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2021 Capstone Design winners celebrated, top honors announced

May 3, 2021

A remote stethoscope and an amateur rocket flight computer and data collection system took the top Capstone awards for 2021
A remote stethoscope and an amateur rocket flight computer and data collection system took the top Capstone awards for 2021.

A virtual Capstone Design awards ceremony on April 30 celebrated excellence in student innovation at the VCU College of Engineering.

The year’s six finalists — one per department, plus a multidisciplinary team — were selected previously by faculty, alumni and industry experts from a pool of more than 100 research and design projects that teams of engineering seniors have worked on all year. These finalists vied for the Dean’s Choice award by presenting their projects via Zoom to an audience of more than 180. Awards for the Best Industrial Project and a People's Choice Award selected by audience poll – the first such award – were also announced.

VCU Engineering’s 2021 Capstone concluded with multiple tributes to Bennett (Ben) Ward, Ph.D., director of Capstone Design, who announced his retirement earlier this year. Ward has directed every VCU Engineering Capstone Design program since 2016 and, as students and faculty attested, has been instrumental to the hands-on engineering education of each graduate over the last five years.

Capstone Design 2021 Results

Dean's Choice Award

BME 105: Remote Stethoscope
BME 105: Remote Stethoscope

Team: Timothy Ahn, Niketh Vellanki, Viswas Vuppala, George Wesley

Best Industrial Project Award

MULTI 614: Instant Ink ABB Robotic Palletizer

Team: Matthew Clark, Richard Hollingsworth, Jordan Thomas, Dwayne Thurston

People’s Choice Award

ECE 413: FPGA Based Amateur Rocket Flight Computer and Telemetry System
ECE 413: FPGA Based Amateur Rocket Flight Computer and Telemetry System

Team: Jack Bibb, Christopher Jones, Christopher Knappe
Just a few of the thank-yous and well-wishes for Bennett (Ben) Ward, Ph.D., who has directed every VCU Engineering Capstone Design program since 2016.
Just a few of the thank-yous and well-wishes for Bennett (Ben) Ward, Ph.D., who has directed every VCU Engineering Capstone Design program since 2016.

Department Awards

BME 105: Remote Stethoscope
Team: Timothy Ahn, Niketh Vellanki, Viswas Vuppala, George Wesley

CLSE 202: CHT Flammable Siloxane Waste Reduction
Team: Abdullah Alzafiri, Sravya Dhavala, Ratib Stwodah, Jordan Taylor

CS 303: Honey Bee Dance Language Translator App
Team: Paul Cochran, Christopher Flippen, Chelsea Greco, Vinit Patel

ECE 413: FPGA Based Amateur Rocket Flight Computer and Telemetry System
Team: Jack Bibb, Christopher Jones, Christopher Knappe

MNE 521: Scale-up of a Liquid Metal Loop for Heat Transfer and Fluid Experiments to support Advanced Energy Systems Deployment
Team: Davis Bryars, Richard Easter, Graham Johnson, Umair Shallwani

MULTI 606: Smart Chest Tube Insertion Device
Team: Joshua Asenuga, Emily Clement, Antenyse Wade, Justin Freeman, Theodore Stevens