Mining students take bronze at 2025 Craig M. Berge Design Day

Thousands of attendees gathered on May 5 for the College of Engineering's 2025 Craig M. Berge Design Day – an annual opportunity for engineering seniors to present the results of their yearlong capstone class in the Student Union Memorial Center ballroom and on the University of Arizona mall. Students from majors across the college made up 79 multidisciplinary teams that completed projects requested by industry and university sponsors.

Caterpillar sponsored Team 25036, which came in third during the awards ceremony, winning the RBC Sargent Aerospace & Defense Voltaire Design Award for the Hydraulic Mining Shovel Panel Re-Design with Adhesive Bonds.

The team reimagined the connection between the slew ring cover – a critical component of a hydraulic mining shovel that helps it rotate smoothly – and the slew ring with acrylic adhesives as an alternative to welding techniques, which causes metal to distort. Team 25036 secured $3,000 for the Voltaire Design Award, as well as an additional $500 for the AZ Technica Award for Sustainable Manufacturing Innovation.

And Team 25062’s Underground Mine Design project took home $1,500 for winning the Lundin Award for Innovation in Mining. Sponsor Resolution Copper asked to the team for a modern drill and blast draw bell design that prioritized underground mine safety and cost-effectiveness