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Capstone Engineering Design Projects Highlighted at 3rd Annual Senior Design Day
Whereas physicists and scientists study the world and postulate on origins
of certain phenomena, engineers are challenged with building things . . .
practical things, esoteric things, and things that have never been invented.
With this in mind, each year graduating seniors are challenged by professors
and mentors to develop innovative design that addresses current challenges
and contemporary issues in their field. These real-world experiences provide
students with a hands-on opportunity to apply knowledge they learned in the
classroom in a practical manner.
This year, at the 3rd Annual Senior Design Day, 65 seniors participated in
23 projects in areas of biomedical, civil, electrical, and mechanical engineering.
In biomedical engineering, projects included a bilateral stroke therapy device;
an iPhone-based oral cancer app; a bone bioreactor system; and a device
and algorithm for the prediction, detection, and monitoring of falls in the
elderly. Civil engineering projects included designs for a two-span bridge,
a four-story hospital, a wastewater treatment facility, and a retrospective
analysis of constructing the Hoover Dam using today’s costs. In electrical
engineering and computer science, projects included design of a Rotman
lens; noncontact-based algorithms for digital image correlation for measurements
of 3-D shape, deformation, and motion; robotics; and an alternative
energy wind-turbine device. Mechanical engineering projects involved a
robotic tennis trainer device, a saxophone playing robotic system, a fish
locomotion inspired pedal-based kayak, and an RC airplane project that was
entered in the 2011 SAE Aero Design East Challenge.
All design projects were presented by students orally as well as in poster
format and were assessed by external judges comprising industry veterans,
alumni, and faculty. For each category, the best poster was selected based
upon scores submitted by judges. Dean Nguyen and Provost Brennan presented
awards to the winning team members. Each winning team also
received a cash prize and certificate. “This year was the most competitive
set of projects we’ve seen over the past three years,” said Binh Q. Tran,
Ph.D., assistant dean of engineering and chair of the Engineering Design
Day Committee. “Several projects were decided at the 11th hour and by the
last submitted judges’ vote.”
CUA’s Engineering Week Brightens Campus
The annual festivity known fondly by engineering students as E-Week took
place this year from Jan. 31 to Feb. 5. Each day during E-Week, a different
engineering group sponsors an activity in which all University students are
invited to participate. The Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center lobby was the
main location for this year’s events, although some took place in Pangborn
Hall. Students stopped by on their way to class to either participate or simply
watch as their peers tried their hands at the various activities.
The week started off with American Society of Mechanical Engineers and
Tau Beta Pi teaming up to host glass shattering with sound in the Pangborn
dynamics lab. Students witnessed the variations of frequencies necessary to
shatter glass. ASCE sponsored the next activity, in which students tried their
hand at building bridges out of toothpicks and marshmallows in the Pryz lobby.
On Wednesday, the pace picked up with back-to-back activities. First was
the biomedical engineering egg drop. Students were given a limited amount
of materials to construct an apparatus that would protect an egg as it was
dropped from the second to first floor of the Pryz lobby. Many students
stopped by to build and many eggs were broken in the pursuit of science.
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2011 Senior Design Day Best Poster Award Winners:
• Bilateral Exoskeleton Stroke Therapy (B.E.S.T.) System, Caitlin Farley,
Andrew Gravunder, Andrew Hoffmaster, and Daniel Murphy, Biomedical
Engineering Category
• Four-Story Reinforced Concrete Hospital, Bradley Carper, Lawrence
Comiskey, Nicholas Perrotta, Christopher Reymann, and Victor Uscilla,
Civil Engineering Category
• Low-Cost Wind Turbine, Richard Garbar and Christopher Pellegrinelli,
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Category
• Alto Saxophone Sound and Key Motion Control Robot, James Kimmel
and Kristopher Reynolds, Mechanical Engineering Category
Biomedical engineering student group presents design projects to faculty, judges,
and their peers.
Later in the day, IEEE and NSBE worked together to give students a chance
to let out any bottled up energy in the form of Coca-Cola and Mentos. When
the Mentos hit the coke, geysers of coke shot up in the Pangborn parking lot.
On Friday Engineers without Borders closed out the work week with their
non-Newtonian fluid, also known as oobleck, a combination of water and
starch. Students took their shoes and socks off and rolled up their pants for
a chance to run across the quasi-liquid material in the Pryz Center lobby.
Some students elected to stand still on the fluid and sink in so that they
could fight their way out.
The last, but certainly not least, activity of the week, sponsored by Society
of Women Engineers, was the Engineering Ball, to which all university students
were invited. This year’s theme was Chinese New Year as the ball fell on this
year’s New Year. As usual, the dance was held at Maggiano’s Little Italy in
Friendship Heights. Dean Nguyen announced the winner of the week’s events
at the ball. Mechanical engineering took the pride prize this year for having
the largest number of students in its discipline attend events and having its
event visited by the most students.