. Corporate partners this year include Baxter International, the multinational health care company, and a startup based inside Loyola University Medical Center’s (LUMC) Department of Urology. Each bankrolls their respective expenses. “It’s very organized,” Baura says. “There are milestones they have throughout both semesters, similar to what you’d do in a real medical device project.”

And like the private sector, an engineer doesn’t always know what project is coming down the pike. Baxter is asking their Loyola partners to devise a human factors interface that uses hand gestures to mimic pharmacy technicians creating medications in the hospital. LUMC is looking for an induction wand that can aid in treatments for men experiencing erectile dysfunction. Students teleconference each week with a corporate liaison and a faculty adviser, updating the relevant parties on their progress. The work is challenging, the expectations high.

COVID-19 complicates matters to some degree, even for those lucky enough to study on campus. Conversations are occasionally stunted because of the need to wear masks and socially distance. Two of Baura’s six students are studying remotely, which ties Baura to her desk and her Zoom account more than she’d typically prefer.

But everyone agrees the adjustments are worth the effort. “It helps both sides,” says Baura. “My students get a really good, real-world project and our clients get free work that’s of high quality.”