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.

  1. Visit colorado.edu/pts
  2. Select "Online Services"
  3. Select "Purchase Event Parking"
  4. Select "Event Type (Other Events)"
  5. Select "04/26 Engineering Expo
  6. Select the $5 permit option
  7. Confirm the Lot 436 option
  8. Select "Add Vehicle" and enter your vehicle information
  9. Check out

Large group parking: Contact Victoria Lanaghan at engineeringexpo@colorado.edu for information about parking arrangements for large groups.


 

    Want More? 

    Check out more engineering project expos happening this spring. 

     

    Friday, April 19, 2024

    Thursday, May 2, 2024

    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