CSU Research Competition 2025 Humanities and Letters trophy

The Humanities and Letters trophy project is a set of two separate trophies for the 2025 CSU Research Competition. The trophies were created by Team Jarritos of the Engineering 205: Introduction to Design class during the Fall 2024 semester at Cal Poly Humboldt. The trophies were made to highlight the creativity and abilities of the Cal Poly Humboldt students and Makerspace, while providing unique trophies to recipients of the Humanities and Letters research award.

Background

Team Jarritos consists of students Damian Campa, Sean McClain, Evan McShane, and Braven Star-Clevenger, all of which are enrolled in Engineering 205: Introduction to Design. The client for the project is the Cal Poly Humboldt Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, which is hosting the California State University Student Research Competition in Spring 2025. The client representative for the project is Sam Caudill. The competition is a yearly event that brings together scholars from the California State University systems, highlighting undergraduate and graduate research, scholarship, and creative projects. Team Jarritos worked during the Fall 2024 semester using the Makerspace at Cal Poly Humboldt to design and improve the trophies that students receive for winning their category.

Problem statement

The objective of the project is to design, build, and evaluate creative trophies for the first-place winners of the graduate and undergraduate Humanities and Letters category for the Student Research Competition.

Criteria

The criteria for the project are specific aspects of the project that can be measured on an analogue scale from worse to better and weighted by importance. Criterions are standards by which the success of trophy designs is measured. Below is a table of Criteria and Constraints for the Humanities and Letters trophy.

Prototyping

Some of the prototypes constructed for both trophies, utilizing techniques such as 3D-printing, SolidWorks, wood cutting, wood finishing, and a lot of gluing.

Final product

Our final product consists of two trophies: the Skull trophy (graduate trophy), and the Scroll Trophy (undergraduate trophy). The reason Team Jarritos decided to do two trophies is because of the topic we took on. We learned that Humanities and Letters is about the human experience, and all human experiences are unique, so we decided to deliver on that sentiment by making two unique trophies.

Construction

The Skull trophy was made in three parts; the base, the skull, and the letter opener. The base was made from a piece of cherry wood. The wood was cut into a 7"x7"x2" piece using a table saw. On the front side, a miter saw was used to make a 60° cut. The base was sanded in preparation for staining. Two layers of dark walnut stain was used with two layers of polycrylic over it. After the polycrylic dried, the base was lightly sanded with fine grain sand paper to remove rough spots. The skull was 3-D printed then coated in two layers of primer, and a layer of resin. Holes for the letter opener was cut into the teeth before another layer of primer and resin was applied. The letter opener was made from a recycled wood plank. The letter opener was cut out using a laser cutter, sharpened by sanding, then coated in resin. The skull was attached to the base using small wooden dowels, with the letter opener lodged between the teeth of the skull. Details on the base were laser engraved.

The Scroll trophy was also made in three parts; the base, the scroll, and the scroll case. The base was made from a piece of cherry wood. The wood was cut into a 7"x14"x2" piece using a table saw. On the front side, the table saw was used to make a 60° cut. The base was sanded in preparation for staining. Two layers of dark walnut stain was used with two layers of polycrylic over it. After the polycrylic dried, the base was lightly sanded with fine grain sand paper to remove rough spots. For the scroll, papyrus paper was attached at both ends to dowels. The dowels are decorated with "caps" at the ends. For the scroll case, an 14" long 2" diameter ABS pipe was used. The case was covered in wooden veneer to make it look like the scroll was made of wood. 1" wide circular wooden pieces were cut out to use as caps. The caps had cork attached to them to hold them onto the scroll case. Neodymium magnets were embeded into the scroll caps and the base to attach them to each other. Details on the base and scroll case were laser engraved.

• Finished Trophies
• 
  Final iteration of the Skull undergraduate trophy for the Humanities and Letters category.
• 
  Final iteration of the Scroll graduate trophy for the Humanities and Letters category.
• 
  Final iterations of Skull and Scroll trophies for the Humanities and Letters category.

Video instructions

Video displaying the finished trophies and their interactive components.

Bill of materials

Operation

Scroll Trophy

Skull Trophy

Maintenance

The trophies require minimal maintenance, which includes minor dusting. Dusting should be performed by the trophy recipients.

Maintenance schedule

The trophies should be dusted every few years.

Conclusion

Discussion

The interactive elements of both trophies works as intended. The scroll case can be removed from the base and put back on securely. The scroll caps are easy to remove and put back in. The letter opener is usable as an actual letter opener that functions correctly.

Lessons learned

What we would have done differently for this project was to figure out all the minute details quicker/earlier than what happened. This would have prevented many last minute decision making and would have streamlined the production stage.

Next steps

The awards will be given to the winners of the CSU Research Competition's Humanities and Letters category in the Spring of 2025. We hope the trophy will be impactful and meaningful to them.

Troubleshooting

Team Jarritos

Members for Fall 2024 semester:

• Damian Campa
• Sean McClain
• Evan McShane
• Braven Star-Clevenger

References