Annual First-Year Engineering Conference Showcases Swanson School Students
On Saturday, April 11, the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering hosted its 25th Annual First-Year Engineering Conference, a celebration of the first-year class and its tremendous work.
The event provides first-year students with the experience of a professional conference. Students presented research papers and design protypes developed in classes ENGR0012 and ENGR0715. The students shared their work, which provides solutions to real-world problems, with their peers, parents, faculty, and alumni.
Colin Huwyler (BS MEMS ’15), CEO and co-founder of biofuel systems company Optimus Technologies, delivered the keynote address. He discussed how clear communication of ideas is an essential ingredient to making a real-world impact. He also stressed the role that failure and perseverance have in success.
“Success and failure are often separated only by the moment you decide to quit,” Huwyler told students. “In engineering, things rarely work the first time. That’s part of the process. What matters is having the perseverance to keep going; if you quit, you'll never know how close you were to success.”
The conference represents a partnership between the Swanson School and Pitt’s Writing Center, which aims to prepare new engineers with communication skills that will help them thrive in college and in their careers.
View more pictures from the conference.
This year’s top papers in each program were:
Best MIX
“Bidirectional Communication in Neural-Controlled Prosthetics with Tactile Feedback,” by Uma Foster and Siddhant Nair
Bioengineering
“Connecting to the Brain: Exploring the Current Feasibility and Ethics of Brain-Computer Interfaces in Medicine,” by Felix Diaz-Tafel, Pierce Latona, and Justin Aldric Razon
Chemical and Petroleum Engineering
“The Emergence of Fungal-Induced Carbonate Precipitation in Self-Healing Concrete Systems,” by Zachary Ramdass and Ty Regan
Civil and Environmental Engineering
“Water Quality and Public Health: Detecting Microbial Contaminants with the Use of Electrochemical Biosensors,” by Anshi Patel, Rakshita Sivakumar Venkataraman, and Thatcher Hartman
Electrical and Computer Engineering
“Developments and Implementations of Thermal Energy Storage Systems in Commercial Buildings,” by Reed Feltenberger, Matthew Harding, and Evan Jennings
Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
“Applications of Laser-Etched Topography for Antimicrobial Surface Mimicking Sharkskin,” by Katelyn Coyne, Alanna Robinson, and Cullen Quinn