ECE Seniors Awarded for Capstone Projects
In lieu of its traditional dinner reception, Electrical and Computer Engineering department chair Dr. Bijan Mobasseri hosted a virtual event to present the annual awards for senior capstone projects. The work serves as the culmination of the students鈥� undergraduate 棉花糖直播 Engineering experience.
A panel of alumni judges selected the top three projects for awards, which are named for the sponsors who present the team with a cash prize. This year鈥檚 winners are:
SONRAD team: Justin Carlton, James Pedersen and Matt Webster
BRIAN ANDERSON MEMORIAL AWARD: Justin Carlton, James Pedersen and Matt Webster; advisor Dr. Mark Jupina
SONRAD: Sound Navigation by Radio Detection鈥擳his assistive device uses radar technology that attaches to a walking cane for those who are visually impaired. When an object appears in front of the cane, the user is alerted through bone conduction headphones. The goal was to greatly enhance the mobility of those who are blind at a relatively low cost.
Augmented Cognition team: Phillip Dantoin, Katherine Min, Katie Sparango and Kathryn Tsai
MARIE MAGUIRE AWARD: Phillip Dantoin, Katherine Min, Katie Sparango and Kathryn Tsai; advisor Dr. Meltem Izzetoglu
Augmented Cognition鈥擲tudying the effects of short-term mindfulness meditation on attention and focus, the team measured accuracy and response time on a Stroop task, blood pressure, heart rate and hemodynamic change through functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). The result was improvement across the board in participants' performances.
Music Queue by Location team: Carl Reiser, Matt Innocenzo, Rolf Locher and John Persichilli
BRIAN MCCARTHY AWARD: Matthew Innocenzo, Rolf Locher, John Persichilli and Carl Reiser with advisor Kristin Obermyer
Music Queue by Location鈥擶hen there are too many people to accommodate song recommendations, this app allows you to put your queue on the map with live public playlists. Anyone nearby can join and suggest new music.
Chang Hoon Choi, Marie Huhmann and Jack Sullivan
SERVICE PROJECT AWARD: Chang Hoon Choi, Marie Huhmann and Jack Sullivan with advisors Drs. Pritpal Singh and James Solderitsch
Galapagos Application and Bracelet 鈥擳o track tourists as they visit different businesses on the islands, students developed an RF ID tag reader that would send a signal to a smart phone application