Engineering

Engineering Student Stories

I work at Carnegie Mellon University to write stories about what undergraduate and master's student do in the College of Engineering (in addition to my administrative role). My pieces can be found on engineering.cmu.edu by searching for "Forney." I also copy edit for other writers and for parts of the Engineering Magazine which we publish every semester (twice a year). The magazine also features my stories from time to time.

Articles for Web
The deciding factor (Tartan Scholars Program)
Classmates and checkmates (student receives chess award)
Learning by making, outside of the lab (middle school outreach)
SWEet success (Society of Women Engineers)
Virtual spaces for realistic learning
Pick your own project (student project expos)
Helping tracheostomy patients breathe easy
The power of EEG and student innovation
A light in the dark: Impact-a-Thon 2019
Three minutes to win it (CMU's 3 Minute Thesis competition)
Design and build (student project expos)
Spring 2018 semester recap (student project expos, Booth, Buggy)
CMU team in NASA Mars ice drilling competition
Engineers innovate at Meeting of the Minds
3-DIY: Printing your own bioprinter
Ambassadors showcase student life online (social media reps)

Articles for Print
Spring 2022 Magazine
◘ Classmates and Checkmates (page 50)

Spring 2020 Magazine
◘ Breathe Easy (pages 48-49)

Fall 2019 Magazine
◘ EEG and Student Innovation (page 43)

Spring 2019 Magazine
◘ Build18 Hits Milestone (pages 48-49)

Fall 2018 Magazine
◘ Drilling for Martian Ice (pages 34-35)
◘ Say Yes to the Morphing Dress of the Future (pages 36-37)

An animated gif of a robotic dog-like pet creature, made of circuitry and laser-cut wood. The robot is moving from a lying-down to a sitting position. The robot was featured at Build18, a one-week engineering team project showcase.

Two pictures next to one another in a before-and-after. The before: sheets of wood, some painted red and blue, some just brown wood, shaped into polygons with hinges connecting them, splayed on a table. The after: the device folded into a chair. The project was featured at the end-of-semester showcase for mechanical engineering class projects.

A lizard-like robot with a red tube body and red and silver tube legs and a small white ball for a head. This picture was from a student poster featured at Meeting of the Minds, an academic poster and presentation conference for students from all majors at Carnegie Mellon University to present their work.

A group photo of Carnegie Mellon undergraduate students wearing pink and black shirts in a garden with a few older adults who work in the garden. The picture is from Engineers Without Borders chapter's trip to Puerto Rico where they constructed projects and learned about sustainability.

A photo of a hand holding a biomedical device that resembles a human trachea with exaggerated colors. Another hand is working with the device with a screwdriver. This photo was from the end-of-semester showcase of biomedical engineering class projects.

Many students, mostly young women, walking along a sidewalk wearing athletic clothing and carrying lumber, wooden wall-panels, and power tools. These students are participating in Move-On, a day in the spring when student organizations start constructing Booths, large one- or two-story interactive attractions that visitors can see during Spring Carnival, a celebration that takes place at Carnegie Mellon University in the spring.

A close-up shot of colorful wires on a circuit breadboard mounted on a neon yellow plastic robot with little wheels. The robot was featured at Build18, a one-week engineering team project showcase.

An animated gif that zooms in on an over-the-shoulder shot of a student holding a cell phone. The student is pointing the phone at a table with a Yu-Gi-Oh play mat that has images of cards on it. The phone is recording the play mat and showing virtual reality 3D renderings of the monster characters from the cards. This project was featured at Build18, a one-week engineering team project showcase.

A photo of Quasar, the name of a Buggy built by a student organization. A Buggy is a long and thin fiber glass shell overing a chassis with wheels (similar to a skateboard but larger) and a long handlebar called a pushbar coming from the back. Buggies are typically piloted by humans shorter than 5 feet, but this Buggy actually houses a computer and wires inside the chassis. The outer shell is dark green with silver designs and a front windshield.