The Engineering School Undergraduate Research and Design Symposium is an annual presentation and selection of the best of the Undergraduate Research theses. Each finalist in the competition delivers a 15-minute oral presentation, and four awards are given at the end of the symposium. The awards are for 1st, 2nd, 3rd place individual winners and one award is given for the best team project. Listed below are the finalists, the winners, and the members of the selection committee.
Individual category (7 finalists)
Individual Winner: Jonathan Merrell
Individual Runner-up: Jesse Quinlan
Stabilization of aortic aneurysms via delivery of ascorbic acid and retinoic acid through polymeric nanoparticles
Major: Biomedical Engineering
STS Advisor: Peter Norton
Technical Advisor: Shayn Peirce-Cottler (BME) and Gorav Ailawadi (Surgery)
Minimization of sonic-boom via fuselage shaping for the preliminary design of a supersonic commercial aircraft
Major: Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
STS Advisor: Peter Norton
Technical Advisor: James McDaniel (MAE)
Other individual finalists:
Erin Carson The quantification and management of uncertainty in smallpox intervention models
Major: Computer Science
STS Advisor: Catherine Baritaud
Technical Advisor: Paul Reynolds
William Carson Using spherical identification to compare the material properties of synthetic and ex vivo prostate tissue in a clinical setting
Major: Systems and Information Engineering
STS Advisor: Peter Norton
Technical Advisor: Gregory Gerling
Paul Garver A portable and passive nasal airflow monitor
Major: Electrical and Computer Engineering
STS Advisor: Bryan Pfaffenberger
Technical Advisors: Harry Powell
Harutyan Gyurjyan Means and methods for stimulating epicardial access and intrathoracic pressure profiles
Major: Biomedical Engineering
STS Advisor: Bryan Pfaffenberger
Technical Advisor: George Gilles/Srijoy Mahapatra (SOM)
Alex Main Parallel volume fraction calculation utilizing the graphics processor
Major: Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
STS Advisor: Daniel Plafcan
Technical Advisor: Hossein Haj-Hariri
Team category (5 finalists)
Team Winner: Shokoufeh Dianat, Jenna Zhang
Team Runner-up: Linh Nguyen, Margaret Rush, Yihwa Yang
Computational methods that reveal the selective pressures causing the influenza virus to mutate
Major: Biomedical Engineering
STS Advisor: Peter Norton
Technical Advisor: Jason Papin (BME) and Timothy Allen (BME)
Novel nanofibrous scaffolds with adipose-derived stem cells for tissue regeneration
Major: Biomedical Engineering
STS Advisor: Peter Norton and Edmund Russell
Technical Advisor: Adam Katz (Plastic Surgery), Ed Botchwey (BME), and Roy Ogle (Medicine)
Other team finalists:
Kathryn Barbante, Kimberly Everett, Vinu Ilakkuvan, Lara Wooten, Katie Youell Development of a mechanical clamp for the treatment of uterine atony
Majors: Biomedical Eng. /Systems Information Eng. /Econ.
STS Advisor: Rosalyn Berne, Peter Norton
Technical Advisor: Timothy Allen, Katherine Kent, M.D.
Ryan Cronk, Tallie Faircloth, Whitney Newton, Malcolm Sonnett Community planning and water system assessment in San Lucas Tolimán, Guatemala
Majors: Systems Information/ Civil/Mechanical and Aerospace
STS Advisor: Catherine Baritaud
Technical Advisor: Dana Elzey
David Ryan, Amogh Sivarapatna Adipose stem cell tissue engineering for aortic aneurysm repair and regeneration
Major: Biomedical Engineering
STS Advisor: Bryan Pfaffenberger/Catherine Baritaud
Technical Advisors: Shayn Peirce-Cottler/Gorav Ailawadi (SOM)
2009 Selection Committee:
Timothy Allen, Chair (BME)
Ben Calhoun (ECE)
James Fitz-Gerald (MSE)
Jerrold Floro (MSE)
David Green (CHE)
Tetsuya Iwasaki (MAE)
Bryan Pfaffenberger (STS)
Marek-Jerzy Pindera (CEE)
Paul Reynolds (CS)
Joost Santos (SIE)
Thad Darden (Engineering Student & 4th Yr Class President)
2009 Symposium External Judges:
Mark Kneidinger, Technology Services Group
Matt Miller, Micron Technology, Inc
Kim Schultz, GE Fanuc
2009 Symposium Internal Judges:
Edward Berger, MAE
Dana Elzey, MSE
On behalf of the URDS Selection Committee, CONGRATULATIONS to the finalists and to their advisors! Also, we would like to express our appreciation to all of the students who submitted their research and design reports for consideration in this year's URDS.
