Ten Engineering student teams will compete for cash prizes at the Innovation Day Capstone Design Project Competition May 2 — and the public will be able to cast votes for a “People’s Choice” award.
The competition, sponsored by the Nevada National Security Sites (NNSS), recognizes the top two projects in the categories of engineering design and global impact. The People’s Choice award is new this year.
“We are excited to once again showcase senior capstone projects at Innovation Day,” Interim Dean Indira Chatterjee said. “These projects display the creativity and technical skills our students bring when designing engineering solutions to societal problems. I would like to acknowledge all the hard work of our students and capstone course instructors: Drs. Chuck Coronella, Mano Misra, David Feil-Seifer, Sesh Commuri, Yantao Shen, Gokhan Peckan, Sherif Elfass and Daichi Fujioka.”
See all 100 student projects from noon to 1:30 p.m. May 2 in three engineering buildings: William N. Pennington Engineering Building (WPEB), the Harry Reid Engineering Laboratory (HREL) and the Davidson Math and Science Center. Projects are divided into seven categories: biomedical engineering; chemical engineering; civil and environmental engineering; computer science and engineering; electrical engineering; materials science and engineering; and mechanical engineering. See the to find your way.
All student projects, some of which were done in collaboration with an industry partner, were eligible to enter the contest. Competition judges are Jeff Ceccarelli, chair, College of Engineering Advisory Board; Anthony Johnson, NNSS; James McDuffie, Amazon; Michelle Scalise, NNSS; Adam Shochat, Southwest Gas Corporation; and Lysle Turnbeaugh, Bently Nevada Baker Hughes.
Competition finalists are as follows:
- HealingHand, a biomedical engineering project by students Dillon Hughes, Anjalee Gitthens, Godwin Igbeyoki, Erica Nichols and Kemma Kolstrup. HealingHand is a physical therapy device designed to help patients suffering from osteoarthritis and stroke regain mobility and strength in their hands.
- Continuous Lithium Extraction from Brine, a chemical engineering project by students Isaac Harrison, Thomas Hamby, Nathan Merkle and Michell Rathbun. Nolan Erickson from Albemarle Corporation was the team’s industry advisor. The project involved redesigning a batch process into a continuous process to increase operating efficiency and uptime for lithium production.
- Hydrogen from Biogas, a chemical engineering project by students Sean Akers, Jared Keller, Matt Long and Aidan Perrin. The team looked at taking biogas (a renewable energy source produced from the breakdown of organic matter) and converting it into usable hydrogen for Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) fuel cell buses.
- City of Winnemucca Municipal Airport Expansion, a civil engineering project by students Andrew Madrigal, Drew Scolari, Travis Tomlinson and Travis Tompkins. The project involves the expansion of existing airport facilities to handle higher volumes of freight transportation.
- University Village Pedestrian Connectivity Project, a civil engineering project by students Blake Hardin, Austin Long, Logan Miceli, Pat Phelps and Hilario Sanchez. Associate Professor Keith Dennett as well as engineers Camille Buehler and Brian Moon were project advisors. The project aimed to design a preliminary development on the parcels projected to be used for the University Village, in addition to a cable-stay pedestrian bridge connecting the development to the University’s Gateway Parking Complex region.
- MEDPASS – Predictive Assessment for Student Success, a computer science project by students Rino David, Jake Herweg, Domminic Mayer and Nolan Visitacion. John Westhoff, an associate professor at the School of Medicine and School of Public Health, was the industry advisor. MedPass is a supplemental analysis tool using machine learning models designed to identify students’ academic weaknesses and provide personalized study plans and progress insights.
- SoulSync, a computer science project by students Shayan Hosseini, Joseph Jacobson and Vedant Malhotra. Sean Montgomery of Connected Future Labs was the industry advisor. SoulSync is promoted as an app that brings mood rings to the modern era, powered by insights from a person’s health and emotion data.
- Melt and Go, a materials engineering project by Joy Calhoun, Jonathan Ramos and Grace Suenram. York Smith of American Battery Technology Company was the industry advisor. Melt and Go aims to mitigate lithium-ion battery thermal runaway using a paraffin wax-based phase change material.
- StoneCap: Formula SAE Electric Drivetrain, a mechanical engineering project by Larissa Beauchamp, Logan Prins, Tyler Quick, Ian Smith and Levi Woods. This project involves the design of a modular drivetrain system for small electric race cars, targeted at new Formula SAE Electric competition teams.
- Wildland Respirator, a mechanical engineering project by students Ashley Byrne, Jordan Jackson, Christopher Pinar, Tanner Schultz and Troy Uemura. This project involves a respiration mask designed for wildland firefighters that is lightweight, durable, comfortable and cost-efficient.
For more about Innovation Day and to read about all the projects, see the Innovation Day website.
