applied capstone project

Capstone Projects

The culminating experience in the Master’s in Applied Data Science program is a Capstone Project where you’ll put your knowledge and skills into practice . You will immerse yourself in a real business problem and will gain valuable, data driven insights using authentic data. Together with project sponsors, you will develop a data science solution to address organization problems, enhance analytics capabilities, and expand talent pools and employment opportunities. Leveraging the university’s rich research portfolio, you also have the option to join a research-focused team .

Selected Capstone Projects

Copd readmission and cost reduction assessment, an nfl ticket pricing study: optimizing revenue using variable and dynamic pricing methods, using image recognition to identify yoga poses, using image recognition to measure the speed of a pitch, real-time credit card fraud detection, interested in becoming a capstone sponsor.

The Master’s in Applied Data Science program accepts projects year-round for placement at the beginning of every quarter, with the Spring quarter being the largest cohort. All projects must be submitted no later than one month prior to the beginning of the preferred starting quarter based on the UChicago academic calendar .

Capstone Sponsor Incentives

Sponsors derive measurable benefits from this unique opportunity to support higher education. Partner organizations propose real-world problems, untested ideas or research queries. Students review them from the perspective of data scientists trained to generate actionable insights that provide long-term value. Through the project, Capstone partners gain access to a symbiotic pool of world-class students, highly accomplished instructors, and cited researchers, resulting in optimized utilization of modern data science-based methods, using your data. Further, for many sponsors, the project becomes a meaningful source of recruitment through the excellent pool of students who work on your project.

Capstone Sponsor Obligations

While there is no monetary cost or contract necessary to sponsor a project, we do consider this a partnership. Teams comprised of four students and guided by an instructor and subject matter expert are provided with expectations from the capstone sponsor and learning objectives, assignments, and evaluation requirements from instructors. In turn, Capstone partners should be prepared to provide the following:

• A detailed problem statement with a description of the data and expected results
• Two or more points of contact
• Access to data relevant to the project by the first week of the applicable quarter
• Engagement through regular meetings (typically bi-weekly) while classes are in session
• If requested, a non-disclosure agreement that may be completed by the student team

Interested in Becoming a Capstone or Industry Research Partner?

Get in touch with us to submit your idea for a collaboration or ask us questions about how the partnership process works.

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The application portal for entrance in Autumn 2024 is now open ! Explore our In-Person and Online programs.

IBM Applied Data Science Capstone

Week 1 - Introduction to Capstone Project

• Introduction to Capstone Project
• Location Data Providers
• Signing-up for a Watson Studio Account

Peer-review Assignment: Capstone Project Notebook

In this assignment, you will be asked to create a new repository on your Github account, and to create a Jupyter Notebook and submit a shareable link to it for peer evaluation.

Week 2 - Foursquare API

• Introduction to Foursquare
• Getting Foursquare API Credentials
• Using Foursquare API

Lab: Foursquare API

In this lab, you will learn in details how to make calls to the Foursquare API for different purposes. You will learn how to construct a URL to send a request to the API to search for a specific type of venues, to explore a particular venue, to explore a Foursquare user, to explore a geographical location, and to get trending venues around a location. Also, you will learn how to use the visualization library, Folium, to visualize the results.

• Quiz: Foursquare API

Week 3 - Neighborhood Segmentation and Clustering

Lab: Clustering

There are many models for clustering out there. In this lab, we will be presenting the model that is considered the one of the simplest model among them. Despite its simplicity, k-means is vastly used for clustering in many data science applications, especially useful if you need to quickly discover insights from unlabeled data.

Lab: Segmenting and Clustering Neighborhoods in New York City

In this lab, you will learn how to convert addresses into their equivalent latitude and longitude values. Also, you will use the Foursquare API to explore neighborhoods in New York City. You will use the explore function to get the most common venue categories in each neighborhood, and then use this feature to group the neighborhoods into clusters. You will use the k-means clustering algorithm to complete this task. Finally, you will use the Folium library to visualize the neighborhoods in New York City and their emerging clusters.

Peer-review Assignment: Segmenting and Clustering Neighborhoods in Toronto

In this assignment, you will be required to explore, segment, and cluster the neighborhoods in the city of Toronto. However, unlike New York, the neighborhood data is not readily available on the internet. What is interesting about the field of data science is that each project can be challenging in its unique way, so you need to learn to be agile and refine the skill to learn new libraries and tools quickly depending on the project.

For the Toronto neighborhood data, a Wikipedia page exists that has all the information we need to explore and cluster the neighborhoods in Toronto. You will be required to scrape the Wikipedia page and wrangle the data, clean it, and then read it into a pandas dataframe so that it is in a structured format like the New York dataset.

Once the data is in a structured format, you can replicate the analysis that we did to the New York City dataset to explore and cluster the neighborhoods in the city of Toronto.

Your submission will be a link to your Jupyter Notebook on your Github repository.

Week 4 - Capstone Project

• Define a problem for your capstone project
• Discuss the data that you will use to solve the problem

Peer-graded Assignment: Capstone Project - The Battle of Neighborhoods (Week 1)

Now that you have been equipped with the skills and the tools to use location data to explore a geographical location, over the course of two weeks, you will have the opportunity to be as creative as you want and come up with an idea to leverage the Foursquare location data to explore or compare neighborhoods or cities of your choice or to come up with a problem that you can use the Foursquare location data to solve. If you cannot think of an idea or a problem, here are some ideas to get you started:

In Module 3, we explored New York City and the city of Toronto and segmented and clustered their neighborhoods. Both cities are very diverse and are the financial capitals of their respective countries. One interesting idea would be to compare the neighborhoods of the two cities and determine how similar or dissimilar they are. Is New York City more like Toronto or Paris or some other multicultural city? I will leave it to you to refine this idea. In a city of your choice, if someone is looking to open a restaurant, where would you recommend that they open it? Similarly, if a contractor is trying to start their own business, where would you recommend that they setup their office? These are just a couple of many ideas and problems that can be solved using location data in addition to other datasets. No matter what you decide to do, make sure to provide sufficient justification of why you think what you want to do or solve is important and why would a client or a group of people be interested in your project.

Week 5 - Capstone Project (Cont’d)

• Carry out the remaining work to complete the capstone project
• Submit a link to your project notebook and a complete project report

Peer-graded Assignment: Capstone Project - The Battle of Neighborhoods (Week 2)

In this week, you will continue working on your capstone project. Please remember by the end of this week, you will need to submit the following:

1. A full report consisting of all of the following components (15 marks): Introduction where you discuss the business problem and who would be interested in this project. Data where you describe the data that will be used to solve the problem and the source of the data. Methodology section which represents the main component of the report where you discuss and describe any exploratory data analysis that you did, any inferential statistical testing that you performed, if any, and what machine learnings were used and why. Results section where you discuss the results. Discussion section where you discuss any observations you noted and any recommendations you can make based on the results. Conclusion section where you conclude the report.

2. A link to your Notebook on your Github repository pushed showing your code. (15 marks)

3. Your choice of a presentation or blogpost. (10 marks)

HELPFUL LINKS:

LINK TO COURSE

LINK TO GITHUB REPO

LINK TO PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATE

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What’s a Capstone Project? And Why Do I Have to Take It?

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Over the years, I’ve frequently heard students grumble about taking a capstone course or project, that one last step before graduation as outlined by their degree requirements.

“Why do I have to take it?” “Do I really have to take this?” “What is the point of all this!”

This final course may seem daunting or frustrating, but once it’s completed, the Capstone often becomes one of the most rewarding and valuable experiences in a student’s college career.

The capstone course is the last class in a program of study. It’s called a capstone because it represents a crowning achievement as a capstone does in architecture. For some degree programs, a capstone course may require a project and subsequent presentation; for others, it may include an assessment exam to test interdisciplinary skills (like math, writing, critical thinking, etc.). A capstone may also involve a final research paper exploring a topic of interest, emerging from a student’s individualized program of study. Ultimately, a capstone project represents new work and ideas, and gives you the opportunity to demonstrate the knowledge and skills you have gained during your college career.

Not only does a capstone course allow us to substantiate if students are learning the necessary skills needed to continue onto success after graduation (and we’ve made changes to courses and degree requirements to better assist students in this manner), but the completion of a capstone project can be used for an employment portfolio. By integrating theory and practical experience, your project can set you apart from graduates of other institutions. Imagine walking into a potential employer’s office with an applied research project exploring solutions to an issue or problem the organization, or industry as a whole, has been grappling with?

A Capstone’s Purpose: Career Advancement

In the field of technology for example, one of the challenges is how rapidly it changes. Jordan Goldberg, mentor and developer of our APS-295 Associate Capstone  course, said it helps ensure students are prepared to handle these changes as they start their careers. “Today, it’s important to understand the trends early on in the process, and the tools available to develop and deploy new technology,” he says. “The Capstone course uniquely brings together students from all majors within the school [of Applied Science and Technology] in an interactive and collaborative fashion to discuss and examine opportunities, challenges and issues related to technology.”

Here, students are able to look at real world examples and situations, exchange their points of view based on experiences and discuss potential solutions to problems. “The concept of the capstone course is to provide the essential information to be able to ask the right questions and critically look at nontechnical issues that have the potential to negatively impact the deployment of a new emerging technology or application,” says Goldberg. “Ultimately, this will prepare the student for a technical leadership role in their area of study as they complete their degree.”

Thomas Edison State University offers Capstone courses in several of our degrees:  LIB-495 Liberal Arts Capstone is required for a Bachelor of Arts degree, and APS-401 Current Trends and Applications  is required for our Bachelor of Science in Applied Science and Technology degree. Our newest course is the APS-295 Associate Capstone, required for the Associate in Applied Science and our Associate in Science in Applied Science and Technology degree programs. These courses have engaged students to pursue intriguing projects, indicative of their career pursuits, including:

• Classroom accommodations for elementary age students with attention deficit disorder
• The theoretical impact of a present-day conflict between North and South Korea on the U.S.
• Evaluating public awareness of privacy issues surrounding modern technology 

On Your Own Terms

In any college degree, there are courses you have to take to fulfill the general education requirements for your degree or area of study. And a capstone project, while relative to your major, allows you to choose your own subject in that discipline. When I was a graduate student studying American History, my capstone project afforded me the opportunity to research a topic that I never solely focused on in any of my courses, but was fascinated by all my life, Abraham Lincoln. 

I delved into an intense study of how the narrative of President Lincoln’s life had changed throughout the course of history, depending on when and who was writing the biography. This was the most fun I’d ever had taking a college course because I was able to read and write about a topic I was passionate about. Meanwhile, I was able to show off the skills I’d gained during my years in college.

So if you are required to take a capstone course, I understand if you want to grumble about it a little while. But when it’s all done, get ready for the most exhilarating feeling ever. I promise.  

Are you currently working on a capstone project? Share your experience and advice in the comments below!

Written by Donald Cucuzzella

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Applied Computing Capstone

All Applied Computing students take part in a final project, Applied Computing Capstone (CSS 496), in which they integrate their computer science coursework with their Second Discipline to deepen their education. The capstone project provides momentum that students can use to start their career.

When should I start preparing & when is the course offered?

What are the prerequisites for the course, how do i register, what is the course about, how is the course structured, what are the learning objectives, how is the course graded, what can i do before the first day of class.

Read this entire page at least two quarters before you plan to take CSS 496 so that you are adequately prepared.

This course is offered:

• ALWAYS in autumn and spring
• USUALLY in winter
• NEVER in summer

The prerequisites for CSS 496 are:

• CSS 301 (Technical Writing for Computing Professionals)
• CSS 340 (Applied Algorithmics) or CSS 342 (Advanced Data Structures, Algorithms, and Discrete Mathematics I)
• CSS 360 (Software Engineering)
• CSS 421 (Intro to Hardware and Operating Systems)
• At least 3 of the 5 second discipline courses that make up your minor or concentration of courses
• Attend an STEM/CSS capstone colloquium from start to finish – always on Friday of finals week each quarter (four times per year)

Visit our registration page and submit a CSS Registration Request form during your registration period for the quarter you want to take the course. Be prepared with a list of the second discipline courses you have taken in preparation for the capstone.

CSS 496 provides a capstone experience for Applied Computing majors. The course is designed to integrate your secondary education with your computer science education in a relevant way. The goal is to transition from being in a student/teacher relationship to becoming an expert in your field of study by practicing what it’s like to have a job and be working in it every day.

Unlike a typical course that gives you reading, assignments, quizzes, papers, exams to do that tell the instructor that you learned the material, this course is self-constructed.

CSS 496 cannot be an internship. If you have found a computer science job and want to get academic credit for what you learn on the job, then use CSS 397 (Computing Internship) and/or CSS 495 (Applied Computing Internship) .

Rather than your instructor defining your work, YOU create bounds around your capstone experience in which you combine your computer science education (core + electives), second discipline (2nd major, minor, concentration), and your passion (where you’ll go after you graduate, what your first job will be). Your instructor will assist you with keeping the scope of your project within a single quarter.

YOU define the parameters of the course in your capstone contract , which includes:

• Project definition
• Breakdown of project into discrete tasks
• Scheduling completion of all task(s)
• Whether you will work alone or in a group, and who will be in your group
• When you will schedule check-ins with your instructor and your expert consultant
• What grade you want to receive based on the course’s specification grading model

You will demonstrate the results of your capstone experience in all the following ways:

• Project plus progress artifacts
• Writing (reflections and artifacts)
• Participation in a panel at the STEM Colloquium

On the time schedule, the course is scheduled for two days per week or as 50% hybrid course, but most of the work is independent and you will not attend every class meeting.

• Identify work that connects computing and specialty knowledge
• Perform work that improves depth and breadth of knowledge and skills related computing and specialty areas
• Incorporate best practices and knowledge in accomplishing work
• Communicate with different audiences: management, experts, peer, public
• Engage in discussions, including those providing feedback
• Use time management to plan, estimate, and control work
• Write reports that effectively communicate state of work and embody self-reflection to improve work performance
• Meet periodically with management/mentors to discuss progress and receive feedback
• Show responsiveness to critique, feedback, and self-evaluation to altering work direction and approach
• Identify jobs/roles and associated organizations of interest
• Map knowledge, skills, and experience to job descriptions/job roles
• Justifying ability to succeed based on expertise and work experience

This class uses a specifications grading method where your grade is determined by completion of the assignments and activities for this class. You decide what grade you want and then perform all tasks within that grade’s column on the grade table. If you meet some but not all tasks in your target grade’s column, your final grade will instead be averaged.

Note: This table is an example . Specific scoring criteria may vary for your instance of the course.

This section offers suggestions on how to brainstorm before the first day of class and start defining your capstone experience.

Brainstorming for your capstone takes time – expect this process to take several hours or more. Review and refine your responses periodically to arrive at your best capstone idea.

You will be discussing your ideas in class during the first week of the quarter.

• Think deeply about your computer science education, second discipline of study, and your own passions.
• Brainstorm about how these intersect to discover what lives in the center. Come up with multiple possible ideas.
• Think about how these ideas could help position you for your first job after graduating.
• Think about how you will keep yourself motivated at every step along the way to complete the project.
• Narrow down the ideas to get your top three.
• Important: Be sure that this work will be unique. You cannot use assignments from a previous course as your capstone, but you can build on assignments from previous courses. If you are unsure if the work is appropriate or not, contact the instructor for the CSS 496 course to discuss your ideas.
• How big are your scope and goals? With more people, more is possible (bigger scope).
• Can their second discipline add to the project in an interesting way?
• Someone else in Applied Computing or another computer science major (CSSE at Bothell campus, CSE or INFO at Seattle campus, TCSS or TINFO at Tacoma campus)
• Someone you’ve met while taking courses in your second discipline
• Someone in another STEM major (Biology, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Interactive Media Design, etc.)
• With larger groups, consider who will be the project manager.
• You need to identify someone who has experience in your project’s scope and can take the time to guide your plan and review your results. This person could be a faculty member or professional in the industry to which your project is related. They cannot be your CSS 496 instructor, friend, or family member.
• Meet together 1, 2, or more times (see specifications grading table )
• Review your capstone plan for relevance, feasibility, scope, solution
• May assist during project work for problem solving, feedback, scope re-definition, etc.
• Review final project for feedback
• Answer a google questionnaire for the instructor regarding your meetings’ content
• Requires at least 3 or more hours of their time over the course of about 10 weeks

MPS in Applied Economics & Management Capstone Projects

Why are capstone projects important to mps students at dyson.

The problem-solving project is the signature learning experience of the Master of Professional Studies (MPS) in Applied Economics and Management program. This project provides students with the opportunity to explore problems through a behavioral, quantitative, or qualitative lens. The objective of the capstone project is for students to understand how business problems can be addressed with empirical methods. Students start their problem-solving project planning in September and regularly make presentations demonstrating progress and obtaining feedback. They execute their project in the spring semester. The final output is an in-depth report that is presented to the class, a faculty panel, and external clients (if any) in May.

Goals of the Capstone Projects

The primary outcomes for the course can be expressed as four main abilities.

• Teamwork ability to work effectively in small groups with equitable allocation of work among group members.
• Problem Focus ability to select and define a project problem demonstrating relevant knowledge and articulating its significance.
• Project Design and Workplan ability to develop and execute a methodologically rigorous research design and identify and carry out key project tasks and outputs.
• Presentation of Progress ability to write about, present, and discuss the project in class with analytical rigor.

An overarching objective is to help students approach problem-solving projects critically by drawing on the principles of social sciences to assess the integrity of research and judge the validity of findings.

Featured Capstone Projects

Circular Economy: Food Surplus in Consumer Grocery Shopping Decisions The project relates to consumer education impacting buying habits; relates to environmental concerns, and is a good example of “economics is everywhere” and how it relates to the general public.

Telehealth Adoption The project ties to technology and healthcare, addresses a global issue at a local level, involves consumer sentiment, and involves a real-life project sponsor.

The Impacts of Chongqing Land Quota System: A Comparison Study The project ties to agribusiness and international development (and as it relates to economic growth) and how research can impact policy. It highlights the challenges of urbanization on rural farmers and illustrates shows how students can use existing data resources to pursue comparative research.

Effect of Monetary Rewards and Data Privacy Levels on Gen Z’s Willingness to Share Data

The project ties to fintech and showcases another partner relationship (FreedomPay). This timely and relevant topic touches on the rise in concern over internet privacy and focuses on demographics and consumer behavior.

The Effect Of COVID-19 On Movie Distribution Within The U.S.

The project looks at how an industry responds in real-time to a global pandemic. This case study is a good example of how economics relates to everyday consumer decisions.

Currency Neglect and Its Effect on International Consumers’ Purchase Patterns The project studies consulting and consumer packaged goods (and retail in general) and focuses on using consumer behavior to inform global pricing strategies.

Through the MPS problem-solving project, students may collaborate with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), non-profits, large and small companies, and startups generating innovative approaches and fresh perspectives to business challenges. If you are interested in working with a student team, we encourage you to contact the Dyson MPS program through the link below.

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MIT’s Master of Applied Science in Data, Economics, and Design of Policy program adds a public policy track

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MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) and Department of Economics have announced an expansion of their jointly administered Master of Applied Science in Data, Economics, and Design of Policy (DEDP) program . This expansion adds a new public policy track to complement the existing international development track, opening up new avenues for student learning and research. 

Designed to tackle poverty alleviation and other pressing policy challenges in the United States and other high-income countries, the curriculum of the new track spans a diverse set of issues, from domestic concerns like minimum wage and consumer welfare to global matters including trade, climate change, and immigration. Applications for the public policy track will open this fall, with the inaugural cohort set to arrive on MIT’s campus in spring 2026.

The DEDP program, led by MIT professors and Nobel laureates Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, along with professors Sara Fisher Ellison and Benjamin Olken, was established with the mission of equipping diverse cohorts of talented professionals with the knowledge and skills to tackle poverty using evidence-based approaches. The new master’s degree track will support this mission while also underscoring the program’s commitment to addressing a broad array of critical challenges in the fight against poverty worldwide.

"The DEDP program has proven successful on many dimensions, and we are enthusiastic about leveraging its successes to address a broader set of social challenges,” says Ellison, a faculty lead for the program. “The public policy track will enable us to apply evidence-based methodology to poverty alleviation and other related issues in the context of high-income countries, as well. Given increasing levels of wealth and income inequality in these countries, we feel that the timing is opportune and the need is great."

The DEDP program distinguishes itself with an innovative admissions model that prioritizes demonstrated ability and motivation over traditional credentials, such as standardized tests and recommendation letters. To be eligible to apply to the master’s program, candidates must have earned a DEDP MicroMasters credential by passing five of the DEDP online courses. The courses are completely free to audit. Those who wish to earn a course certificate can pay a fee, which varies by the learner’s ability to pay, to take the proctored exam. While applications are reviewed holistically, performance in these classes is the primary factor in admissions decisions.

This approach democratizes access to higher education, enabling students from typically underrepresented backgrounds to demonstrate their potential for success. Notably, the program has welcomed many students from nontraditional backgrounds, such as a student who enrolled directly from high school (and who is now a second-year PhD student in economics at MIT), reflecting the ambition of its faculty directors to make higher education more accessible.

Sofia Martinez, a graduate of the class of 2023 and now co-founder of Learning Alliance , says, "Without the MicroMasters paving the way, applying to MIT or any similar institution would have been unthinkable for us. Initially, my aim in taking the online courses wasn't to pursue the residential program; it was only after witnessing my own progress that I realized the possibility wasn't so distant after all. This sentiment resonates with many in our cohort, which is truly humbling.”

Since its launch in 2020, the DEDP master’s program has conferred degrees to 87 students from 44 countries, showcasing its global reach and the success of its admissions model. Upon arriving on campus, students embark on an accelerated master's program. They complete a full course load in the spring, followed by a capstone project in the summer, applying the theoretical knowledge and practical skills gained through the program at research and policy organizations.

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Engineering students collaborate with industries on capstone projects

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May 8, 2024 : By Ted Allen - Office of Communications & Public Engagement

Capstone, also known as senior design, is the culminating academic experience for Liberty University School of Engineering (LUSE) students and a significant résumé-enriching achievement as they prepare to transition to professional careers.

“Each student works on a team of four to six to design a new product or process or make significant design improvement on existing systems,” said Dr. Howie Fang, a professor and chair of the mechanical engineering department and director of LUSE’s capstone program. “It’s a creative activity, and students do that for their client, who works with the student team over the period of two semesters.”

That creativity and collaboration was on display during Thursday’s Engineering Capstone Expo in the Montview Alumni Ballroom. For this academic year, LUSE offered 22 capstone projects to 97 engineering students with 18 projects from industry partners. Area businesses included Automated Conveyer Systems Inc., Centra, Delta Star, Framatome, Harco Fittings, Lawrence Companies, and Master Engineers & Designers. Students also worked with multi-industry companies such as Textron, and government agencies like NAVAIR, who have provided funding for and benefited from students’ innovative capstone projects. (See the full list of industry sponsors below.)

“It is very important for our students to learn real-world engineering problems and how to find solutions to those problems before they go out and get into industry as engineers,” Fang said. “Then, they are prepared and comfortable applying what they have learned in the classroom to real-life engineering challenges in their new jobs.”

Capstone teams involved students from all five engineering programs: mechanical, electrical, computer, industrial & systems, and civil engineering.

“Dr. Howie Fang is a world-leader in design optimization methodologies and has taught that in the context of the Creationeering process to the senior students while integrating it with real-world engineering problems,” School of Engineering Dean Mark Horstemeyer said, with Creationeering referring to his coined term for the interface between business and engineering and the creative inspiration from God in students’ research and design. “I am so proud to have Howie Fang in the LUSE as his leadership has raised the standard for the school.”

Such was the case for Tanner Randall, who will start this month at Framatome in its thermal hydraulics and component testing center after leading a team of six mechanical engineering students who worked under the supervision of Framatome mechanical engineer and software developer Greg Troyer to analyze the natural frequencies of nuclear reactor vessel internals (RVI), which facilitate fission in extreme environments. Christopher Pace, an electrical engineering student who worked on another Framatome-sponsored project, has also been hired by the company, which has its North American headquarters in Lynchburg, Va.

Katherine Rioux and fellow mechanical engineering students Fady Fayek, Caleb Schaible, and Logan Drawbaugh worked with Dr. Andy McIntosh from Leeds University in England to develop a Biomimic Novel Spray System, using the bombardier beetle as its model for extinguishing fires. She has landed a job working on E2D Hawkeye Airborne Command and Control Aircraft at NAVAIR in Patuxent, Md.

“It’s been a steep learning curve, but the cool thing about being tossed into the deep end is you either sink or swim, and I didn’t want to sink, so I learned,” said Rioux, who had internships with NAVAIR over the past two summers.

At last spring’s Expo, Josh Ingram and his team won the Capstone Legacy Award for their best product design for NAVAIR, a small tool that can be used to repair the engine of the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft. Ingram was hired by BWXT last May while Zach Deluth, another member of this team, was hired by NAVAIR.

“The team worked with NAVAIR really well, and the product the students delivered to them is ready to be made for them to use to maintain these aircraft, so they were really happy,” Fang said.

Due to the quality of work produced by the engineering students on that capstone project, NAVAIR’s Cherry Point, N.C., location sponsored two capstone projects for Liberty’s engineering students this year.

Several of the seniors said the capstone projects stretched them more than any other class they had taken toward their degree, challenging them to put what they have learned in the classroom into practical application.

“It’s hands-on, working with a real customer, solving real problems, and it really made them think through, identifying what the problem is, coming up with solutions to that problem,” School of Engineering Lab Manager Marc Jantomaso said. “They built really good relationships with the clients.”

In recent years, as the School of Engineering has grown — both in number of students and faculty and in reputation in the Lynchburg, Va., area and around the nation and the world — more and more connections have been made between graduating seniors and area engineering companies.

“Through the capstone program, we have built up some very good relationships with industry that will tremendously benefit our engineering students, as well as the industry, providing the students with opportunities to refine their learning and open doors for employers to hire highly skilled graduates,” Fang said. “It’s a win-win situation. We can have more impact for students if we bring real-world applications, real-world projects from industry and let students work with industry people directly in these projects.”

This year, the projects received more than four times the total amount of funding as last year, allowing the seniors to develop more elaborate projects with greater functionality.

“They have more financial resources now, so they can do more,” Fang said. “When you go out to industry, your project can run anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars. That is the scale type of work from industry, and that is very beneficial to students if you can have a project with that complexity. So, from that perspective, we try to attract as many industry projects as possible.”

With genius inspired by God, and plenty of direction from faculty advisors and the clients they are doing their capstone projects for, the student teams “make miracles happen,” said Liberty President Dondi Costin, who attended the Expo.

“I was blown away at every single station, and I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “This is a true testament of your education … (and) exactly what Liberty University is all about. It’s taking young men and women who have natural talent and who have been raised with character and who are brought here by God, who have an individual ability and skill and passion and motivation and coming together as a team and using that skill in concert with the skills of others who are just as intelligent and passionate and gifted.”

2023-24 Engineering Capstone Industry Sponsors

Automated Conveyer Systems (ACS) Inc.

Centra Health

Corvid Technologies LLC

Delta Star, Inc.

Energy & Automation, Inc.

FarmBot Inc.

Harco Fittings

Kapstone Projects LLC

Lawrence Companies

Master Engineers & Designers

McKee Foods Corporation

U.S. Navy’s Fleet Readiness Center East (NAVAIR)

Textron Specialized Vehicles

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New Undergrad Major Propels Student on a Hypersonic Path to NASA

Morgan Small, who graduates this Sunday from the University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science, will be going to work soon for her dream employer, NASA. 

Small is a materials science research engineer who will help the air and space agency better define which materials will hold up, and which will break down, when airborne machines operate at hypersonic speeds.

In terms of a career, the Bureau of Labor statistics projects strong growth for materials engineering over the next decade. And while her decision was a practical one, it was also emotional. Small has long been interested in two things: becoming an engineer like her father, and having a career at NASA. 

“I spent my childhood near Cape Canaveral, watching the shuttles go up,” she said.

Small is now watching her career take off as one of the first graduates of the  Materials Science and Engineering undergraduate program.

A Launchpad With Hot Job Prospects         

“Hypersonics” refers to the development of vehicles that will travel at more than five times the speed of sound. 

That is, if they’re not overwhelmed by forces acting upon them in flight. Nations and corporations worldwide are racing to figure out what will work best.

In a lab in UVA’s Wilsdorf Hall, Small held up a quartz test tube. The tube had already cooled. Previously it had been heated to 1200 degrees Celsius in a furnace roughly the size of a small microwave turned on its side. The tube contained a compound whose oxidation properties the U.S. Department of Defense has asked the University to tell them more about. Oxidation is a natural process that leads to deterioration of materials, and it can speed up in extreme environments. Understanding how the material might act as part of a coating in heat shielding or within plasma engines could drive new innovations.

“Our box furnaces are very well used and very well loved by the Opila Lab ,” Small noted. 

The lab is named for professor  Elizabeth J. Opila , who oversees the program, chairs the Materials Science Engineering Department and is the director of the  Rolls Royce University Technology Center on Advanced Material Systems . 

“Morgan worked her way through measuring, quantifying and understanding how these oxides expand and contract upon heating and cooling,” Opila said. “Some early wonky results proved challenging, but she persevered to get high-fidelity results.”

Before academia, Opila was a long-time employee of NASA. Her advances in ceramics engineering moved the entire field of aerospace forward. 

I had someone offer me an internship on the spot at a UVA career fair last year...

The accomplished professor’s lab, thus, is a bonanza of equipment and research to be conducted — one reason why Small decided on the materials science focus. There was always something she could do that was both needed and hands-on.

“I and other faculty have plenty of opportunities for undergraduates to get solid lab experience,” Opila said. “The research makes terrific projects for undergraduates to train on.” 

In addition to NASA, Small received offers from several other major employers. Their proposals started coming to her in the fall, without her reaching out first in some cases. 

“Materials is a booming community right now because there are so many problems that are materials problems,” the student said. “For example, another graduate in my capstone course works with corrosion the most. She now has a job with the Navy to research corrosion on ships to extend their lifetimes.”

And though many other employers, including biomedical developers, are seeking out materials science graduates, Small observed that the aerospace industry, and in particular hypersonics divisions, are leading the charge. 

“I had someone offer me an internship on the spot at a UVA career fair last year because I said I was a materials person who worked in hypersonics,” Small said.

Professor Elizabeth Opila talks about the research she and her students conduct in her lab.

Small Class Size, Personalized Learning 

Though UVA has taught materials at the graduate level since the early 1960s, the undergraduate degree is much newer. The first student, Marcus Dozier, graduated from the program in 2021. He went on to become a materials process engineer at Newport News Shipbuilding.

Only a dozen undergraduates have earned the Bachelor of Science in Materials Science Engineering since then. This year, UVA will add a half dozen more. Graduating with Small will be Thomas Domer, Emma Laubengayer, Gabe Lu, Leah Smith and Alexandra Uy.

“Our small class size means lots of engagement with professors,” Opila pointed out. 

Each student in the cohort was a member of a materials science research lab, if not multiple labs, she added. Students can begin a path toward specializing in areas where UVA has faculty expertise: corrosion and electrochemistry, structural materials, soft materials, and electrical, magnetic and optical properties of materials.

For example, as a second-year student, Small collaborated with Rolls Royce in UVA’s  Robert Kelly Research Group , to test how common alloys used in aircraft construction degrade. She even co-authored a published paper on the research.

The next year, based on her growing lab experience at UVA and previous NASA internships in their archives and in materials science computer modeling, the agency offered her a summer internship at Langley doing thermal research in David Glass’ lab there. 

She has also benefited from a long-term mentor who is a contractor for NASA, thermal protection expert Vincent Cuda.

“His work helped set the world record for the fastest hypersonic plane ever, Mach 9.68, and challenged me to break his record by the end of my career,” Small said. “Crazy, right?”

The student said she liked the synergy as she returned to working on heat-related projects in the Opila Lab during her last two years of school. 

Opila said she was not only impressed by Small’s capability but also her consistent work ethic over the past four years.

“I've seen her grow both as a fine researcher and as a materials scientist who fully understands processing, structure and property paradigm,” the professor said.

Along the way, Small bonded with a tight-knit group of students from her lab and course work. They even found time to slay a few dragons.

“We just finished up a three-year Dungeons and Dragons campaign,” she reflected.

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ECE 2024 Capstone Design Fair highlights, part 2: Guiding consumers with an app that accurately shows prescriptive lens in frames

MAY 14, 2024 • By Matthew Tierney

In April, ECE’s fourth-year undergraduate students showcased their team-based projects at the 2024 Capstone Design Fair, held over three nights in the Myhal Centre.

Capstone is a yearlong project design course (ECE496) that asks the students to develop an initial concept into a working prototype. This year, coordinator Professor  Bruno Korst  says the department incorporated industry reporting processes to better mirror what students can expect in the workplace.

“I conducted multiple interviews with former students and hired two project administrators who currently work in industry. They all said written reports have given way to brief meetings on deliverables — what’s been done, what’s up next — and then everyone moves on.

“So we simplified the documentation for the students and had stand-up meetings over the two semesters. It set an industry pace, which meant that the students had to pick it up. You can see it in the results this year, which to my eye are more focused.”

“Developing a working engineering prototype requires a combination of teamwork, dedication and the application of a variety of ECE skills acquired from our classrooms and labs,” says ECE Chair Professor  Deepa Kundur .   “Each year, it’s inspiring to see how much the students have learned and their pride in their projects. The design fair is one of the highlights in our academic year.”

This Capstone team project highlight is part 2 of 3.

Read part 1: improving the battery system for neural implants, read part 3: helping students find their classrooms with an indoor campus visualization app, part 2: lenscrafters.

“You go into a store, you select frames that you like, you pay $500 or so,” says Omar Farag (Year 4 CompE), “then wait a couple of weeks. When you go to pick up the glasses, you don’t like them.”

This is the problem that he and his teammates Tawseef Hanif and Jessica He (both Year 4, CompE) look to solve with their project, LensCrafters (with a nod to the retailer by that name).

The team created a graphical user interface (GUI) that uses the specifics of your prescription to show you a 3D representation of exactly how your chosen frames look with the lenses inserted. The 3D viewer allows you to change the angle, zoom in, see the lenses within the frames or alone.

The look of the lenses is the result of a complex process that takes into account the myriad corrective options and lens-making procedures for different vision problems.

For example, one would need a spherical lens to correct nearsightedness or farsightedness — concave or convex, respectively — while a cylindrical lens corrects astigmatism, which is a condition where the eye has multiple focus points. The higher the refractive index, the thinner the lens, but a higher index requires different, more expensive materials. It’s a choice the consumer must weigh.

“Our app allows you to choose a number that represents a cheaper option,” says He. “But say you’ve chosen thin, metal frames. After seeing the 3D illustration, you might consider paying for higher index lenses because you don’t like how the thicker lenses stick out past the edge of the frames.”

The app has other helpful features, such as an augmented “try-on” tool, which places a virtual pair of glasses on the user’s face. Also included is the weight of the frames plus lenses.

“Sometimes if your glasses are too heavy, you get wear marks on the bridge of your nose,” says Farag. “It’s important info to have.”

The most challenging part of the project was calculating the geometry to know how to cut the lens for accurate representation.

“Prescriptions are given in powers of magnitude, such as 1.0 or 1.25,” says Hanif. “We had to convert that number into a radius of the sphere that we’d cut out of the lens. And while optics can give you a good approximation, the optimization of the optics for lens manufacturers are industry secrets.”

Given more time, Hanif says they’d would have liked to allow for more complex prescriptions, such as bifocals and progressives, as well as a better process to combine spherical and cylindrical-powered lenses, which complicates the magnitude.

When asked what advice he’d give upcoming students, Hanif says, “Whatever time you estimate for your project, it’ll take double or triple that.”

You might be interested in:

ECE 2024 Capstone Design Fair highlights, part 3: Helping students find their classrooms with an indoor campus visualization app

ECE 2024 Capstone Design Fair highlights, part 1: Improving the battery system for neural implants

ECE students among those celebrated for their leadership and contributions to the U of T Engineering community

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Real-World Business challenges

In the Applied Management Research (AMR) field study, you’ll work on a team to address a challenge for a client organization. After a deep dive into research, you’ll present key insights and your recommendations. The Business Creation Option gives you the chance to work with a team of classmates to launch your own business. Students who participate in the Student Investment Fund (SIF) manage a $2 million fund, while visiting leading companies to learn about strategies and philosophies. The Anderson Strategy Group (ASG) is a capstone project that involves a commitment during your first and second years, and gives students focused on consulting a chance to work on and manage a project with classmates. Students who participate in the NAIOP Real Estate Case Competition earn capstone project credit through this six-month assessment of a local property, determining the highest and best use for real estate development. Finally, Anderson has partnered with XPRIZE and their Visioneers program to put students on the front line of designing XPRIZE competitions to address the world’s grand challenges.

In this field study, you’ll work in a team to address a challenge for a client organization. After a deep dive into research, you’ll present key insights and your recommendations.

Bcp gives you the chance to work with a team of classmates to launch your own business., this set of capstone options is more tailored to students' various career paths and interests, and includes: global social impact consulting entertainment & sports analytics early stage investing a/b testing marketing behavior change in marketing.

Students who participate in SIF manage a $2 million fund, while visiting leading companies to learn about strategies and philosophies.  

ASG is a capstone project that involves a commitment during your first and second years, and gives students focused on consulting a chance to work on and manage a project with classmates.

Students who participate in the NAIOP case competition earn capstone project credit through this six-month assessment of a local property.

• Team determines best use for a real site in Southern California
• Case competition against USC + write up
• Fall & Winter quarter of second year

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NEWS RELEASE:

UCLA Excels in Local and National Real Estate Case Competitions

Los Angeles (November 20, 2018) — UCLA graduate student teams won the 2018 NAIOP SoCal Real Estate Challenge and placed second in the 2018 National Real Estate Challenge hosted by the University of Texas at Austin. Both case competitions took place on November 15, 2018, at UCLA and UT Austin, respectively.

NAIOP team (left to right): UCLA Anderson Professor Paul Habibi, Jeffrey Eigenbrood (’19), Daniel Polk (’19), Ben Morrison (’19), Robert Anthony (’19), Nicholas Marino (’19)

The NAIOP SoCal Real Estate Challenge team consisted of Class of 2019 UCLA Anderson MBA students Robert Anthony , Jeff Eigenbrood , Nick Marino and Ben Morrison , and UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture student Daniel Polk. The annual event, sponsored by the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP), presents a specific real estate case challenge to a team of students at UCLA and USC. In addition to providing a rich learning experience that requires participating students to produce high-quality professional work within a limited time frame, the competition is designed to showcase the talents and creativity of the next generation of real estate professionals.

This year, the NAIOP Challenge involved two undeveloped parcels on 11 acres of land located at the southwest corner of Del Amo Avenue and Newport Avenue in Tustin, California. The city acquired the property in 2007 and it has been vacant since that time. The site is a highly visible infill adjacent to the 55 freeway and near the massive Tustin Legacy, the 1600-acre former Tustin Marine Corps Air Station, which is currently being redeveloped. The site sits in an area of the Pacific Center East Specific Plan, which is a major employment center in Tustin that will continue to grow.

UCLA’s team proposed a project they titled Solana (Spanish for solarium or sunny spot) that was inspired by strawberry farming that had once taken place on the site. Solana is a natural extension of the nearby Tustin Legacy project, which involves the transformation of 16,000 acres of raw land into a massive master-planned commercial and residential community.

Video fly-through of the UCLA NAIOP “Solano – Tustin” Development

UCLA’s Solana consists of two select service hotels (305 keys), 240 multifamily units, 10,000 square feet of retail, 75 units of 80 percent affordable housing and more than 150,000 square feet of community space. “I am enormously proud of our NAIOP Challenge team,” said Tim Kawahara, executive director of the Richard S. Ziman Center for Real Estate at UCLA. “Our students proposed a very thoughtful project that provides both commercial value and community benefits to the City of Tustin.”

In its 21st year, the NAIOP Real Estate Challenge celebrates the rivalry between USC and UCLA and illustrates the robust real estate programs at both universities. The winning team is awarded the Silver Shovel, which is inscribed with all past winners’ names. In addition, a $5,000 contribution is made in the name of the winning school to the Challenge for Charity (C4C), benefiting the Special Olympics.

National Real Estate Challenge team (left to right): DaJuan Bennett (’20), Austen Mount (’20), Anne Sewall (’20), James Blake (’20), Robert Walls (’20)

The National Real Estate Challenge team from UCLA consisted of Class of 2020 UCLA Anderson MBA students DaJuan Bennett , James Blake , Austen Mount , Anne M. Sewall and Robert Walls . The challenge, held annually at the McCombs School of Business at UT Austin, is an invitation-only case competition for student teams from the nation’s top-ranked business schools. The case competition involves the analysis of a recent real estate transaction consummated by a leading global real estate firm. Judging panels consist of senior executives from leading real estate companies across the U.S., creating outstanding opportunities for learning, networking and recruitment.

This year, the case centered on a hold/sell analysis for a recently delivered, eight-story office building in “River Valley” (later revealed to be Austin, TX). The property had been a successful 80-percent leased development for the fund. Teams were given the following options: sell the building immediately; hold on to the property with the existing debt; re-finance the property at a higher leverage point (either 65 or 75 percent LTV instead of the 50 percent LTC loan in place); or sell the property and use the proceeds to pursue another office development in “West Hamilton” (later revealed to be Santa Monica, CA). Student teams were prompted to model the two investments to determine the quantitative benefits of each option, but also to look at the national office market, consider the impact of interest rates on cap rates and determine whether co-working and remote working would impact leasing either of the projects.

The UCLA team recommended holding on to the existing property and refinancing the building at 65 percent LTV. The thought process was, while the base case scenario provided was likely to occur, the team wanted to ensure a comfort level with the investment in a downside scenario, which made the pipeline investment and 75 percent LTV financing options too risky. Conversely, the team suggested that selling the property now or maintaining the 50 percent LTC loan were too conservative given the quality of the property and the strength of the “River Valley” market.

“The UT Austin McCombs School of Business National Real Estate Challenge is among the most prestigious real estate case competitions in the nation, so even to place is a huge accomplishment,” said Tim Kawahara. “The team’s success represents the caliber of students at UCLA Anderson and the strength of our real estate curriculum and programs.”

An investment fund managed by student portfolio managers dedicated to the pursuit of favorable risk-adjusted returns.

Applied Management Research

We pioneered practical learning with the applied management research program.

UCLA Anderson launched the first MBA field study program 54 years ago. The AMR program has worked with over 5,000 clients, including Fortune 500 companies, nonprofits, microfinance institutions and startups. You’ll work with a team of peers on a two-quarter project that will solve an organization’s key business problem, while expanding your professional network and experience working in a new field, and inviting you to explore your career options. The AMR program takes place during fall and winter quarters of the second year.

Ballard Metcalfe (’19), Ariel Wang (’19), and Cris Erdtsieck (’19) analyzed how a Peruvian non-profit organization could maximize revenues and lower transaction costs while increasing client satisfaction and engagement.

Global Reach of AMR Projects in 2019–2020

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Student impressions of amr.

From The Blog

Sustaining Effective NCD Screen in a South Africa community Requires an Ecosystem of Strategic Partners

Improving the Quality of Sustainable Coffee Production in San Martín, Peru

Prestigious Awards for UCLA Anderson Class of 2017 Field Study Teams

BCP Team KPOP Foods (clockwise from top left): Alex Kim (’17), Ryan Kennelly (’17), Mike Kim (’17), Theo Lee (’17), Erica Suk (’17).

BCP Success Stories

BodySpec (Class of 2014)

BodySpec provides individualized information to health-conscious individuals. We offer full-body scans utilizing dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scanning technology.

Project Description: BodySpec provides individualized health information to health-conscious individuals. We offer full-body scans utilizing dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scanning technology. These scans provide data about an individual’s muscle mass, body fat and bone density at a more granular, accurate and actionable level than any other body composition technology currently available in the fitness industry. Revenue will primarily be generated through scanning fees from individuals (an average of $90 per scan) and subscription fees from personal trainers to access client data.

Update: BCO project is thriving. They've hit many significant milestones and are enthusiastic about BodySpec and helping out current Anderson students.

SmartestK12 (Class of 2014)

To help teachers better understand their students, SmartestK12 transforms all assignments, assessments or classroom interactions into rich student data that allows teachers, parents and school administrators to track each child’s learning in real time and take actions to ensure academic growth.

SMARTESTK12 (CLASS OF 2014)

Project Description: To help teachers better understand their students, SmartestK12 transforms all assignments, assessments or classroom interactions into rich student data that allows teachers, parents and school administrators to track each child’s learning in real time and take actions to ensure academic growth. We feel that education is the foundation for human progress, and that each student deserves an education custom built to her or his needs. SmartestK12 aims to unleash the individual and create a sustainable, never-ending supply of future scientists, historians, mathematicians, authors, scholars and creative geniuses.

Update: The company is still up and running, rebranded as Formative for a new application the founders created that is proving very promising.

Sportifik (Class of 2014)

Sportifik is a web- and mobile-based league management platform that engages college students in recreational activities. Adopted by over 25 universities across the country, including UCLA, Stanford and UC Berkeley, Sportifik empowers university recreation programs with the ability to effectively coordinate sports leagues and tournaments and engage students in healthy and active lifestyles.

SPORTIFIK (CLASS OF 2014)

Project Description:  Sportifik is creating a community of athletes and changing the way people participate in sports. We are providing amateur athletes and avid sports fans with the best means to easily organize and manage their sporting activities through a user friendly one-stop-shop mobile and web solution. Our platform will enable users to seamlessly partake in sporting activities in a fun and rewarding way while enabling them to meet members of their local communities who share a passion for the same sports.

Update:  Still working on their startup and the project is ongoing in LA. They've raised a seed round, grown their user base and client base significantly. They’re still implementing the pivot they started during BCO and are looking to add another part to their project.

Student entrepreneur taps into UCLA resources to 'grow' his news website

No Guesswork, No Guilt: Goodbye Hangry, Hello officebites

AMR: Business Creation Option (BCP) Spotlight on GOshopping

BCP Mentors

Internet, Business and Intellectual Property Attorney Cohen Business Law Group

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May 10, 2024 9:41 AM

Demo Day features capstone projects by Electronics and Computer Engineering Technology students

Graduating students from Conestoga's Electronics Engineering Technology and Computer Engineering Technology programs shared working solutions to real-world challenges at their capstone Demo Day.

The event held April 11 at the Cambridge - Fountain Street campus featured six capstone projects, along with the announcement of leadership and academic excellence award winners and Best in Program capstone projects.

The student teams were on hand to answer questions from curious atrium visitors, backed up by a cardboard display on the project and the working system for people to watch in action.

“It was gratifying to see ideas turn into viable prototypes,” said Hamood-Ur Rehman, faculty member in the Electronics Engineering Technology program.

Best in Program Capstone Project Awards went to Electronics Engineering Technology students Besart Kalezic and Eric Enns for their phone status indicator and Computer Engineering Technology students Mat Regentov and Joel Thibert for ZephyrCore, an electronic system for wireless musical performance.

The awards were presented at Tech Showcase on April 23 where students demonstrated best-of-program projects from the School of Engineering & Technology and the School of Applied Computer Science & Information Technology.

The phone status indicator came out of a pitch by Clarion Medical Technologies in Cambridge for the students to design a system that indicates if the company’s technicians are available to help a customer.

“It was an actual industry problem that we got to solve,” Kalezic said.

The team designed a system that communicates at a glance if a technician is away, on a call or free to speak to a customer. That includes a simple column of indicator lights at each workstation and a computer display for the customer service representatives who forward calls for customer support.

The company provided feedback through the process and will put the system to use in their office. Enns said the project was about much more than just putting together some code and components.

“The design process, research and testing pulled from nearly all my courses at Conestoga. Going from having nothing but an idea to a functional project has been a difficult but amazing experience.”

The team that made the other top project also found the experience invaluable.

“The capstone project was a great chance to apply what I've learned the last three years, as well as to show my ability to succeed in the face of new and unexpected challenges,” Thibert said.

Regentov said it was an opportunity to put to the test all the skills learned in the three-year program. "I have gained a lot of knowledge and improved a lot of skills working on the capstone project.”

Other projects on display included a system to modernize vintage vehicles, equipping them with features found on current automobiles like a back-up camera, remote starter and blind-spot detection.

Julian Maltez, Jeff Chabot and Ben Martens bundled the most common features in an affordable, easy-to-install kit that starts with a key fob.

“This adds everything you could get in a newer car,” Maltez said. “Three wires total and you’re up and running.”

Adam Riddell and Aeryn Stegne designed a system that detects when traffic lights stop working and alerts the maintenance department when replacements are needed.Currently, the lights are often changed early as a preventive measure, but that focus on safety ignores the cost of waste from the lights and time changing them.

Recipients of five leadership and academic awards included:

• Electronics Engineering Technology Leadership Award - Besart Kalezic • Computer Engineering Technology Leadership Award - Mat Regentov

• Electronics Engineering Technology Academic Excellence Award - Owen Morrison

• Computer Engineering Technology Academic Excellence Award - Eric Enns

• Electronics Engineering Technician Academic Excellence Award - Zach Robinson

The Electronics Engineering Technology program teaches students to work with electronic, computer and communications equipment and systems. Graduates are able to design, build, test and repair communications systems. The program is about half lab work and half theory, giving students an advantage in the practical implementation of systems, software and circuits.

The Computer Engineering Technology program starts with the same foundation in first year. Students in this program graduate with the ability to design, build, test and repair a computer-based system or any part of one. Their strong electronics knowledge and skills enable them to take on many roles in industry.

Both programs are in Conestoga’s School of Engineering & Technology .

Posted on May 10, 2024 9:41 AM in Campus News | Permalink

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Three SEAS ventures take top prizes at President’s Innovation Challenge

Start-ups in emergency medicine, older adult care and quantum sensing all take home $75,000.

Michael Finn-Henry receives his President's Innovation Challenge award for EndoShunt Medical Inc., alongside interim Harvard President Alan Garber and Matt Segneri,  Bruce and Bridgitt Evans Executive Director for the Harvard Innovation Labs (Evgenia Eliseeva)

Start-ups co-founded by students or alumni from the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) took the top prize in three of five categories at the 2024 Harvard Innovation Labs President’s Innovation Challenge Awards Ceremony at Harvard Business School’s Klarman Hall. Combined with two Ingenuity Awards for early-stage start-ups, SEAS students brought in more than $230,000 in prize funding, made possible by a gift from the Bertarelli Foundation, at the annual event.

“Engineers have the best platform to become entrepreneurs,” said Michael Finn-Henry, a Ph.D. candidate in mechanical engineering at SEAS who co-founded EndoShunt, the top prize winning venture in the Student Health & Life Sciences track. “In engineering, oftentimes you iterate, take risks and risk failure, and entrepreneurs do the same thing. You need to be excited about what you’re working on, but you also need to be aware that you might pivot or have to overcome adversity.”

EndoShunt, which was awarded $75,000, isolates blood vessel injuries in the abdomen by creating a lining in the blood vessel allowing blood to flow through the vessel but not out of the wound. This keeps blood flowing to the rest of the body as the trauma surgeon locates and treats the wound, significantly reducing the risk of the patient bleeding to death.

Wale Lawal receives his President's Innovation Challenge award for MesaQuantum, alongside interim Harvard President Alan Garber and Matt Segneri,  Bruce and Bridgitt Evans Executive Director for the Harvard Innovation Labs (Evgenia Eliseeva)

“I came to Harvard wanting to have an impact, and to me EndoShunt is the biggest way I can do that,” Finn-Henry said. “I wasn’t expecting to be doing a start-up so early in my Ph.D., but it’s an amazing opportunity.”

MesaQuantum took first place in the Student Open Track. Co-founded by MS/MBA student Wale Lawal, MesaQuantum is developing chip-scale quantum sensors that can serve as an alternative form of position, navigation, and time (PNT) when GPS signals are inaccessible or weak. These chips will be relevant in a variety of applications that range from underwater sensing for climate monitoring to the development of Level 5 full autonomous vehicles.  

“At MesaQuantum, we are taking the same technology in GPS and miniaturizing it into a chip,” Lawal said. “This is useful for the military in GPS-denied environments, as well as our critical infrastructure such as the energy grid, telecommunication towers, and data centers that need GPS timing signals. By integrating these chips inside our systems, we can ensure we always have the necessary PNT signals despite any disruption to GPS. We were excited about this opportunity, and decided to take the research out of the lab, bend it into a business entity, and over time create a series of products that create an alternative to GPS using the power of quantum.”

Emily Wang, A.B. '18, receives her President's Innovation Challenge award for Beaver Health, alongside interim Harvard President Alan Garber and Matt Segneri,  Bruce and Bridgitt Evans Executive Director for the Harvard Innovation Labs ( Evgenia Eliseeva)

Emily Wang, A.B. ‘18, founded Beaver Health, which won the Alumni & Affiliates Open track. Beaver Health is a National Institutes of Health-backed online platform that offers evidenced-based activities geared towards improving the cognition and quality of life of older adults. Wang, a computer science concentrator at SEAS, devised Beaver Health after becoming caregiver for her own grandmother. Wang realized that innovative treatments and engaging activities were not accessible and largely unknown to most families, so she applied her software engineering, AI, and medical research skills to start a company to provide them.

“What stands out about the President’s Innovation Challenge and the Harvard Innovation Labs is that they're both focused on social impact and changing the world,” Wang said. “It’s rare to find and join a community where everyone is so passionate about solving real problems.”

The $2,700 Ingenuity Awards went to MicroAvionics and Alba. Spun out of research in the Joost Vlassak Group at SEAS, MicroAvionics is producing ultra-lightweight platforms that levitate using sunlight, eliminating the need for onboard fuel or power. The platforms have the potential to provide atmospheric and climate data from the mesosphere, a region of Earth’s atmosphere beyond the reach of conventional aircraft and satellites, and could also be used in the atmosphere of Mars. The company was co-founded by Ben Schafer, a current Ph.D. student in applied physics, and former applied math graduate student Angela Feldhaus, S.M. ‘20.

Harvard SEAS students Ben Schafer and Deepika Gopalakrishnan were among five founders recognized with Ingenuity Awards for early-stage start-ups at the President's Innovation Challenge Awards Ceremony (Evgenia Eliseeva)

“It’s definitely been a whirlwind,” Schafer said. “If you’d asked me a couple years ago, I would’ve said there’s no way we’d be doing this now. We’ve found there’s actually a market for what our technology could provide, and we’re really excited to take the next step.”

Alba, co-founded by Master of Design Engineering students Deepika Gopalakrishnan, Binita Gupta and Priyanka Pillai, is designing disposable wipes to help the visually impaired identify the onset of their periods.

“This is the best day of the year for us, because we get to spotlight our amazing community, and show how they turn ideas into impact,” said Matt Segneri, Bruce and Bridgitt Evans Executive Director for the Harvard Innovation Labs . “The iLab is a community where you can be yourself. It’s a space for people to channel their passion and purpose to build things that matter.”

SEAS ventures have consistently performed well at the President’s Innovation Challenge Awards Ceremony. Recent prize winners from SEAS include Penguin.ai and Stochastic in 2023, Limax Biosciences in 2022, and Beacon Bio in 2021.

Topics: Applied Physics , Awards , Computer Science , Entrepreneurship , Health / Medicine , Industry , Master of Design Engineering , Materials Science & Mechanical Engineering , MS/MBA , Quantum Engineering

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Inaugural 1819 Innovation Hub Awards honor DAAP grads

Daapworks highlights creative capstones.

The University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP) annually showcases its graduating class’s capstone projects, judging concepts on creative output, design and collaboration. This year, the 1819 Innovation Hub made its debut at DAAPworks, resulting in the recognition of five enterprising students.

Recipients of the inaugural 1819 Innovation DAAPworks Award demonstrated the Hub’s commitment to fostering diverse innovation. They designed various creative projects spanning from mobile health care units to career-matching apps. One commonality among the winners: great appreciation for the 1819 Innovation Hub and its Makerspace .

“UC students consistently lead the nation in creativity, inventiveness and depth of knowledge,” said Nicola Ziady, UC’s chief marketing officer and judge for the 1819 Innovation DAAPworks Award. “To see their ingenuity mix with the wealth of resources available at the 1819 Innovation Hub validates the fact that ‘next’ does indeed live here at UC. We evaluated each capstone project on originality, creativity, impact, feasibility, sustainability, collaboration, adaptability and presentation.”

Innovation requires design brilliance, forward-thinking ideas and enough resources to turn a concept into reality. The 1819 Innovation Hub plays a role in catalyzing innovation on UC's campus. Students from DAAP, the College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS) and other programs across UC have full access to the building and its resources, bringing their innovative ideas to life.  

Introducing DAAPworks award winners

DAAP graduates from diverse backgrounds and creative interests were honored during 1819’s inaugural award ceremony. Below is a look at the UC students whose capstone projects stood out to judges.

Joe Curtsinger: Minnow water care solution

Joe Curtsinger. Photo/DAAP

Pools provide a welcome respite from the summer heat, but maintaining them can become a headache. From testing pH and sanitizer levels to setting chemicals to find the right balance, pool maintenance isn’t for everyone.

Minnow may change that. According to Joe Curtsinger, “Minnow is a device that monitors water chemistry and optimizes chemical usage for residential pool owners.” Considering the complexity of determining correct chemical compositions, Minnow could be a game-changer for pool owners.

Curtsinger regularly used the UC Makerspace to develop 3D models for Minnow’s design. He particularly appreciated how the “prototyping capabilities in the Makerspace can facilitate rapid development and connect you with people who can help you excel.”

Curtsinger capstone project: Minnow. Photo/DAAP

Sarah Durbala: SpareParts additive product repairs

Sarah Durbala. Photo/DAAP

When products break down, our natural tendency is often to throw them away and buy new models. Sarah Durbala set out to break that cycle and promote sustainability by designing 3D-printed replacement parts in the UC Makerspace.

In Durbala’s words, SpareParts “uses additive manufacturing for repairing parts, leading to a decrease in waste and extending the life of products.” She thought of creating sustainable replacement parts for common items because friends and family kept asking her to 3D print fixes.

Durbala credits the UC Makerspace in the 1819 Innovation Hub for enabling her to build and perfect a design for SpareParts. “I learned a lot of my skills through being there,” Durbala said, “and by helping others work through their ideas.”

The 1819 Innovation Hub ecosystem, in Durbala’s view, creates a natural place for the next big ideas to bubble up. “Innovation is a group effort, not an individual assignment,” she said. DAAP’s partnership with 1819, according to Durbala, gave her a chance to have “great conversations with designers and makers about the future” of SpareParts.

Durbala capstone project: SpareParts. Photo/DAAP

Sarah Stevens: Careerdium career-finding app

Sarah Stevens. Photo/DAAP

Every year, high school seniors grapple with setting their next career steps. Enter Careerdium, a job-finding app that Sarah Stevens developed to let young adults swipe on potential careers, take quizzes and learn about job paths.

Stevens said, “Careerdium is an interactive app for teenagers to use to understand their career personalities and explore different career options for their futures.” The app was inspired by Stevens’ own challenges with choosing the right job path during her time in high school.

As with many student innovators at UC, Stevens noticed a problem and dreamt up a forward-thinking solution. “By mixing the familiar quiz with the new swiping function,” Stevens said, “Careerdium intends to innovate by creating a friendlier experience for all users.”

Stevens has one piece of advice for future student innovators at UC: “Don’t wait to begin utilizing the 1819 Innovation Hub.” She views it as a transformational space where students can “work on personal projects, enhance skills for future employers and complete schoolwork” — all on top of conceptualizing and crafting innovative ideas such as Careerdium.

Stevens capstone project: Careerdium. Photo DAAP

Jimmy Tran: AIVO Care Cruiser telehealth unit

Jimmy Tran. Photo/DAAP

Many people find urgent care time-consuming, expensive and a hassle overall. Jimmy Tran developed the AIVO Care Cruiser to change that belief through AI technology and an innovative approach to telehealth.

Tran describes the AIVO Care Cruiser as “an autonomous medical screening vehicle, which will revolutionize health care accessibility by bringing screenings and consultations straight to users’ homes.” The AIVO Care Cruiser was inspired by Tran spending time in an overcrowded emergency room and noticing that many patients had nonemergency conditions that could have been treated elsewhere.

In Tran’s view, the DAAPworks event at the 1819 Innovation Hub provides a chance for transformative projects to get off the ground. He enjoyed having the “opportunity to make connections with a large number of great designers, graduates and friends” while at the 1819 Innovation Hub.

Tran capstone project: AIVO. Photo/DAAP

Car Zhang: RAY emergency mobile medical unit

Car Zhang. Photo/DAAP

The first hour after a disaster strikes, or the “golden hour,” is the most critical period for emergency medical care. It can be difficult for first responders to get to the scene fast enough, though, especially if there are safety risks or limited resources. That’s where Car Zhang, designer of the RAY emergency rescue unit, believes his invention can change lives.

Zhang describes RAY as a “fully equipped, container-based mobile medical unit capable of providing hospital-level emergency care for severe injuries in remote areas.” He envisions RAY as “an opportunity to develop an improved solution for emergency medical responses” after disaster strikes.

According to Zhang, the 1819 Innovation Hub is “a place that can help you achieve your dreams,” and he was guided through integrating advanced fields such as medical rescue, autonomous driving and logistics. He also gained valuable insights from fellow innovators and used the UC Makerspace to 3D print RAY models.

Zhang capstone project: RAY. Photo/DAAP

Empowering students to develop what's next

DAAP consistently ranks among the top design schools in the world, and its students’ capstone projects show why. Using the UC Makerspace at the 1819 Innovation Hub, DAAP students can turn their forward-thinking ideas into realistic designs.

Benjamin Jones, the Makerspace director at 1819, said “innovation is at the confluence of novel and actionable … this is an exceedingly hard target to hit.” Because of that, Jones believes it’s well worth celebrating the innovators who come close to reaching this goal at DAAPworks.

As these five DAAP graduates begin post-college roles, they’ll be equipped with UC’s design prowess and innovative practices. Driven by the idea that Next Lives Here , DAAP and UC’s 1819 Innovation Hub are empowering students to kick-start forward-thinking change in Cincinnati and beyond.

Featured image at top: DAAPworks display. Photo/DAAP

Stephen Kenney

[email protected]

Innovation Lives Here

The University of Cincinnati is leading public urban universities into a new era of innovation and impact. Our faculty, staff and students are saving lives, changing outcomes and bending the future in our city's direction.  Next Lives Here.

• Next Lives Here
• College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning
• Engineering Education
• 1819 Innovation Hub
• Cincinnati Innovation District
• Innovation Agenda
• Office of Innovation

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