Student’s summer project to help others this fall

Behind every red light on Greenville Boulevard is a programmable logic controller, and behind that is a person ensuring its correct operation. After all, who wants to be stuck at a red light for two minutes?

Trevor Bourne doesn’t. The technology management master’s student at East Carolina University is working on a project to design new operational technology panels for human-machine interfaces (HMIs) and programmable logic controllers (PLCs) that ECU students will be able to build and use in class.

PLCs are everywhere, mostly used to automate machines and assembly lines in manufacturing. In traffic signals, PLCs process inputs from sensors in the roads to manage the timing of the lights and to guarantee that they operate properly, including pedestrian crossing signals where applicable. HMIs allow people to interact with machines or processes.

“It’s like the brains behind the operation,” Bourne said of PLCs.

Trevor Bourne works on his panel in the PLC lab in the Science and Technology Building.

Technology students at ECU learn the mechanics and operation of PLCs in a hands-on lab in the Science and Technology Building. Bourne’s work would add to the student experience in that lab by creating a new panel that combines an all-in-one HMI and PLC.

“This started as my senior year capstone project,” said Bourne, who received his bachelor’s in industrial engineering technology from ECU in the fall of 2025. “… We created a proof of concept to show that this would work and the capabilities of it. The school offered me the chance to continue my education and further work on the project as part of my master’s practicum.”

Bourne isn’t slowing down this summer. He’s working in the Science and Technology Building on a second version of the panel that was created during the capstone project. The clear panel mixes buttons, wires and blinking lights — green, yellow and red, naturally. It sits on top of a lab table next to a computer that Bourne uses to input data.

“We’re in the works of creating a second one and that second one will be what will be reproduced and eventually replace all of the current PLC panels (in the lab),” he said.

The lab has separate PLC, HMI and Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) training panels for each student workstation. The new operational technology panels are vendor agnostic and have the potential to incorporate the PLC, HMI and VFD into one panel.

As Bourne makes the panel this summer, he is also creating a blueprint that students can follow to make the panels in class this fall, giving them hands-on experience that employers value.

“The whole goal of this was for us to get hands-on learning and to build our resumes and be able to have something physical to show in job interviews,” he said. “… ECU is pushing to get the students to work hands-on, get their resumes built up and get experience working on stuff like this that they’ll see in industry.”

Bourne said the challenge is in figuring out the software program and how the PLC and HMI work together with the panel.

“Being able to sit down and figure out how that program works was pretty challenging,” Bourne said. “But we were able to get through it and prove that it works.”

Overcoming such challenges is what inspires Bourne.

“The fun part is thinking through all the possibilities and what we can make better, how we can make it better and more efficient for the operator or future students,” he said. “I love the problem-solving aspect of it. If this doesn’t work, why does it not work? Let’s figure out what’s causing that not to work and let’s see what we can do to fix it. That problem-solving and troubleshooting is what I enjoy trying to figure out.”

Dr. Tijjani (TJ) Mohammed, chair of the Department of Technology Systems, is Bourne’s advisor on the project. Patrick Godbey, director of laboratory operations for the College of Engineering and Technology, is serving as Bourne’s mentor on the project. Dr. Merwan Mehta, professor in the Department of Technology Systems, is the chair of Bourne’s practicum committee, which includes Godbey and Dr. Jimmy Linn, teaching associate professor in the Department of Technology Systems.

Bourne appreciates the green light they gave him to work on the project.

“Just the opportunity to get hands-on learning, I’m extremely grateful for them pushing that and giving me this opportunity,” he said.