Fall Design EXPO Showcases Engineering Undergrads Imaginative Designs
Each semester, students at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering get the chance to show off their creativity and highlight their designs at the Design EXPO, held this year in the University Club on Dec. 9, 2021. Students prepared their displays showcasing their work from the School’s Capstone Design courses or highlighted concepts and prototypes from the Product Realization, Medical Product Prototyping and Art of Making courses.
The students presented their projects, and judges from industry visited the booths in turn to talk with students and view their work.
“Every semester, the Design EXPO is a chance for our students to recognize a problem or opportunity and apply the engineering skills they’re learning in the classroom to solve it, which is what engineering is all about,” said Mary Besterfield-Sacre, associate dean for academic affairs and Nickolas A. DeCecco Professor of industrial engineering. “I’m always impressed with the amazing projects these students bring to the table, and this year was no exception.”
This year’s winners are:
Best Overall Project
MEMS-5: Measurement Design and Optimization for Spring Cranioplasty in Craniosynostosis Patients
Academic Sponsors: Dr. Jonathan Vande Geest and Dr. Justin Beiriger
Yuxuan Deng, Mazen Megahed, Henry Weinrieb, Zijie Xu
People’s Choice Award
IE-7: PNC Bank: ATM Operations
Elizabeth Good, Brett Saunders, Lydia watt, Nathan Wiafe
Department Awards
Bioengineering
1st Place Bio-8: Improved Accessibility for Pediatric Peripheral Lines
Christine Chau, Ashley DeStefano, Sara Kron, Jessica (Jess) Kunkel, Jane Lasak, Emily Lickert, Victoria (Tori) Martin, Eva Neuman, Benjamin (Ben) Raymond
2nd Place Bio-1: Blink Controlled Call Bell
Sebastian Correa, Devin Cortes, Michael Gidaro, Amaan Kazi, Katherine Leitholf, Shan Leng, Elizabeth Mountz, Tiffany Wang
3rd Place Bio-4: Improved PCA Controller
Aya Alkhafaji, Ishan Bhatia, Taylor Brightman, Rachyl Rackin, Esther Rhee, Sophie Shapiro, Michelle Tsizhovkin, Victoria (Tori) Turchick, Clair Tushak
Civil and Environmental Engineering
1st Place CEE-4: Independence Excavating Replacement Bridge
Brian Bowser, Anthony Gansor, Cody Green, Aaron Mitsch
2nd Place CEE-3: Bamboo Bridge
Rachel Dancer, Amelia Nazar, Ariel Perel, Daniel Smith
3rd Place CEE-5: Collier Township Landslide Mitigation
Paul Amicucci, Caleb Bye, Sarah Hacke, Hannah Stack
Electrical and Computer Engineering
1st Place ECE-9: Robotic Arm for Drawing Simple Geometric Figures
Aderotimi Adetunji, Prem Bharatia, Haleigh Defoor, Nayana Suvarna
2nd Place ECE-4: Controller Board for Integrated Photonic Computing
Grace Henderson, Nicholas Nobile, Wyatt Porter, Shreya Wadehra
3rd Place ECE-7: The Opti-Popper or P3: Perfect Popcorn Popper
James Bickerstaff, Harris Brown, Tristan Possessky, Zachary Turner
Industrial Engineering
1st Place IE-2: IDL: Lot Traceability
James Hennessy, Krista Spuhler, Anila Ghosh, Emma Gitterman, Emery Dana
2nd Place IE-7: PNC Bank: ATM Operations
Elizabeth Good, Brett Saunders, Lydia watt, Nathan Wiafe
3rd Place IE-1: IDL: Calibration Control
Mari Hannon, Morgan Harvey, Katelynn Smith
Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
1st Place MEMS-5: Measurement Design and Optimization for Spring Cranioplasty in Craniosynostosis Patients
Academic Sponsors: Dr. Jonathan Vande Geest and Dr. Justin Beiriger
Yuxuan Deng, Mazen Megahed, Henry Weinrieb, Zijie Xu
2nd Place MEMS-3A: Hive Home–A New Direction for Shipping Containers 3A
Student Peer Sponsor: Robert Worobey (Dr. Schmidt)
Luke Blascovich, Clare Donaher, Victoria Mavrogeorgis, Joseph Salesi
3rd Place MEMS-9: Design and Development of a Thermal Cycling Test Apparatus
Academic Sponsor: Dr. Brian Gleeson
Thomas Benson, Jeffrey Hirsch, Wookyung Jin, Aarti Patel
Art of Making
1st Place AOM-4: Hip Clip: A Jean-ious Solution to Pant Sizing
Emily Finelli, Timothy Hu, Rachyl Rackin, Katya Slozina
Medical Product Prototyping
1st Place MPP-3: Cardiac Kids
Allison Brown, Dylan Ensslin, Sreyas Ravi, Muyun Zhao
2nd Place MPP-6: Tranquilift
Anna Dzuricky
Product Realization
1st Place PR-5: SDD Frugal Engineering
Kaitlyn Babinchak, Ryan MacElroy, Rachyl Rackin, Gabby Wassel
2nd Place PR-4: Magnetic Security Lock Concept
Jacob Brooks, Lauren Harrington, Markos Petkopoulos, Jackson Walti