Engineering Projects Expo 2024
Explore amazing new inventions and technologies created by teams of CU Engineering students.
Everything CU Boulder engineering students learn culminates in capstone design projects, presented at the annual Engineering Projects Expo. This year's event will feature projects from mechanical engineering; computer science; electrical, computer and energy engineering; biomedical engineering; and civil, environmental and architectural engineering.
Friday, April 26, 2024
, 2150 Colorado Ave., Boulder, CO
Open to the public: 2 to 5 p.m.
K-12 students, prospective CU Engineers, and community members are encouraged to attend the public viewing portion. General public will not be admitted to the Expo before 2 p.m.
Expo Agenda
- 8-10 a.m. - Teams finalize setup
- 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. - Judging by industry partners and faculty members
- 1-2 p.m. - Industry hour
- 2-5 p.m. - Open to the public
- 5-5:45 p.m. - Awards
Parking
Parking is available in Lot 436 and the Regent Parking Garage for $5.
- Visit colorado.edu/pts
- Select "Online Services"
- Select "Purchase Event Parking"
- Select "Event Type (Other Events)"
- Select "04/26 Engineering Expo
- Select the $5 permit option
- Confirm the Lot 436 option
- Select "Add Vehicle" and enter your vehicle information
- Check out
Large group parking: Contact Victoria Lanaghan at engineeringexpo@colorado.edu for information about parking arrangements for large groups.
Want More?Â
Check out more engineering project expos happening this spring.
Friday, April 19, 2024
Sunday, April 28, 2024
Thursday, May 2, 2024
Student Project Stories
Expo Awards
People’s Choice 1st
Team: E-pic Team
Sponsor: Integrated Teaching and Learning Laboratory
Project Title: Semi-Automatic Pick and Place Machine
Description: A semi automatic pick and place machine, The main benefit of the Semi-automatic Pick and Place machine is its ability to enable the user to accurately place
small hidden lead ICs (micro-circuit packages) onto a PCB (Printed Circuit Board) for soldering. The Semi-automatic
Pick and Place machine can place these ICs onto irregularly shaped PCBs that are already populated with other
components that are half an inch high.
Students:
Sayed Ali Alhashemi
Hamad Al-Saleem
Michael Pogrebitskiy
Gala Bokhadour
Hanzhang Yu
People’s Choice 2nd (Tie)
Sponsor: Boeing
Project Title: Airbag Automatically Deployable Flight Recorder
Description: The reliable and timely recovery of flight data is imperative to safety and preventing future aviation emergencies. Due to new industry criteria, Boeing designed an innovative safety system for the post-flight localization and recovery of flight data. The Airbag-Automatically Deployable Flight Recorder creates a unique solution to prevent the loss of accurate, potentially life-saving flight data.
Students:
William Anderson
Luke Carey
Madelene McNary
Brewster Beck
Swag Das
Trevor Groves
James Cadagan
Cole Sheyka
Max Patwardhan
People’s Choice 2nd (Tie)
Sponsor: Ball Aerospace
Project Title: In water Fluorometer for Plastic Pollution
Description: Marine pollution is an erupting global crisis. A first step in solving this crisis is monitoring marine debris. In concert with Ball Aerospace, we developed an in-water fluorometer that detects plastic pollutants using LED excitation and photodiode detection. Our data will motivate the development of in-situ sensors to monitor plastic transport and validate future LIDAR-based flight instruments.
Students:
Alexandra Todd
Sydney Koehler
Emalee Takashima
Sebastian Bouckenooghe
Peter Daichman
Palmer Dick-Montez
Cole Radetich
Miles Sanders
Tyson Trofino
Mechanical Engineering 1st
Sponsor: Los Alamos National Laboratory
Project Title: Unique Signal Interlock
Description: In conjunction with LANL, our project aims to enhance security through a signal interlock device that requires a unique mechanical and electrical input to unlock. Uses of this device include increasing security of nuclear waste barrels in transit to a disposal site. In the event of an incorrect input, a fail-safe is triggered, which prevents further operation until the device is manually reset.
Students:
Lexi Dinser
Reed Beidleman
Ben Fougere
Alex Lawson
Nick Monahan
Owen Vandersmith
Ivan Werne
Mechanical Engineering 2nd
Team: Collegiate Wind Competition
Project Title: University of Colorado Wind Competition Team
Description: The third CU Wind Team participating in the DOE’s Collegiate Wind Competition will compete in three distinct segments: designing a small-scale offshore wind turbine abiding to various design constraints, financially optimizing a theoretical offshore wind farm while considering environmental mitigation strategies and promoting the exciting future of wind energy to local K-12 and CU communities.
Students:
Jeremiah Pare
Lauren Mullen
Ryan Tasto
Ryan Stoltz
Rhett Nutter
Heather Walker
Amanda Shields
Ariana Carmody
Ethan Smith
Will McConnell
Regan Barton
Chris Holladay
Luis Munoz
Mechanical Engineering 3rd (Tie)
Sponsor: Ball Aerospace
Project Title: In water Fluorometer for Plastic Pollution
Description: Marine pollution is an erupting global crisis. A first step in solving this crisis is monitoring marine debris. In concert with Ball Aerospace, we developed an in-water fluorometer that detects plastic pollutants using LED excitation and photodiode detection. Our data will motivate the development of in-situ sensors to monitor plastic transport and validate future LIDAR-based flight instruments.
Students:
Alexandra Todd
Sydney Koehler
Emalee Takashima
Sebastian Bouckenooghe
Peter Daichman
Palmer Dick-Montez
Cole Radetich
Miles Sanders
Tyson Trofino
Mechanical Engineering 3rd (Tie)
Team: FretFree
Project Title: FretFree Ukulele Assistive Chord Fretting Device
Description: FretFree has developed a device that makes playing the ukulele accessible for all. Many new ukulele players and those with certain disabilities have difficulty fretting, or pressing down various strings at the same time to create chords. This device allows fretting of a chord with a single finger and also features interactive lighting to create an engaging and fun playing experience.
Students:
Bennett Verderame
Kyra Anderson
Paula Hill
Donovan Branch
Lindsay Donnellan
Mechanical Engineering Graduate
Sponsor: UCAR
Project Title: A Thermal Analysis of a 6U CubeSat in a High Beta Angle, Dusk-Dawn Low Earth Orbit
Description: WindCube is a 6U CubeSat mission aimed to study the influence of thermospheric winds in Earth’s upper atmosphere. Thermospheric winds are an important property to measure in order to understand the behavior of the ionosphere. Our team has been tasked to analyze the thermal environment in which WindCube is expected to operate by combining data from thermal vacuum chamber tests and computer models.
Students:
Connie Childs
Nick Zarilla
Electrical Engineering Best Overall Achievement
Team: fIReflies
Sponsor: Amazon AWS
Project Title: Lava Lamp
Description: Lava Lamp is an elastic network of wired infrared cameras designed to provide more effective temperature monitoring of data center hardware. It creates a highly detailed and in-depth perspective of temperatures throughout a location which enables more rapid detection of hardware faults than would be possible with the use of simple temperature sensors.
Students:
Collin Graham
Matt King
Tucker Travins
Ivan Rodriguez
Marceline Milligan
Will Snider
Electrical Engineering Most Challenging Project
Team: UWBuffs
Sponsor: Medtronic
Project Title: UWBits 5000
Description: UWBits 5000 is an inventory management and diagnostics system for cordless surgical devices. We help nurses to locate and fix devices. We help the medical industry to understand how surgeons use their equipment. We have easy-to-use custom software that connects to multiple devices simultaneously. And importantly, we do it all over the ultra-wideband, avoiding WiFi and BT network congestion.
Students:
Emily Harrison
Nicholas Goralka
Joel Clark
Jiaqi Tao
Justin Robert
Yama Qasemi
Biomedical Engineering Outstanding Senior Design Project Presentation Award
Team: Team SyNTACQ
Sponsor: Medtronic
Project Title: Building and Characterizing a Ferromagnetic Electrosurgical Pencil
Description: Monopolar electrosurgical pencils release harmful smoke, cause thermal injury, and require cords. This research explores using ferromagnetism as a new energy modality. A prototype was designed to optimize power transfer and impedance. Ferromagnetic devices show promise in reducing smoke, thermal injury, and compatibility with electromagnetic-sensitive devices.
Students:
Sydnei Lewis
Avril Cruz
Nicole Gunderson
Caitlin Mascio
Quinn Beato
Tony Salcido-Alcántar