Graduate Students Shine at Master of Engineering Design Showcase
June 30, 2022 – Students, faculty, staff, industry leaders and alumni gathered in the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building June 3 for the first in-person Capstone Project Showcase of the Samueli School of Engineering’s interdisciplinary Master of Engineering (M.Eng) program.
The program, which just finished its second year, focuses on giving students technical expertise and industry knowledge to prepare them for employment and entrepreneurship opportunities. The Capstone project pairs student groups with corporate partners to address industry-led projects. It also provides students with an opportunity for hands-on experiential learning.
The showcase allowed all the student teams to come together and demonstrate their work to peers, faculty and industry mentors. A total of 42 students working in three different engineering departments (biomedical engineering, mechanical and aerospace engineering, and electrical engineering and computer science) worked on 10 different teams, seven of which presented their work (the remaining three teams will present their projects in December).
Vince McDonell, adjunct professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and one of the program’s faculty advisers, praised the showcase: “The event was a great way to celebrate the hard work of the students on these interesting and important projects. The excitement of the sponsors and satisfaction the students gleaned from this event was very nice to see. It underscores the talent and capabilities of these students in coming together and succeeding as interdisciplinary teams.” Derek Dunn-Rankin, M.Eng director and mechanical and aerospace engineering professor emeritus, also commented on how well all of the teams performed, and that the showcase was “a uniformly excellent set of design outcomes.”
After Dean Magnus Egerstedt delivered introductory remarks, two awards were presented: the Dean’s Top Choice Award to the project titled “Traumatic Brain Injury Assessment System” and the Executive Committee Award to “Power Consumption Optimization for Intravascular Cytometry.” Other innovative projects explored applying textured plate design to spinal bone plates for improved spinal stability, ischemic stroke smart aspiration tubing, a real-time energy cost analysis tool, pulsatile stent-grafts for cardiovascular disease, sensors in extreme environments, an intelligent system for improving an industrial application, robot/drone navigation and a 3D-printed valve.
This year’s projects included sponsorship and mentorship from Advantech, Hoag Orthopedics, MIVI Neuroscience, NXgenPort, Omnica Corporation, Phoenix Energy Technologies, PulseGraft and Relativity Space.
– Rachel Karas
