Benjamin Murdoch, Matt Ricks, Ales Ball, Jacob Olson, Ethan Durrant, Connor Monson, Lars Watts, and Mark Killpack, Department of Mechanical Engineering Hod Lipson once asked an audience at TED, “Where are the robots?” We’ve been waiting for them a long time now and modern robotics still hasn’t caught up with our hopes and dreams. Through […]
Thermally Stable Support for Improved Synthetic Fuel Catalysts
Mark Lindsay, Dr. William Hecker and Dr. Morris Argyle, Department of Chemical Engineering Introduction Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis (FTS) has attracted interest recently as large natural gas deposits have been discovered across the globe. FTS is a gas-to-liquid technology that produces fuels with far fewer sulfur or nitrogen impurities, making it an attractive cleaner alternative to petroleum […]
Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPSC) Differentiation to Kidney Phenotype with Conditioned Media of RCTEs
Angela Nakalembe and Dr. Alonzo Cook, Department of Chemical Engineering Introduction According to the latest U.S. Renal Data System Annual Data Report, more than 660,000 Americans are currently being treated for kidney failure, also called end stage renal disease (ESRD). The current treatment options, dialysis and kidney transplants, work well in some instances but have […]
Autonomous Identification and Classification of Targets using an Unmanned Aerial System
Taylor McDonnell and Tim McLain, Department of Mechanical Engineering Introduction: Commercial applications of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are expected to grow significantly in the coming years [1]. Applications of unmanned aerial vehicles in the commercial market include agricultural and infrastructure monitoring, aerial photography, package delivery, fire monitoring, wildlife tracking, and search and rescue operations. One […]
Characterization of Polyester Polymer Concrete Material Properties
Robert Stevens and Dr. W. Spencer Guthrie, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Introduction The purpose of this project was to investigate selected material properties of polyester polymer concrete (PPC) using laboratory testing. PPC is a synthetic concrete that combines sand and coarse aggregate with a polyester resin binder that takes the place of conventional […]
Insulin, Glucose, and β-cell Diffusion Analysis
Matthew Usevitch and Alonzo Cook, Department of Chemical Engineering Introduction: The purpose of this project is to further understand the function of extruded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) membranes in the pursuit of creating an implantable, removable pancreas device. This device would be filled with pancreas cells and automatically regulate blood sugar for patients with diabetes. Dr. Alonzo […]
Differentiation of iPSCs into Cardiomyocytes Utilizing Extracellular Matrix
Arthur Castleton and Alonzo Cook, Department of Chemical Engineering Introduction According to the American Heart Association, Ischemic heart disease is the principal cause of death. Many potential therapies are being simultaneously explored and among the most promising is tissue engineering of cardiac scaffolds. In vitro culturing of mature cardiomyocytes has the potential to lay the […]
CRISPR-Cas9 Directed PDGF-β Transcriptional Activation in Fibroblast Cell
Lia Gale and Brian Jensen, Department of Mechanical Engineering Introduction Chronic wounds, particularly in the lower limb, represent a huge physical, financial, and social burden to 50 million people worldwide. In 2014, Americans paid an estimated $25 billion for simple wound care for patients. Despite these efforts, traditional methods of trying to heal wounds from […]
Biosensor System for the Detection of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals
Conner Earl and Bradley Bundy, Department of Chemical Engineering Department *Note: this report contains proprietary information and should not be circulated publicly until the final research report is accepted and published in a scientific journal. (one year) Introduction Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) present problems worldwide and have been linked to cancer, developmental disorders, and other […]
Time-Difference Amplifier for Time-to-Digital Converters
Matthew Padilla and Dr. Shiuh-hua Wood Chiang, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Introduction Currently most digital converters convert from an analog voltage signal to a digital signal. In recent years some progress has been made in converting from an analog time signal to a digital signal. The purpose of this project is to improve […]