Sternheimer Awards

  • Funded by Mr. Mark Sternheimer, major benefactor and Foundation Board member
  • Awarded to projects exhibiting outstanding innovation and entrepreneurship
  • Highly prestigious – last year 7 out of 30 teams that applied received awards
  • Excellent opportunity for experience, guidance and exposure
  • Judged by representatives from companies in the Greater Richmond area
  • Winning teams showcase their team and projects to professionals in the engineering field prior to the Expo.

The VCU School of Engineering Foundation is pleased to invite teams to apply for the Mark A. Sternheimer Senior Capstone Design Award.  The Sternheimer Award was established in 2012 by Mr. Sternheimer with the intent of promoting innovative and entrepreneurial projects. 

Sternheimer Award applications are judged by a committee of representatives from companies in the region and beyond. In addition to potential funding, teams are provided a unique opportunity to showcase their team and projects to professionals in the engineering field prior to the Expo.

2017-2018 Winners

The VCU School of Engineering Foundation has announced the 10 winning teams for the 2017-2018 Mark A. Sternheimer Senior Capstone Design Award. The award, established in 2012 by Sternheimer, a Foundation Board member and benefactor, promotes innovative and entrepreneurial projects.

Out of a pool of 27 applicants, 17 finalists made presentations on Nov. 10 to a panel of judges from Richmond-area companies.

Below are the award winners.

Department Project Team Members Faculty Advisor Sponsor
Icon for the Biomedical Engineering Department Device for the Detection of Distal Tracheal Pressure in Pediatric Patients Ronil Vaghjiani, Nilan Vaghjiani, Vinh Dao, Virang Kumar Ding-Yu Fei, Ph.D. VCU Pediatrics
Icon for the Biomedical Engineering Department  Feedback Device for Orogastric Feeding Systems John Cotsonas, Benjamin Nguyen, Ngheim Le, Zoe Villamar  Daniel Conway, Ph.D.   
Icon for the Biomedical Engineering Department  Darkening Isolette Walls Aniket Kulkarni, Chandana Muktipaty, Joshna Seelam, Kashyap Venuthurupalli René Olivares-Navarrete, D.D.S., Ph.D.  VCU Pediatrics 
Icon for the Computer Science Department  Campus Bluetooth Tag Network  Nicholas Bennett, Jordan Mays-Rowland, Justin Yirka  Eyuphan Bulut, Ph.D.   
Icon for the Computer Science Department Interactive Flowchart Learning Tool  Dakota Bly, Taylor Kaplan, Ayyan Talib  Debra Duke, M.S.  Science Museum of VA 
Icon for the Computer Science Department  Daily Planet: Medical Inventory Management Application  Joseph Conteh, Abdullah Hashmi, Ziyad Moussa  Robert Dahlberg, Ph.D. Daily Planet 
Icon for the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department  Modular, Lower-Arm 3D Printed Prosthesis  Lauren Linkous, Sofia Duarte, Johnny Bui, Zachary Clement  Zhi-Fang Wang, Ph.D.   
Icon for the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department  Rapid prototyping of on-chip optical devices (RAPID Photonics)  Lionel Brookins, Robert Edwards, Adam Morrisset, Robert West  Nathaniel Kinsey, Ph.D.; Ümit Özgür, Ph.D.  Night Vision Labs 
Icon for the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department  Team Warbler: Building a Smarter Birdhouse  Amanda Fauntleroy, Christopher French, Alexandra Kokich  A. Vennie Filippas, Ph.D.  Environmental Engineering 
Icon for the Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering Department  Energy Efficient Solid-State Magnetic Cooling Device  Henry Garcia, Meredith Hutton, Khushar Javed, Yahya Maly, Quang Nguyen  Ravi Hadimani, Ph.D.   

2017-2018 Finalists

Please click the Project Number to download the information document for the finalist project.

If you require assistance in accessing or reading the following PDFs, please contact us.

Project Number Title
BME 101 Document  Design That Increases Chest Wall Rigidity of the Extremely Low Birth Weight Premature Infants
BME 104 Document  Darkening Isolette Walls
BME 105 Document  Device for the Detection of Distal Tracheal Pressure in Pediatric Patients
BME 110 Document Feedback Device for Orogastric Feeding Systems
CLSE 208 Document Nicotine Buster: Rapid Field Testing for Law Enforcement
CS 317 Document Campus Bluetooth Tag Network
CS 318 Document Interactive Flowchart
CS 319 Document Daily Planet: Medical Inventory Management Application
ECE 405 Document Team Warbler: Building a Smarter Birdhouse
ECE 406 Document Stealth Device to Call for Help for Domestic Violence Victims (SHIELD)
ECE 410 Document Modular, Lower-Arm 3D Printed Prosthesis
ECE 411 Document Rapid prototyping of on-chip optical devices (RAPIDPhotonics)
MNE 511 Document Energy Efficient Solid-State Magnetic Cooling Device
MNE 512 Document Designing a Fog Harvesting Surface for Arid Climates
MNE 518 Document Development and Optimization for a UAV Based Radiation Measurement System
MNE 523 Document Nano-Engineered Textile Fabric
MULTI 603 Document Aerial Swarming Automous Polinating Drones

2017-18 One Page Proof of Concept

Please click the Project Number to download the One Page Proof of Concept for a team.

If you require assistance in accessing or reading the following PDFs, please contact us.

Project Number Title
BME 101 Design That Increases Chest Wall Rigidity of the Extremely Low Birth Weight Premature Infants
BME 104 Pediatric Darkening of Isolette Walls
BME 105 Device for Detection of Distal Tracheal Pressure in Pediatric Patients
BME 107 Microfluidic Device to Measure Effects of Substrate Stiffness, Shear Stress, and Chemotactic Gradient
BME 109 Cryoclamps: Proof of Concept
BME 110  Feedback Device for Orogastric Feeding Systems
CLSE 201 JTCC/Altria Process Control Simulator
CLSE 208  Rapid Test for Nicotine in Vape Liquids
CS 315 Electronic Infrastructure for the Abstraction of Radiotherapy Data for the Assessment of Quality of Radiotherapy.
CS 317  iBeacon Tag Network on Campus
CS 318  Coding: The Language of the Future
CS 319  Daily Planet Inventory System
ECE 405  Team Warbler Migration Patterns
ECE 406  Stealth device to call for help for domestic violence victims
ECE 407 Accent Lighting with LED
ECE 410  Modular, Lower-Arm 3D Printed Prosthesis
ECE 411   Rapid prototyping of on-chip optical devices (RAPIDPhotonics)
MNE 501 Quiet Blender
MNE 510 Fluids as an Art Form: Engineering a Device that Captures the Rayleigh-Taylor Instability 3
MNE 511 Energy Efficient Solid-State Magnetic Cooling Device
MNE 512   Designing a Fog Harvesting Surface for Arid Climates
MNE 516 Nanoliter Liquid Dispenser Design
MNE 517 3D Printed Capacitive Touch Sensing System
MNE 521 Nuclear Reactor for Mars
MNE 523  Nano-Engineered Textile Fabric
MNE 530 Formula SAE Suspension and Chassis
MULTI 603  Aerial Swarming Automous Polinating Drones