Heather Baier – Mechanical Engineering
Aladdin Rewritten
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Project Advisor(s): Susan Yager | Advisor(s): Kirsten Hauge
Abstract: Why do some stories resonate with people, while others don’t? Why is it that some of these stories are retold and rewritten time and again, making them deeply ingrained in society? In answering these questions, it is possible to better understand human nature and what inspires them. The story of Aladdin is one of these folktales that everyone knows by heart and has been redone many times. To fully understand the story, this project analyzed folktales and the different ways that they are classified. Then, an array of Aladdin rewrites were studied, from all different types of media and different points in history, to gain a better understanding of how these stories are similar and different, as well as how they change across cultures and time. This project determined what aspects, themes, and motifs of the story of Aladdin speak to the audience, as well as what makes a rewrite a successful one.
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Mitchell Bailey – Aerospace Engineering
Identifying the Effects of an Encapsulating Mesh on a UAV
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Project Advisor(s): Joshua Peschel | Advisor(s): Nicole Gupta
Abstract: Certain environments provide too many dangers for UAVs to fly in. This project aimed to identify the effects of an encapsulating mesh on a UAV in an attempt to protect the craft. Different plastic and fabric meshes were fixed to a cage surrounding a UAV, and test flights were performed to monitor the craft's performance. By using motion capture data, the acceleration of the UAV can be recorded and compared to the motor speed from flight logs. This research provides a minimum hole diameter before propellers are starved of air and a relation between the hole diameter and power drawn from the motors. Three meshes were tested around the UAV with a uniform set of flights designed to test vertical, translational, and rotational acceleration. 5/8", 1/2", and 1/8" hole diameters were used. 5/8" showed little effect on the performance. A 1/2" hole diameter showed a surprisingly large increase in power draw and motor speed. The 1/8" mesh decreased lift until the UAV could only hover due to Ground Effect. This protection can be applied by researchers working in areas with high debris, such as tree canopies or cave systems, which may require a UAV's assistance.
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Olivia Bogle – Mechanical Engineering
Effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Quality of Engineering Degrees
Poster not available in the digital archive
Project Advisor(s): Hartanto Wibowo | Advisor(s): Kirsten Hauge
Abstract: This project will achieve an understanding of how the COVID-19 Pandemic affected the quality of engineering degrees at Iowa State. It looks at the opinions of faculty and students at the university and how their education was impacted due to online classwork and the overall life throughout the pandemic. The project outlines how this altered their degree and readiness for future careers.
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Remy Braun – Mechanical Engineering
Interactive Virtual Reality Simulations of Human Cardiovascular System for Medical Education and Student Exploration
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Project Advisor(s): Adarsh Krishnamurthy | Advisor(s): Breanna Kixmiller
Abstract: Virtual reality (VR) technology has progressed rapidly over the past decade with numerous companies emerging in the field. There has been an abundance of research investigating the use of VR in a variety of disciplines, however, there is still a lack of knowledge about the efficacy of VR in medicine. This project explored the use of VR as an educational tool for learning about the cardiovascular system. A VR scene was created in Unity and designed for use with an Oculus Rift headset and controllers. Cardiac computed tomography (CT) scans and 3-D heart models were implemented into the simulation along with other educational content. Interactive features were also created and connected to the educational material. It was found that VR, though challenging to implement, could provide instructors with a creative platform for presenting medical information. It was concluded that VR has the potential to provide students with a unique educational experience that may be conducive to learning. Analysis of student reception of VR in the medical field is required for further improvement.
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Ola Carnahan – Aerospace Engineering
History of the Carillon
Poster not available in the digital archive
Project Advisor(s): Tin-Shi Tam | Advisor(s): Brad Eilers
Abstract: The Campanile is one of the greatest symbols of Iowa state, but not many students know much about the instrument within the Campanile – the 50-bell carillon known as the Bells of Iowa State. My honors project was to begin the development of an online course on the history of the carillon. This course would be available to a diverse range of students and allow more to be introduced to the history and music of the carillon. My goal was to complete an outline for this course with a focus on the 19th and 20th centuries. This could then be used as a guide for future development and research.
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Yahan Chang – Mechanical Engineering
Climate Change on Minority and Low-income Populations
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Project Advisor(s): Mark Mba-Wright | Advisor(s): Breanna Kixmiller
Abstract: Climate change continues to alter and change the lives of Earth’s habitat and inhabitants. Extreme weather, pollution, elevated health risks, loss in biodiversity, changes to landscape and terrain, and rising sea levels are a few repercussions of increasing the planet’s temperature. However, those ramifications do not affect everyone in the same way or intensity. While there are abundant climate change studies and articles on this ever-pressing topic, the project includes the environmental damages created and the sociological factors. A review of climate change consequences impacting communities of color and impoverished groups can imprint the urgency and connection to everyday people. This study helps to justify and explain the need for future research studies into climate change solutions, specifically toward environmental justice. A cohesive analysis of how climate change affects minorities in the United States was examined through literature analysis. The findings are presented and documented to inform and bring awareness to the disproportionate consequences of anthropogenic global warming.
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Faith Cornish – Mechanical Engineering, Mathematics
CT Segmentation for Patient-Specific Cardiac Modeling
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Project Advisor(s): Adarsh Krishnamurthy | Advisor(s): Nathan Ross, Ignacio Alvarez
Abstract: Computational cardiac models have been used extensively to study cardiac biomechanics. Specifically, finite-element analysis (FEA) has been used to study the internal stresses and strains in the cardiac wall during the cardiac cycle. However, FEA has only been used with simple ventricular geometries with non-physiological boundary conditions due to the challenges associated with creating models of complex heart geometry. It is critical to accurately capture the geometric characteristics of the heart and apply physiologically equivalent boundary conditions to replicate the in vivo heart motion. Previous models consisted of truncated ventricular heart models that require complicated non-physiological boundary conditions for accurate simulations. In this project, patient-specific models of the complete four-chamber heart were created from cardiac tomography (CT) data. The software Slicer was used to segment the chambers from the CT data for the end-diastolic and end-systolic time points. The volumes for each chamber of the model were then compared to expected volume ranges for healthy adults to validate the accuracy of the segmented regions. In the future, physiologically equivalent boundary conditions will be applied to these models, and the final mesh will be used to simulate the complete cardiac cycle. This process will facilitate the creation of patient-specific four-chamber heart models that can be used for simulating different heart conditions. Such computational models can improve our fundamental understanding of the cardiovascular system.
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Ava Depping – Mechanical Engineering
Design and Reliability of Embroidered Electrodes
Poster not available in digital archive
Project Advisor(s): Rachel Eike | Advisor(s): Breanna Kixmiller
Abstract: The purpose of this project is to verify embroidery parameters for manufacturing high performance dry transcutaneous electrical neural stimulation (TENS) electrodes on soft-good end products, and to test the performance of TENS electrodes after environmental and laundering stresses. The embroidery parameters are verified by measuring and calculating surface resistance and signal-to-noise values for electrodes manufactured with different conductive threads, stitch patterns, stitch densities, and fabric grain to stitch orientations using an industrial embroidery machine. The chosen embroidery parameters were primarily based on those tested by Gozde Goncu Berk in “Design of a wearable pain management system with embroidered TENS electrodes”. The surface resistivity was measured from 16 different point locations using a multimeter. The signal-to-noise values were determined using a digital oscilloscope and MATLAB software. To analyze these results, the manufactured electrodes were compared with the aforementioned study. Samples were then tested for performance under AATCC laundering test conditions. The surface resistivity and signal-to-noise values were again measured and compared to the previous data. Although further testing will be necessary in regard to TENS electrodes effectiveness at minimizing pain, this evaluation of embroidered TENS electrodes performance is crucial to defining its life span and viability as a medical wearable device.
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Bernard Fay – Software Engineering, Data Science
Predictive Modeling for Pokemon Battles
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Project Advisor(s): Simanta Mitra | Advisor(s): Jason Follett, Erin Valerio-Garsow
Abstract: Within the past few decades there have been several pursuits to create AIs that are able to compete against and ultimately beat human players. Some well-known include classic games such as Go, Chess, and Poker. However, these games are all sequential move games, meaning one player makes a move, then the next player makes a move, and so on. However, Pokémon battles are simultaneous move games, meaning both players must choose their moves at the same time without knowing the opponent’s choice and then the results are played out in one turn. This makes creating an AI more challenging as it requires an additional layer of predictive capabilities. To add more complexity, like Poker, a player does not know everything about the opponent and must make decisions based on incomplete information. Altogether, this makes creating a competent AI for Pokémon battles incredibly difficult, but that is the goal of this project.
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Jacob Fields – Aerospace Engineering
Space Trajectory Optimization
Poster not available in the digital archive
Project Advisor(s): Ossama Abdelkhalik | Advisor(s): Brad Eilers
Abstract: Satellite interplanetary missions can be very costly with the amount of fuel used due to the thrust needed to get to these other planets. My research was trying to determine how to reduce this cost by using Tisserand graphs and leveraging the data off these graphs. Tisserand graphs are plots of different fly-by orbits with different planets and a range of fly-by velocities. After generating the Tisserand graphs for all the planets in the solar system, they needed to be leveraged so that the best path for the satellite could be determined. I moved to calculating the exterior and interior orbits launched from Earth which could be used to preform fly-bys with planets on the way to the target planet. These fly-bys result in a change in the satellite’s momentum and saves fuel; hence reducing the cost of the mission. Using these two graphs together, the most economic path between Earth and the target planet can be determined. This research showed me how important it is to lower the cost of space missions, and why it is important to not sacrifice the schedule of the mission.
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Landon Getting – Industrial Engineering
Improving Boundary Detection for Robotic Grinding System
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Project Advisor(s): Frank Peters | Advisor(s): Devna Popejoy-Sheriff
Abstract: In the steel casting industry, castings require post-processing to remove risers, gating systems, and excess material. Grinding is commonly utilized to achieve the desired geometry and surface finish for customers. Manual grinding processes raise many ergonomic problems (Peters, 2002) and are the second leading cause of safety incidents in foundries (Moore, 2019). To eliminate these issues, we are developing a robotic grinding system that works in tandem with human operators to perform grinding operations. During the process, operators indicate where the robot should grind by drawing markings on the casting. The robotic system scans and collects this information as a set of unordered points. An algorithm was needed to sort these points into the desired polygon for boundary detection. The situation was modeled as a Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) where each point represented a city. The Nearest Neighbor and 2-Opt TSP heuristics were implemented to find and optimize the shortest path which effectively sorted the points. This proposed method correctly sorted several sample geometries with runtimes less than a second. Additional test geometries should be evaluated to validate the efficacy of the method.
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Yingying Huang – Mechanical Engineering
Selection and Optimization of Object Detection Model For Target Following.
Poster not available in the digital archive
Project Advisor(s): Soumik Sarkar | Advisor(s): John Wagner
Abstract: Target following is a significant subject in the field of robotics as it has the potential to bring the robot capability to a new level and inspire new applications. Many practices of target-following robots nowadays involve object detection algorithms based on machine learning which process frames from the robot’s camera and help the robot locate target objects. To ensure the success of a target-following robot, the performance of the detection needs to be robust. With that in mind, this research focuses on the selection of a proper object detection algorithm and the optimization of the final model. In the research, a robot called JetBot was used as the target, and more than 500 images of the robot were collected. The object detection frameworks being investigated in this research were SSD MobileNet v2, SSD MobileNet v2 FPNLite, and SSD MobileNet v1 from TensorFlow 2, a popular machine-learning platform. The performance of each model was evaluated by both classification loss and localization loss and testing results on a given test dataset. This research shows that an object detection model can be improved with a strategic selection of datasets, and SSD MobileNet v2 outperforms SSD MobileNet v2 FPNLite and SSD MobileNet v1 in terms of detection speed.
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Tyler Ingebrand – Computer Engineering
Teaching a Robot How to Walk Using Reinforcement Learning
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Project Advisor(s): Diane Rover | Advisor(s): Vicky Thorland-Oster
Abstract: Despite advancements in robotic technology, multi-purpose robots have yet to find widespread adoption in commercial or industrial settings. Some of this delay is due to the enormous time investment and domain knowledge required to program a robot to solve a new task that its hardware would allow it to solve. This project seeks to alleviate that issue by providing an automated solution to learning new tasks via reinforcement learning. Reinforcement learning is a growing field of machine learning that involves allowing an agent to explore a problem, observe the results of its actions, and slowly improve its performance over time. The goal of this project is to apply reinforcement learning algorithms such as DDPG and TD3 to a realistically simulated robot environment. The resultant behavior is applied to the robot in real life to investigate the practicality of teaching a robot to walk using reinforcement learning.
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Joseph Kim – Industrial Engineering
Perspiring thErmal Replica for Comfort Evaluation (PERCE)
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Project Advisor(s): Richard Stone | Advisor(s): Devna Popejoy-Sheriff
Abstract: Surgeons are at an increased risk of developing head, neck, and back musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) due to the nature of their work. As a result, a variety of interventions have been created, one of which is exoskeletons. Exoskeletons are meant to support the body while working to decrease the risk of developing MSDs. One exoskeleton in particular supports the head, neck, and back for surgeons. Previous studies revealed that it would significantly reduce the likelihood of developing MSDs. However, despite its effectiveness, the surgeons complained about its usability, specifically comfort, which led some even to forgo its use during some trials. As a result, a manikin that has the potential to “sweat” and be heated to physiologically accurate temperatures was created. Heating pads powered by an Arduino were placed under the two layers of skin, which were both made out of silicone, and water, heated by a sous vide, was pumped to the top of the manikin head with a small water pump. In the future, this manikin will be used to evaluate the comfort and thermal conductivities of various types of exoskeleton headgear quickly and effectively.
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Reed Kohlmeyer – Aerospace Engineering
Electronics and Control Design of a Nano-Scale Drone
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Project Advisor(s): Matthew Nelson | Advisor(s): Caitlin Trom
Abstract: Drones, commonly known as UAVs, show promising applications in military surveillance, search and rescue, structural examination, and extra-terrestrial atmospheric exploration. Nano-drones, defined by the DARPA Nano Air Vehicle Program as a drone less than 1U (10 x 10 x 10 cm), can provide a low-cost, high-efficiency solution compared to their larger counterparts. While nano-drones show promise, the field is still in its relative infancy. Significant improvements to power systems, stability, propulsive efficiency, and motor control are necessary for nano-drones to work into the mainstream. The Nano Drone M:2:I project is creating an intercollegiate nano-drone competition to push the boundaries of research on the topic. The Nano Drone team is currently creating an 8 x 8 x 4 cm drone capable of maneuvering through a 2 x 2 ft vent and sending NEC IR signals. This project specifically covers the selection of the flight controller, battery, and control systems on the drone, along with their firmware and software considerations.
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Joyce Lai – Electrical Engineering
Development of A Portable MiRNA Analyzer
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Project Advisor(s): Meng Lu | Advisor(s): Vicky Thorland-Oster
Abstract: Studies have indicated that extracellular vehicles (EVs) carry useful information for predicting and detecting biological illnesses. Exosomes are a type of EV that carry proteins, miRNA, mRNA, DNA, and lipids; these molecules are transported to recipient cells forming biological communication networks. We are interested in the detection of miRNAs as much clinical evidence suggests that abnormal miRNA expression is closely related to serious diseases such as cancer. A popular methodology for detecting molecular substances from EVs is the development of microfluidic chip sensors; however, current fabrication processes are costly and require cleanroom facilities. Our work is on the development of a portable, quick, low-cost system that can detect and quantify miRNA from exosomes via the exponential isothermal amplification reaction (EXPAR). This system includes two acrylic microfluidic chips and a portable instrument that is built on an Internet of Things (IoT) platform. The microfluidic chips perform exosome lysis, template storage, and reagent mixing, steps that lead up to the miRNA amplification. The IoT instrument captures images of the amplified miRNA during the EXPAR in real-time for the quantification of target miRNAs. The system’s affordability, rapid assay, and the chip’s disposability make it a promising clinical device.
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Andrew Mord – MechanicalEngineering
Premature Jetting and Rayleigh Instability of Millimeter-Scale Water Droplets Levitated by Liquid Electrostatic Levitator
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Project Advisor(s): Jonghyun Lee | Advisor(s): Alyssa Stafne
Abstract: Rayleigh Instability describes the tendency of charged liquid drops to restore equilibrium in terms of forces and maintain a spherical shape. A charged droplet, say, a cloud droplet, will balance its surface charges and surface tension to maintain its spherical shape. If the droplet evaporates and becomes smaller, the Coulomb force increases. If the droplet’s radius becomes less than its Rayleigh radius, the Coulomb force overcomes the surface tension and becomes unstable. The droplet may eject some of its charge to regain stability, or fall. Rayleigh Instability provides the foundation for food processing (such as chocolate coatings), drug encapsulation, oil-water processing, and the proliferation of supersatured samples. Rayleigh Jets must be understood well in order to establish a predictive theory, which would enable control of jets for LESL sample life.
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Isaac Petersen – Mechanical Engineering
Design Exploration for a Fully Articulated Human Finger Model of Hand Prosthetics
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Project Advisor(s): Li Shan Chou | Advisor(s): Alyssa Stafne
Abstract: With over 1 million people in the United States with upper limb amputations, the need of functional hand prosthetics is growing to improve the well-being of the patients by allowing them to manipulate objects or improve cosmetic appearance. Therefore, emulating a biological hand in the design of hand prosthetics will enhance the quality of life of the amputees. This research was aimed to design an artificial finger that could be actuated similarly to a biological one to improve functional usability in future hand prosthetics. Current prosthetic devices are varied in function, but they all have issues with performing dexterous tasks such as typing and writing. There were two designs that came out of this research that allows for all joints on the finger to be actuated, each having their own advantages and disadvantages. The first is a gear and linkage design and the second is a wire pulley system similar to a biological finger. Looking to the future, designs similar to these may become very important to prosthetics since these will greatly improve the types of motion for the amputees.
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Ryan Pretzer – Mechanical Engineering
Measuring the Density, Surface Tension, and Viscosity of Highly Supersaturated Electrolyte Solution Drop using Electrostatic Levitation
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Project Advisor(s): Jonghyun Lee | Advisor(s): Mindy Heggen
Abstract: As the initial step of the crystallization process, nucleation is important to many industries and research areas. Pharmaceutical manufacturers utilize crystallization to separate and purify compounds as active ingredients to medication. Fertilizer synthesis relies on evaporation and crystallization. The silicon crystallization process is vital to the manufacture of photovoltaic cells and semiconductors. The nature of the nucleation process impacts the result of these processes. Knowledge of the properties of deeply saturated electrolyte solutions is critical to understanding the chemical and thermodynamic aspects of nucleation. An accurate method by which the density, surface tension, and viscosity of supersaturated solutions can be obtained will aid in the understanding of crystallization. A measurement technique and apparatus has been designed to measure these properties in a container-less environment. A positively charged droplet of electrolyte solution is levitated between a negatively charged electrode and a grounded plate. The droplet is stimulated into resonance by applying a sinusoidal voltage pulse to the electrode. The response of the droplet is observed by passing a green laser through the droplet and into a photosensor. Post processing obtains the fluid properties from the damping ratio and natural frequency of the sample.
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Zachary Rauth – Mechanical Engineering
Shared Discovery: The Novel Wood Wide Web
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Project Advisor(s): James Raich | Advisor(s): Kirsten Hauge
Abstract: This study was a focused research project exploring the novel perspective of symbiosis. Specifically, the study explored the idea that a vast network of mycorrhizae connects woodland forests, a relationship referred to as the Wood Wide Web. Through the review of professional scientific publications, this study produced a compiled source of research explaining how a network like this could exist and continue to thrive. By focusing on many unknowns, the Wood Wide Web was studied to understand the impact of the symbiotic relationship of mycorrhizae with plant species connected and unconnected to the network. This study defined and provided evidence verifying the Wood Wide Web exists and demonstrated how the mycorrhizae networks connect plants. Additionally, the study explored the future possibilities for research on this topic.
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David Seals – Aerospace Engineering
Space Trajectory Design Using Pseudospectral Methods
Poster not available in the digital archive
Project Advisor(s): Ossama Abdelkhalik | Advisor(s): Nicole Gupta
Abstract: The cost of space missions is directly related to the amount of fuel used to achieve a given trajectory. Therefore, spacecraft trajectory optimization is key to minimizing space mission costs. This project discusses direct methods for solving the optimal control problem (OCP) of spacecraft using high-efficiency, low-thrust electric propulsion engines. A shape-based method using finite Fourier series expansion can rapidly approximate spacecraft trajectories, making it useful in surveying broad design spaces. Additionally, implementing a genetic algorithm allows the shape-based method to approximate the optimal solution that minimizes the fuel needed. The result of this rapid approximation is used as an initial guess for an optimal control solver to improve the convergence of the solver. In this case, a Pseudospectral method is used to solve the continuous-time OCP by converting it into a nonlinear programming (NLP) problem. Both states and controls are approximated by Lagrange interpolating polynomials at Legendre-Gauss-Lobatto (LGL) nodes. Finally, an NLP problem solver, such as SNOPT, can be used to reach the optimal solution.
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William Sibilski – Aerospace Engineering
To Leave or To Stay
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Project Advisor(s): Melissa Chamberlin | Advisor(s): Brad Eilers
Abstract: People leave their jobs for various reasons. No company wants to lose their employees as they are also losing valuable people and experience. Studies have been completed to understand what makes people committed in the work environment, but college students are the future of the workforce. Understanding the factors that encourage them to stay or make them want to leave can help prepare companies hiring recent graduates. I surveyed 498 Iowa State Students to gauge the importance of different factors as students prepare for the workforce. The results from the survey show that there are some changes between different students. There are differences between males and females, undergrads and grad students, and there are differences between engineers and non-engineers. Some of these differences are large while some are slight differences. The results of the survey can help understand what would make people leave or stay with companies when students enter into the workforce.
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Emma Stobbe – Industrial Engineering
Development of Design Requirements for Telehealth Applications for Older Adults
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Project Advisor(s): Michael Dorneich, Gul Okudan-Kremer | Advisor(s): Devna Popejoy-Sheriff
Abstract: This honors project aims to identify design requirements for telehealth applications for older adults. These requirements are based on human-centered design principles to enhance usability and user engagement in telehealth apps. Interest in designing telehealth applications that cater to older audiences' unique challenges and needs has expanded with the increasing population share of persons aged 65 and up. Barriers to technology use by older adults are specifically addressed, including physical decline, mental decline, lack of technology knowledge or education, and general technology anxiety. Through literature review, design guidelines that cater to older users and possible barriers to use were identified. The study aims to explore how certain application and interface design decisions impact user perception of the application, influence application usability, and predict future adherence to consistent app use. Participants 65 and older will be engaged in exploratory interviews regarding their challenges, opportunities, and needs for telehealth applications. Then, the participants will interact with a preliminary prototype designed with initial design principles to provide feedback on usability, functionality, and predicted adherence. The results of the study will be used to refine the design requirements for a telehealth application for older adults that promotes adherence.
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Alex Thayer – Materials Engineering
Recyclables for Music - PET Recycling
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Project Advisor(s): Shan Jiang | Advisor(s): Andrea Klocke
Abstract: Plastic is an amazing resource. It is inexpensive, reliable, widely applicable, and easy to mass produce. Unfortunately, plastic is the biggest culprit of single-use waste, as people use it once and dispose of it. While recycling programs exist across the country, they vary in effectiveness and consumer engagement, leading to significant buildups of plastic waste due to plastic’s lack of degradation. This project set out to begin addressing this issue through processing single-use plastic waste into 3D printing filament and was completed in cooperation with the REFORM (Recyclables for Music) student organization with the same goal. Specifically, this project set out to establish a process to successfully make 3D printing filament out of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the plastic most commonly used to make beverage bottles. The result was the successful establishment and documentation of processes for collection, decontamination, drying, extrusion, and printing of PET filament, as proven by the printing of a 100% recycled PET instrument. This success was presented at the 2022 Iowa State Student Innovation Center Ignite Innovation Showcase with other projects within REFORM.
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Jeremy Tracz – Software Engineering
CanDo Interface for Virtual Reality Molecular Programming Editor
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Project Advisor(s): James Lathrop | Advisor(s): Jason Follett
Abstract: This project is part of a larger project to edit molecular DNA origami programs. These programs are small sequences of DNA material that combine with a large scaffold DNA strand to fold the scaffold into specific shapes. These shapes can then be used for various applications from drug delivery vehicles to molecular robots. While the molecular biology techniques are well-known, existing editing software does not utilize or take full advantage of a virtual interface. The overall goal of this project is to determine if virtual reality is helpful in designing and editing molecular programs of this nature, and if such a tool can be used in training and education of the workforce. A secondary goal is to provide new features in virtual reality that are not currently found or possible in non-virtual reality editors. Molecular dynamics is difficult and often requires significant compute time to simulate each molecule. Programs such as CanDo can perform this function and generate data that could potentially allow these dynamics to be approximately simulated with less computing power. This research will explore and evaluate this possibility by creating a prototype module to read and process the information from CanDo, and then use this data to realize these dynamics in the molecular editor and virtual reality. Evaluation of the effectiveness of the module together with the software and documentation constitute the deliverable for this project.
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Braden Westby – Mechanical Engineering
Firefighting Robotics: Trials of Creating Viable Solutions for Automated Firefighting Assistance
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Project Advisor(s): Richard Stone | Advisor(s): John Wagner
Abstract: Firefighting is a dangerous, and necessary, occupation that kills dozens and seriously injures thousands. A common solution in the past few decades for similarly dangerous occupations has been the integration of robotics, but that has not been feasible on the proper scale due to the harsh conditions and the havoc they wreak on electronics. Another challenge that has been discovered in this same time frame is the application of bioelectric signals to the control systems of electronics and robotics. This study attempted to address both issues at the same time, by attempting to apply EMG control to a system capable of surviving in the environment caused by an in-building fire, proving an exhibition of the potency of these challenges. From updating the physical attributes of the system to integrating a custom EMG control into an existing infrastructure, problems abounded. This report is a survey of methods explored and found to be unsatisfactory for accomplishing our goals. Moving forward, the work in this study can be used to guide future studies exploring the same challenges. This work can be used to further the base of knowledge in creating custom systems relying on alternative control technology and those requiring budget heatproofing methods.
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Axel Zumwalt – Computer Engineering
Theremin
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Project Advisor(s): Nathan Neihart | Advisor(s): Vicky Thorland-Oster
Abstract: As one of the most unique musical instruments in the world, the nontypical Theremin sound has become synonymous with space, mystery, and the unknown in many works of concert, popular, and film music. The theremin produces a distinct ethereal tone which the player controls without touch, by moving their hands in proximity to antennas which control pitch and volume. This project unlocks the electrical secrets of the Theremin and help to illustrate how variable capacitance and oscillation are used to create and control sounds, how a theremin circuit is designed to take advantage of these elements, and how electrical circuits are assembled.
