Academics

College of Engineering announces spring 2017 design showcase award winners

Mechanical engineering student Nicole Lawrence, right, explains her team’s project, “Adaptable Ejection Mechanism for a 3D Printing Vending Machine,” to a visitor at the spring 2017 College of Engineering Design Showcase April 27 at the Bryce Jordan Center.  Credit: Penn State / Penn StateCreative Commons

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The winners of the spring 2017 College of Engineering Design Showcase were announced on Thursday, April 27, at the Bryce Jordan Center. Winners were determined by panels of industry judges and selected from among 130 senior capstone design projects.

Participants in the event included first-year students through graduate students across multiple engineering disciplines.

Nine teams received Lockheed Martin Design Excellence Awards.

The first place design excellence award winners are:

            --“Starter Ring Gear Support Design and Analysis” for Lycoming Engines by Tyler Bonitsky, Brian Halligan, Emily Kaercher, Paul Perreault, Aaron Polsin and Mitchell Proulx, advised by Horacio Perez-Blanco, professor of mechanical engineering;

            --“Chest Band Energy Harvesters” for Penn State Mechatronics by Landon Baker, Benjamin Cellini, Guillermo Yau Chong, Andrew Domowicz, and William Gladden, advised by Jessica Menold, instructor in mechanical engineering; and

            --“Tool for Mounting/Demounting of Rotational Design Elements for Use by Robots and Humans” for Volvo Trucks by Shi Chang, Dawei Ding and Jennifer Nowoswiat from Penn State and Staffan Björkdahl, Johan Östblom and Daniel Persson from Chalmers University, advised by Jason Moore, assistant professor of mechanical engineering.

The following teams took second place:

            --“Solar Panel Tilt & Rotate” for Horizon Signal Technologies by Nicholas Adgate, Christina Ciancianilo, Seth Grafton, Drew Haney and Stephen Moxim from Penn State and Mark Arrows, Llewelly Grimsell, Karel Kruger, and Tshifhiwa Tshifalaro from Belgium Campus (South Africa), advised by Mike Erdman, Walter L. Robb Director of Engineering Leadership Development and instructor in engineering science and mechanics;

            --“Design of a Bumper” for Lord Corporation by Stephanie Aldrich, Vincent DeAngelis, Nicole Madensky, and Shrey Deep Mahajan from Penn State and Yiyun Du, Xiaobo Gao, Zhi Jiang, Zhenyu Yang and Zhidi Yang from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, advised by Gary Neal, instructor in mechanical engineering; and

            --“The Internet of Things and Crisis Management Phase II” for PTC Inc. by Edward Goodley, Nnamdi Nnamdi Emetarom, Andrew Lang, Michael Mankos and Vance Vu, advised by Al Verbanec, instructor in computer science and engineering.

Third place teams are:

            --“Ceiling Tile Perimeter Mapping and Cutting System” (Team 1) for Armstrong World Industries by Lewai Attia, Edward Bagdon, Hesham Fageeh, Benjamin Pacifico, Henry Smith and Thomas Wenner, advised by Lennart Bilen, instructor in computer science and engineering;

            --“Safe Snowboard Binding for Triple Amputee” for Central PA SCI Support Group by Ryan Coleman, Brian Gross, Paul Grossman, Maya Jankowska, John Mallett and Josh Milanak, advised by Sarah Ritter, assistant professor of engineering design; and

            --“A Device to Open Heavy Doors” for Transverse Myelitis Association by Jing Chen, Jiarong Lin, Qiaoling Lin, Jacob Mascaro, Kazuka Ohashi and Scott Seifert, advised by Daniel Hayes, associate professor of biomedical engineering.

Three teams received best poster awards.

First place went to “Feed Tray Cover Shock Simulator” for Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate by Siyuan Chen, Scott Gunther, Avishant Singh, Ryan Smarsh and Brady Spatola, advised by Asok Ray, Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering.

Second place was awarded to “Optimized Rear Folding Vehicle Seat” for Ford Motor Company by Hamid Al Ali, Peter Barrows, Michael Guenther, Brenna McCornac, Nishitkumar Patel and Pufan Wang, advised by Scott Lewis, senior research associate and assistant professor of mechanical and nuclear engineering.

Third place went to “Centrifugal Impeller Axial Movement Study” for Dresser-Rand, A Siemens Business by Caryn Kopay, Nicole Prantil, Pavel Shusharin and Ruizhi Zhang from Penn State and Ren He, Ranjiangshang Ran, Yu Wei and Chen Xu from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, advised by Neal.

The “Endoscopic Ultrasound Guided Radiofrequency Ablation Probe for Pancreatic Cancer” team working with Penn State Hershey Medical Center received the first place Capstone Video Competition Award. Advised by Erdman, the team included John Carson, Mackenzie Kroekel, Alexa Rossi, Hannah Schehr and Jordan Smith.

The BP People’s Choice Award went to “Club Claw Golf Club Headcover” for Twigs Management LLC by Shawnasty Bankovich, Paul Brenckle, Arnold Cutrell, Aaron Sherman and Tyler Whitlatch, advised by Menold. The winning team is determined by votes from the audience and participants of the showcase.

Jeff Tyber from Tyber Medical LLC received the Best Sponsor Award.

Last Updated May 3, 2017

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