The VCU School of Engineering’s 2017 Capstone Design Expo, the largest in the school’s history, showcased student-designed solutions to real-world challenges. The April 28 event took place on the floor of VCU’s Stuart Siegel Center, where 89 teams brought their A-game. The innovations they unveiled reflected eight months of focused research and prototyping with faculty advisers and professional mentors. Judges from industry, nonprofits and the VCU Health System looked for innovation and creativity, quality of analysis, proof of functionality and good communication. They named the following projects this year’s Excellence in Design Award winners:
Biomedical Engineering: Early Stage Differentiation Between Parkinson's Disease & Essential Tremor
Sternheimer Award Winner
Project Team: Raghav Atluri, Matthew Schneck, Kelsey Hideshima, Khade Grant (not pictured)
Faculty Adviser: Paul Wetzel, Ph.D.
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Chemical & Life Science Engineering: Fluorescent Dyes for Leak Detection
Project Team: Joshua Petteway, Rashed Rashed, Rebecca Jarrell
Faculty Adviser: Rudy Krack
Sponsor: ChemTreat
Mentors: John Richardson, Kevin White, Patrick Wood
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Computer Science: StackInTheFlow: StackOverflow Search Engine
Project Team: John Coogle, Jeet Gajjar, Chase Greco
Faculty Adviser: Kostadin Damevski, Ph.D.
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Electrical & Computer Engineering: Portable Pure-Tone Audiometer
Project Team: Nathan Hawrysko, Min Su Ju, Zachary Conner, Zachary Clute, Diana Rivas, James Le
Sternheimer Award Winner
Faculty Adviser: Michael Cabral, Ph.D.
Sponsor: MCV - Department of Otolaryngology
Mentor: Daniel H. Coehlo, M.D., F.A.C.S.
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Mechanical & Nuclear Engineering: Alternative Method for Posterior Lumbar Discectomy & Dev. of Associated Bench Top Test
Project Team: Jon Willard, Al Levinson, Sarah Peters, Rahul Peddi, Parth Patel
Faculty Adviser: Charles Cartin, Ph.D.
Sponsor: K2M Group Holdings, Inc.
Mentors: Michael Burrus, Chris Straight
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Multi-Departmental: Design of a 3D-Printed Insole w/ Embedded Plantar Pressure Sensor Arrays
Sternheimer Award Winner
Project Team: Chad Majewski, Andrew Perkins, Derek Faltz, Fawei Zhang
Faculty Advisers: Weijun Xiao, Ph.D., and Hong Zhao, Ph.D.
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