Foothill Engineering Club
Foothill College
Project‑Based · Beginner‑Friendly · Community‑Driven
Start Here
We're a project-based community where students learn by building things together.
No experience is required, curiosity is enough.
This handbook will help you:
Chapter One
A student-led, project-based community. A space for hands-on engineering, open to every major and every skill level.
Why Join
Members leave with more than a finished build. It's skills and connections that carry into internships, research, and your career.
Try CAD, soldering, circuitry, laser cutters, 3D printing, and the machine shop, often before you've even taken the class.
It's helped people figure out whether a major like EE is actually for them.
The club shares any opportunity it finds, and a finished project is something to point to on your resume.
Working on a build also shows you how deep a field goes. Robotic fish research is way more niche than it sounds, and a project like RC Plane is built on years of aerospace research.
Most of our advisors are Foothill physics professors, including the one who runs The Physics Show.
That mentorship goes beyond engineering, and it can turn into a recommendation letter down the line.
We meet almost every Friday for hours, and just showing up consistently is enough to build friendships that stick.
What starts as something professional turns into something fun, and a lot of members keep it up for a year or two, hang out after meetings, or end up in the same classes together.
Running meetings and coordinating a team builds communication skills, on top of the engineering.
It's a preview of what team dynamics look like after school. We've seen teams skip talking about who had time for what, so one person carried the load, then clashed with a teammate who wanted in but disagreed with what was already decided.
Projects get you thinking through problems the same way you will on the job, from wiring sensors to debugging code.
Plenty of members write their first lines of code here, before any class requires it.
Deadlines and teammates counting on you make it way easier to actually finish something.
We've had members say a club project is what finally got their Arduino kit off the shelf after months of sitting there.
01
Hop onto the RC Plane, CNC Router, Fish Roe-bot, or any active build.
02
Pick up a build that paused when its team transferred or got busy.
03
Bring an idea and one teammate (minimum 2 people) and we'll help you build it.
01–08
Need An Idea?
A few starter ideas by difficulty, in case you don't have one yet.
First Builds
Build your own marble run, like the one everyone presses in the physics hallway.
A cloud chamber that lets you see subatomic particle trails with dry ice and rubbing alcohol.
A small magnetic levitation stand where something just floats.
A small hydraulic gripping arm built from basic tubing and fluid pressure. No shop required.
Bigger Builds
A line-following or maze-solving robot.
A small wind or water turbine that actually charges a battery.
A load-tested bridge. Design it, build it, break it, see what it actually took.
Get Niche
Build a working battery or fuel cell from scratch.
An autonomous drone with a custom flight controller.
An EMG-controlled prosthetic hand that reads a muscle signal to move the fingers.
Professor Marasco mid-swing at a Physics Show demo. That cinder block was not a prop.
Chapter Two
Projects are student-driven. Officers provide support and resources.
Every project should:
Project Guideline
1
Simple or ambitious, pick what excites you.
2
Recruit someone to build, learn, or explore it with you. Foothill and De Anza students can both join.
3
Outline your idea, goals, materials, and timeline.
4
Get feedback, approval, and guidance before starting.
5
List parts, estimate costs, submit for approval.
6
Start prototyping, testing, and iterating.
Before Your Check-In
Have these ready before you meet an officer.
Form link coming soon.
Picking Up Where Someone Left Off
Some projects pause when students transfer or get busy. If you want to revive one, here's how.
Stay Organized
Every project needs a small leadership structure. Roles can be shared or rotated, no experience required.
Keeps the team organized, runs meetings, and talks with officers.
Tracks progress, photos, and notes for the project channel.
Guides engineering decisions and supports troubleshooting.
Build, research, design, test. Everyone contributes.
Chapter Three
The club can help fund approved projects. Here's how to request it:
1
Get sign-off from an officer first.
2
Include estimated costs for everything.
3
Send it to the treasurer for review.
4
Officers order materials for you, or approve a reimbursement through ICC.
Beyond the Club
Open to members trained on the equipment, with Ed or Frank present.
3D printers, laser cutters, and tools open to all Foothill students.
Publish your project or research with Foothill's student STEM magazine.
Chapter Four
To keep the club welcoming and productive, we expect members to:
Before Using Any Lab Equipment
Plan Ahead
Rough timing so you can plan ahead. Exact dates are announced in Discord and on the Foothill events calendar.
Chapter Five
One More Thing
Our club constitution is currently being updated. Once it's finalized, the full document will be linked here and pinned in Discord for every member to reference.
Coming soon, check #announcements for the update.