The world is looking
to Notre Dame students for coins, waste baskets and maybe even
the next great washing machine.
Earlier this year,
an art design student took first place in a national competition
with his idea for a self-bagging waste-basket system. The United
States Mint selected a senior majoring in marketing and art to
help design future coins. And Electrolux, the world's largest
household appliance maker, picked Notre Dame's Department of Art,
Art History and Design to represent the United States in an international
industrial design competition.
Electrolux chose
eight schools from eight different countries for its Global Design
Laboratory 2004. The students' task will be to come up with ideas
for cooking, laundry, refrigeration and dishwashing appliances.
Notre Dame industrial design students will be collaborating with
MBA students from the Mendoza College of Business. Final judging
was scheduled for October in New York City.
Pat
Quill, a senior this past year who did illustration work for The
Observer, was one of six students selected from 306 applicants
to become an associate designer for the Mint. According to the
student newspaper, the six will work with 18 professional Master
Designers to develop future designs for state quarters. Quill
told the paper the job is part-time and will last two years. He
said he will be paid $500 for each design he submits and an additional
$500 for each that is accepted.
In
March, Brad Jolitz, a junior this past year, exhibited a prototype
of his Re-Bag waste-basket system at the 2004 International Home
& Housewares Show in Chicago. The concept won the $3,000 first
prize in the national student design competition sponsored by
the International Housewares Association.
The Re-Bag system consists of a sheet of polyethylene that rolls
up into a tube. Connecting tabs lock the sheet into a cylindrical
shape. Specially designed biodegradable plastic bags are manufactured
so that each is contained within another -- in essence, a bag
of bags. The bags anchor to the inside of the plastic cylinder
through slits. When one bag is full the user simply lifts it up,
while standing on the two convenient foot pedals that keep the
can from lifting with it. The replacement bag is already positioned
underneath and locked in place.
(October 2004)
