Hand-powered Washing Machine for the Developing World

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Chris Bailey, Sean Larson, Megan Peffer, Sarah Ann Skousen, Judith Westwood, and Dr. Randy Lewis, Chemical Engineering Department Introduction Many countries still hand wash all their clothing. The community of the Uros Islands in Peru is no exception. Our goal was to develop a hand powered washing machine that will be useful to and improve […]

Equilibration of Chloride Ions in Concrete Bridge Decks after Rehabilitation Using Hydro-Demolition and Concrete Overlay

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Elizabeth Newbill and Dr. Spencer Guthrie, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department In cold regions like northern Utah, harsh winters can lead to decreases in the service life of concrete bridge decks. Chloride-based deicing salts, which are commonly used to remove snow and ice from the surface of concrete bridge decks during winter months, are of […]

Measuring Up: Engineering Stronger and Faster Cardiomyocytes

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Kaitlyn McEntire and Dr. Alonzo Cook, Chemical Engineering Department Introduction If a heartbeat connotes life, then cardiomyocytes are the life givers. When heart disease results in cardiomyocyte death, however, these life-giving, beating cells are unable to reproduce, and portions of the heart irreversibly die. Despite modern technology and developments in heart disease treatment and prevention, […]

Static and Dynamic Obstacle Avoidance for Small UAV

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Michael Farrell and Dr. Tim McLain, Mechanical Engineering Department Introduction Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are becoming increasingly prevalent in society today. One of the most important problems for such vehicles is obstacle avoidance. Common applications for small UAV require them to navigate through an environment containing many obstacles, both static and dynamic. As part of […]

Functional Optimization of Carbon Nanotubes

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Taylor Davis and Sr. Brian Iverson, Mechanical Engineering Department Introduction The objective of this project was to create, characterize, and optimize carbon nanotube (CNT) films as a surface functionalization strategy through modifying the growth, infiltration, and patterning during fabrication. Carbon nanotubes have drawn attention in various disciplines in the scientific community because of their incredible […]

Differentiation of Kidney progenitors using Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells and Conditioned Media of Renal Cortical Tubular Epithelial Cells

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Steven Passey and Dr. Alonzo Cook, Chemical Engineering Department Introduction: According to the National Kidney Foundation, 26 million American adults have kidney disease, 47,000 Americans died from kidney disease in 2013, and over 100,000 people await kidney transplants. Current treatment of kidney failure includes dialysis and kidney transplant. Unfortunately, those undergoing dialysis may experience fatigue […]

Sunflowers, Solar Panels, and Beeswax: Improving Solar Power for the Developing World

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Ivyann Oveson Running and Dr. John Salmon, Mechanical Engineering Department Inspired by the mechanics of how sunflowers follow the sun, we designed a system to increase output from solar panels by only using simple mechanics and beeswax. Solar power is becoming increasingly popular even in developing countries. We wanted to create a way to increase […]

Estimating Joint Configuration for Soft Robots

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Jacob Olson and Dr. Marc Killpack, Mechanical Engineering Department Introduction: Soft robotics are still a relatively new technology. As seen in Figure 1, they are made entirely from compliant materials that use pressurized fluid for both structure and actuation. These robots have great potential in the world of robotics. Soft robots can excel in many […]

Hierarchal Parcel Swapping (HiPS) A Comprehensive Multiscale Subgrid Model for Turbulent Reacting Flow

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Justin Ward and Dr. David Lignell, Chemical Engineering Department Introduction The purpose of this project is to address the unmet need for a comprehensive, multiscale, regime- and fuel-independent turbulent reacting model by using a novel, physics-based strategy called Hierarchal Parcel Swapping (HiPS). Turbulent flow has been called the most important unsolved problem of classical physics. […]

Refining Statistical Magnesium Models via Machine Learning

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Andrew Orme and Dr. David Fullwood, Mechanical Engineering Department Introduction Magnesium is a potential replacement for steels and aluminum in strength applications. Despite desirable strength and weight properties, magnesium is costly to manufacture. To reduce manufacturing costs, extensive research has been done on is a phenomenon called twinning, where a large group of magnesium atoms […]