Luke Reed Wilding and Dr. Alonzo Cook, Chemical Engineering Introduction Whenever someone has a serious traumatic injury and has damage to the peripheral nerves it is very common to lose motor function in that area of the body due to slow axon regeneration. For example, if someone were to severely cut their arm above the […]
Evaluation of Nano-Lithium Silicate Sealers for Concrete
Tenli Waters and Professor W. Spencer Guthrie, Civil and Environmental Engineering The purpose of this project was to evaluate the effectiveness of nano-lithium silicate sealers for protecting concrete parapet walls against chloride ingress along highways where deicing salts are applied as part of regular winter maintenance. For this research, testing was performed on parapets of […]
Research of Baleen Whale Bioacoustics using a Synthetic Whale Larynx Model
Nelson Warner and Dr. Scott Thomson, Mechanical Engineering Introduction Although extensive research has been performed to document whale songs, we have little understanding of how baleen whales produce their sound. This project was to create a physical model of a sei whale larynx (voice box) to study the source of vocal production in baleen whales. […]
Local p-refinement in Isogeometric Analysis
Ronald Spencer and Professor Michael Scott, Civil Engineering Introduction Achieving accurate numerical solutions to demanding problems in science and engineering requires robust, accurate, and adaptive numerical technology. Adaptivity, in the context of numerical methods, is the process of tailoring a numerical solution to “fit” the physical solution. This is generally achieved by increasing or decreasing […]
Psycholinguistic Study: Deaf Children vs. CODAS and Language Comprehension
Amber Smith and Professor Michael Jones, Computer Science This project will use an EEG to differentiate brain response to given stimuli between deaf and CODA (children of deaf adults) participants. This project is simple in nature, we will administer two tests: one in ASL and one in English, while the participant is wearing the EEG. […]
Autonomous Water Heating System in Porcon Peru
Russell Peterson, Sean Brown, and Dr. Randy Lewis, Chemical Engineering Introduction During his travels to Porcon, Peru, Dr. Randy Lewis took note of how the locals wanted to improve their living situations. One request was for hot water in their main restaurant, “Jesus Pan de Vida.” Hot water was already present in Porcon’s tourist venues […]
Fluorescence-based Cell Adhesion Testing for Optimization of In Vitro Whole Organ Growth
Jeffery Nielson and Dr. Alonzo Cook, Department of Chemical Engineering Introduction Several kinds of organ failure are among the leading causes of death in the United States. Organ donations cannot meet the demand for organ transplants due to the sensitive time period in which viable organs can be harvested and utilized. Those patients who actually […]
Turbulent Flow Drag Reduction on Riblet Surfaces
Michael Morgan and Professor Dan Maynes, Mechanical Engineering Introduction The objective of this research was to explore the drag reduction capabilities of a surface with trapezoidal riblets coated with a superhydrophobic coating. Drag reduction is very desirable as even small reductions can save enormous amounts of energy. Riblets are patterned microfeatures on a surface (illustrated […]
Experimental Testing of a Carbon Coated Lance Array for Nanoinjections
Dallin L Lindstrom, Bradley W. Hanks, and Professor Brian D. Jensen, Mechanical Engineering Introduction Delivering foreign genetic material into human cells to cure or reverse the effects of genetic disease is a challenging task. This process, known as gene therapy, is of the utmost importance in treating many diseases, such as cancer, hemophilia, neurodegenerative diseases, […]
Laser-Triggered Drug Release from Liposome
Benjamin Lindsay and Dr. WIlliam Pitt, Chemical Engineering Background The purpose of this project, as stated in the proposal, was to develop a modified liposome with nano-sized perfluoropentane (PFC5) emulsions encapsulated inside. The emulsions were to contain gold nanorods (GNRs) that would act as triggers to vaporize the PFC5 emulsions, bursting the liposome, releasing drug […]