TAMIU School of Engineering Celebrates Innovation and Impact at APEX Senior Design Showcase
Texas A&M International University’s (TAMIU) School of Engineering hosted its annual APEX Senior Design Showcase, bringing together students, faculty, industry judges, and community partners for an evening highlighting innovation, technical excellence, and real-world impact.
APEX, which stands for Advanced Projects for Engineering eXcellence, represents the culmination of a year-long senior design experience in which engineering students develop, build, and present solutions to complex, real-world challenges.
This year’s event featured a wide range of projects spanning energy, environmental systems, healthcare technology, and autonomous systems, reflecting both the depth of talent within the program and the strong alignment between student work and real industry and community needs.
TAMIU President Dr. Christopher Maynard emphasized the importance of experiential learning and its role in preparing students for professional success and regional impact.
“APEX reflects the kind of high-impact, applied learning experience that prepares students to make meaningful contributions from day one of their careers. It demonstrates our commitment to student success, workforce readiness, and service to the region,” said Maynard.
“At TAMIU, experiential learning is central to our mission of academic excellence,” said Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Claudia San Miguel. “APEX is an outstanding example of how students apply their knowledge to solve real-world challenges with creativity, rigor, and purpose.”
Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Marcus Ynalvez, highlighted the broader academic and regional significance of the event.
“The APEX experience showcases the strength of our College in preparing students for meaningful, real-world impact,” said Ynalvez. “It reflects the quality of our programs, the dedication of our faculty, and the outstanding achievements of our students.”
“We continue to see an extraordinary level of talent in our students and in this community,” said Director of the School of Engineering Dr. Mahmoud T. Khasawneh. “The abundance of talent in our community is unmistakable. Our students are second to none, as evidenced by year-to-year job placement with Fortune 500 companies, as well as prestigious federal, state, and local agencies.”
“The success of APEX is a direct reflection of the brilliance of our faculty,” added Khasawneh. “We are fortunate to have a world-class group of educators and mentors whose expertise, dedication, and commitment to student success are truly exceptional.”
The showcase drew strong participation from industry professionals, as well as representatives from local and state agencies, who served as judges and engaged directly with students throughout the event. Their feedback underscored the high caliber of the projects, with several noting opportunities to connect student work with real community and infrastructure needs.
Several judges highlighted both the technical rigor and real-world applicability of the projects, reinforcing the strong connections between the School of Engineering, industry partners, and public agencies across the region.
Projects demonstrated clear potential for continued development, including pathways toward commercialization and opportunities for deployment in industry and community settings. The event highlighted not only technical achievement, but also the ability of students to translate ideas into impactful, real-world solutions.
Awards were presented to the top three teams, with two teams tying for first place:
Team 1 (Tied for First-Place)
Project Title: Comparative Evaluation of Thermal Enhanced Oil Recovery Methods for Heavy-Oil Reservoirs: Steam Flooding, In-Situ Combustion, and Supercritical Water Injection under Variable Well Geometries
Team Members: Jose Arellano, Rene Garcilazo, Sergio Muñoz and Zackary Zamora
Faculty Mentor: Assistant Professor of Petroleum Engineering, Dr. Fatick Nath
Award: $600
Team 2 (Tied for First-Place)
Project Title: Autonomous UAV-Based Water Sampling System for Rio Grande Basin
Team Members: Ian Delgado, Andrew Ramírez, Gerardo Hernández, Oscar García, Paul Buitron, Jorge Luna and Raymond Peña
Faculty Mentor: Assistant Professor of Systems Engineering, Dr. Ke “Kaylee” Yang
Award: $600
Team 3
Project Title: Smartphone Based Diabetic Retinopathy Risk Screening Tool
Team Members: Patricio Adame, Jose Isaias Medina and Renato Hernández
Faculty Mentor: Associate Professor of Computer Engineering, Dr. Muhammad Hasan
Award: $300
Faculty mentors played a critical role in guiding students from concept to execution, helping transform ideas into working systems with tangible applications.
“Student success is at the core of what we do, and this achievement reflects that commitment”, said Nath, assistant professor of Petroleum Engineering and faculty mentor for one of the two teams that tied for first place. “Our Petroleum Engineering senior design team demonstrated exceptional dedication, technical rigor, and teamwork in addressing a complex thermal enhanced oil recovery challenge. Their integration of AI and numerical modeling highlights both strong analytical capability and a clear understanding of industry needs, and it reflects the strength of our program in preparing industry-ready engineers.”
“Systems Engineering teaches students to think beyond individual components and address complex challenges through a systems perspective,” said Yang, assistant professor of Systems Engineering and faculty mentor of the second team that tied for first place. “In this project, the team addressed urgent water quality monitoring needs in the Rio Grande Basin by developing an automated UAV-based sampling solution. By integrating automation, programming, and engineering design, they demonstrated how classroom knowledge can be transformed into impactful, real-world applications.”
The School of Engineering extends its sincere appreciation to the University’s Center for Earth and Environmental Sciences (CEES) for providing complimentary printing of all student posters for APEX. This support was made possible through the leadership of Director of CEES, Dr. Ken Tobin, with technical assistance from Aaron Sanchez.
The success of APEX was also made possible by the outstanding efforts of the School of Engineering staff, who managed every aspect of the event, from organization and logistics to judge orientation, student coordination, printing of posters, and supporting live hardware and software demonstrations. The team was led by School of Engineering Program Accreditation & Development Coordinator Yahaira Franco, with key support from School of Engineering Technical Laboratory Coordinator Ruben Martínez, and School of Engineering Administrative Associate Leeza Rivera.
Their work behind the scenes was essential to the smooth execution of the event, Khasawneh noted.
As APEX continues to grow, it stands as a signature event for the School of Engineering, showcasing not only student achievement, but also the strong ecosystem of faculty mentorship, industry collaboration, and community engagement that defines engineering education at the University.
The School of Engineering offers ABET-accredited undergraduate programs in Systems Engineering, Computer Engineering, and Petroleum Engineering. The School of Engineering is launching two new programs in Fall 2026: a B.S. in Computer Science, and the region's first-ever graduate program, a Master of Science in Systems Engineering.
For more information on the University’s School of Engineering, visit https://go.tamiu.edu/soen.
Registration for Summer and Fall 2026 classes at TAMIU is underway online via Uconnect. To learn more about TAMIU’s Registration processes, visit the dedicated Registration Hub at https://go.tamiu.edu/registration.
More on the University’s story is available at tamiu.edu and on the University’s social media channels on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and YouTube.
