Events

SURE Poster Fair & Celebration

The 2023 SURE Poster Fair & Celebration is almost here! Join us and learn about all the exciting research our first and second year engineering students have conducted.

Our 2022 Poster Fair was a big success!

Thank you to all of our students and to everyone who took part.

2023 SURE participants and projects

View all of the student projects below, or filter projects by department/major.

All Atmospheric ScienceChemical and Biological EngineeringCivil & Environmental EngineeringElectrical and Computer EngineeringMechanical EngineeringSchool of Biomedical EngineeringSystems Engineering
SURE presentor photo

ARPA-E REMEDY (Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy, Reducing Emissions of Methane Every Day of the Year) Engine Instillation Project

Ben Elick
Recent regulations and environmental goals have pushed for new solutions to combat methane emissions in large industrial engines. The focus of this research will be developing new techniques to reduce the amount of methane emissions from large natural gas industrial engines. One of these techniques will aim to re-burn methane emissions which have leaked into the crankcase. Other research may include engine geometry adaptations and hydrogen fuel blending, with the goal of reducing methane emissions.
Department:
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Dan Olsen
SURE presentor photo

Atmospheric Air Quality Monitoring

Noah Wood
Bella Romero Elementary School is a lower-income elementary school in Greeley, CO with an oil and gas well located less than 1000 feet from its playground. Our aim is to collect data on the air quality in the area near the school, and publish it for use by anybody. I am involved in sample changing, data monitoring, and a very limited amount of data analysis.
Department:
Department of Atmospheric Science
Faculty Mentor:
Emily Fischer
SURE presentor photo

Cathode Test Facility

Randy Derock
In electric propulsion one of the primary functions of hall thrusters is having a cathode provide energy to remove electrons from propellent thus ionizing the propellant. I am working on setting up the vacuum chamber to become a testing facility by automating the data acquisition system. To better understand cathodes by varying the mass flow of the propellent and anode current.
Department:
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
John Williams
SURE presentor photo

COHNA Lens Design

Luke Shuttleworth
Dr. Wilson is using a multiphoton microscope to conduct various experiments dealing with mitochondria, however, he lacks condenser lenses that have high numerical aperture. The condenser needs a numerical aperture higher than the objective, and long working distance (condenser needs to sit below the sample, and needs to accommodate the cell culture dish, or the glass slide that sits between the sample and condenser). The working distance should also be long enough that it doesn’t have to be perfectly in contact with the glass slide (this is a problem with the current COHNA design). I will be using the software Zemax OpticStudio to design a new COHNA lens that is not a limiting factor in terms of field of view and aberrations, while also being able to capture all of the unfocused light coming from the sample and focus it on the detector. This will produce a clearer image of the sample, and allow Dr. Wilson to make more accurate measurements for his research.
Department:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Jesse Wilson
SURE presentor photo

Combined Soil Hydrology and Geotechnical Engineering Laboratory Research

Kaylee Romero
As time progresses modeling soil properties through various scales is important to understand soil moisture and density. This lab mainly focuses on attempting to understand and analyze different methods to find out soil moisture and density. Through this research project, we measure soil moisture by processing different soils with different moisture content with two different methods.
Department:
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Joe Scalia
SURE presentor photo

Combustion Fundamentals for a Natural Gas/Hydrogen Gas Turbine with Low Emissions

Emily Thomason
Recently, there have been problems of energy demand and emissions from energy conversion devices. Fossil fuels create mass amounts of energy but results in large emission of greenhouse gases. This development started renewable energy production such as wind and solar energy. However renewable energy cannot solely supply the demand for energy to power everything. Therefore, the production of energy must change. Green hydrogen is a power storage that can replace fossil fuels because of its clean production and gives the same power. Hydrogen, an unstable fuel, can be mixed with other fuel types to develop a low emission of greenhouse gases and high supply of energy to withstand the demand. The aim of this research project is to develop a gas turbine that can run on mixes of hydrogen. As of now, the project is trying to find and develop a chemical mechanism that can predict the flame dynamics of different hydrogen mixes.
Department:
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Bret Windom
SURE presentor photo

Computational Modeling of ADME Properties

Natalie Calahan
There are multiple critical considerations when creating and analyzing compounds for their safety and efficacy such as the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) properties of the drugs. The goal of this research project is to construct a computational model that will describe the ADME of a drug based on the changing factors of formulation, regimen, dosing method, and characteristics of the patient. Experimental data will then be acquired from scientific literature to compare to the results that have been modeled. Because of their use in treating hypothyroidism, the drugs that I am considering analyzing are levothyroxine and liothyronine.
Department:
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Brad Reisfeld
SURE presentor photo

Control Co-Design Optimization of Natural Gas Power Plants with Carbon Capture and Thermal Storage

Ian Gowen
In the future, carbon taxes could be so high that natural gas plants, like the one described in this project, will need to include carbon capture systems. to stay profitable. This system will need cold and hot thermal storages to achieve this. A model for optimizing this process is described in the paper. My specific project is to simplify and code this model removing the cold storage, financial, and storage size equations.
Department:
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Daniel Herber
SURE presentor photo

Degradation of TCP and OBP Scaffolds in Simulated Body Fluids

Aliah Halvorson
in recent studies, it has been discovered that bone growth can be stimulated with the help of bone scaffolds. The aim of this research project is to understand how these bone scaffolds dissolve within the body over time through a in-vitro experiment over 6 weeks in Simulated Body Fluid.
Department:
School of Biomedical Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
David Prawel
SURE presentor photo

Design and Fabrication of Shape Morphing Robots

Anisha Kalla
Technology is increasing at a rapid rate ; these advancements must be coupled with synergetic innovation. Throughout the years, robots have mainly been composed of rigid, sensitive material that prevent them from handling intricate, delicate tasks. The Adaptive Robotics Laboratory, directed by Dr. Zhao, aims to create shape shifting robots made by morphing polymers. The key goal of this project is to fabricate numerous prototypes of multifunctional robots. This project is designed to showcase the mechanical and electrical fundamentals of engineering which can be applied to a larger scale shape shifting automaton.
Department:
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Jianguo Zhao
SURE presentor photo

Developing a low cost system to prevent air pollution in homes

Carsen Hobson
Air pollution is becoming an increasing issue. Particularly for the health of humans. Unhealthy particulate matter from air pollution is not only a problem outdoors, but also indoors. Particulate matter can infiltrate a house because of pressure from the wind and the HVAC system pulling the outside air into the inside of the house. During high air pollution events such as wildfires and rush hour, this becomes a problem. Currently, people are told to turn on their HVAC system to filter out unhealthy particulate matter in their homes. The issue with this is people don’t always turn it on at the optimal time and run it for the optimal length of time. Resulting in a waste of energy and money The objective of this work is to solve this issue by first predicting these air pollution events, and then intervening with two methods. The first method is whole-house pressurization which prevents particulate matter from entering the house. The second method is in-home filtration which occurs when high levels of particulate matter are present inside the house.
Department:
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Christian L'Orange
SURE presentor photo

Driving Simulator

Tyler Archer
Assist with running experiments in the driving simulator, which consists of explaining instructions to participants, turning on computer, and connecting data collection equipment. Driving simulator studies focus on measuring driver behavior to roadway and in-vehicle designs.
Department:
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Erika Miller
SURE presentor photo

Effects of Stratospheric Aerosol Injection on the Environment

Asher Ignatius Sibul Glassman
With the lack of an impactful response from the international community to climate change, it is becoming increasingly necessary to consider intentional human intervention in the climate system in order to mitigate the effects of climate change. One potential method, known as stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI), involves the controlled injection of aerosols into the atmosphere, cooling the planet off by reflecting solar radiation much like what happens after a volcanic eruption. This project seeks to understand the effects of SAI on extreme weather and the environment through analyzing simulation data of the earth system as a whole, both with and without SAI.
Department:
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Jim Hurrell
SURE presentor photo

Electrochemical Methods for Lithium Extraction from Waste and Seawater

Marc Smoorenburg
As industries move away from fossil fuels and toward cleaner and more renewable sources of energy, the need to store electricity in batteries has increased significantly and thus the need for Lithium has increased likewise. This research project is designed to both examine the state of the art electrochemical technologies for selectively extracting Lithium from a variety of solutions, and determining which solutions are best suited for Lithium extraction. Additionally, a proof of concept experiment is being prepared to test an electrolysis process aimed at selectively reducing Lithium to a cathode.
Department:
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Reza Nazemi
SURE presentor photo

Electronic-Photonic System Design

Alex Benson
Focused on the development of high-performance computing systems and interconnection networks employing emerging technologies while emphasizing energy efficiency and robustness. I use Python data analytics libraries to explore and manipulate data and perform machine learning tasks. The aim of this research is to expand the research field of photonics and machine learning.
Department:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Mahdi Nikdast
SURE presentor photo

Engineering the exoenzyme expression of B. subtilis and its evolutionary stability in soil microbial communities.

Bethany Kantack
This work is part of an Army Research Office project aiming at modeling and testing the stability of microorganisms engineered to degrade complex polymers in soil microbial communities. In particular, we will construct Bacillus subtilis strains that have a green fluorescent protein reporter system to monitor exoenzyme expression and its evolution in soil microbial communities.
Department:
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Joshua Chan
SURE presentor photo

Environmental Fluid Mechanics Water Flow

Mazen Garrett
Currently, nearly two-thirds of the world's population does not have access to a consistent and/or safe water source. Water flow information can help determine how much water is available in different locations and can impact the quality of water. The aim of this research project is to understand how different sediments and stream beds affect the rate at which water flows. Different mock river beds are designed and 3D printed and put into a water flume. Additionally, sediment funnels are also designed and 3D printed to release sediment into the water flume at differing rates. The water flow is then measured using lasers and the data is put into MatLab to plot.
Department:
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Karan Venayagamoorthy
SURE presentor photo

High-Throughput Cell Transformation: A New Approach to Plasmid Production

Carissa Avalos
The recent COVID-19 outbreak required quick vaccine development to help protect the worldwide population. This demonstrated the potential nucleic acids have to fight diseases. However, while the mRNA vaccine was successful, it has its limitations such as needed to be kept frozen and being difficult to produce. The aim of this research project is to develop better methods for plasmid assembly, transformation, DNA isolation, and sequencing to test 1000’s of variants of Vesicular Stomatitis Virus. These variants can be used to design new vaccine vectors to protect against potential new viruses.
Department:
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Jean Peccoud
SURE presentor photo

Howard Vacuum Facility Upgrades

Tom Asiala
At the CSU Electric Propulsion and Plasma Engineering Lab (CEPPE), space companies contact Dr. John Williams and his associated graduate students to use the five vacuum chambers in the lab to test various space hardware with a special emphasis on ion propulsion and hall thrusters. The purpose study how they are effected by a near vacuum, similar to what they will experience in space. In particular, they study how effective various designs and methods of producing thrust using a beam of ions will be. The project I am currently working on is re-activating an older vacuum chamber known as "Howard" which is one of the larger chambers in the lab that could prove useful to testing larger pieces of flight hardware.
Department:
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
John Williams
SURE presentor photo

Human Coupled Systems

Alana Smith
In the last couple of years smart thermostats have become more popular in homes. The object of this research is to test different smart thermostats and prove that they are not all exactly the same. We are also comparing them to just a regular thermostat. As a result we are hoping to see if one smart thermostat is much better then the others or if they are basically all the same.
Department:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Steve Conrad
SURE presentor photo

Hydrolysis and hydrogen as an energy source.

Landon Kohler
Since the industrial revolution, fossil fuels have been burned to release useful energy. It is widely known that the combustion of fossil fuels is a main contributor to global warming. Hydrogen however, is a clean burning fuel. Unfortunately, hydrogen is difficult to come by. The goal of this research project is to design and install equipment for making hydrogen via hydrolysis at the CSU powerhouse building. The hydrogen can then be tested as an alternative to fossil fuels.
Department:
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Bret Windom
SURE presentor photo

Impacts of Natural Disasters on the Human Footprint

Madisyn Bietz
Climate change is a prevalent, man-made threat to various forms of life on Earth. The evolving climate crisis has, in particular, increased the frequency and severity of hurricanes and other natural disasters. To study the impacts of these natural disasters, this research project utilizes a machine-learning human footprint index (ml-HFI). The ml-HFI, developed by Drs. Patrick Keys, Elizabeth Barnes, and Neil Carter, uses Hansen Landsat satellite imagery, convolutional neural networks (CNN), and geospatial technologies to analyze human pressure on the planet. Using the ml-HFI data, the aim of this research project is to determine how natural disasters change human pressure (population density, built infrastructure, agricultural land use, etc.) on the landscape.
Department:
Department of Atmospheric Science
Faculty Mentor:
Pat Keys
SURE presentor photo

Impacts of the CSU Spur Campus

Mia Chavez
A little over a year ago, the Colorado State University System opened CSU Spur, a year-round and first-of-its-kind public destination in Denver, made of three buildings, focused on food, water, and health, and a place where research and services take place to engage learners of all ages. The aim of this research project is to better understand impacts the Spur campus has on its surrounding community and the effectiveness of their initiatives to educate the public, provide outreach to all community members, foster sustainability, equity and inclusion, as well as prevent gentrification in the area.
Department:
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Pinar Omur-Ozbek
SURE presentor photo

Laser and instrument development

Elim Aschenberg
The purpose of the research is the study of propagation of high intensity ultrashort laser pulses in the atmosphere. The intended impact is to further our understanding of the fundamental science of picosecond laser propagation in the atmosphere, and its potential uses for e.g. remote sensing and communications. The apparatus that I am making helps with syncing the scientific cameras used for the measurements to the laser pulses, allowing the team to observe and measure various effects present in the propagation such as laser plasma density.
Department:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Jorge Rocca
SURE presentor photo

Making Solar Energy a Main Source of Energy

Mason Daly
Technological advances in the past years have proven in the world of solar cells that silicon made cells are not the most power outputting. The use of CdTe or Cadmium Telluride is more efficient in terms of cost, production, and overall energy absorption. The reason to make the switch is that more panels can be produced at a lower cost so more homes across the world can use solar, saving our environment. The goal is to make solar energy one of the main sources of sustainable energy.
Department:
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Amit Munshi
SURE presentor photo

Membrane Distillation

Francisco Hernandez
With an alarmingly low amount of fresh water disposable in the environment it has become more popular to find ways to filtrate salted water. This has led to the use of Membrane distillation in order to treat saline water and wastewater. The purpose of this research project is so further understand the process of desalination and how pore wetting has an effect on this process.
Department:
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Tiezheng Tong
SURE presentor photo

Model-Based Structured Requirements

McKenzy Schroeder
As engineering designs, such as automobiles, air/spacecraft, and software, are increasingly complex, there is a pressing need to properly define and organize the requirements of these systems. Using the Systems Modeling Language (SysML) and other tools, this project aims to develop an example of structured requirements for drone building.
Department:
Department of Systems Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Daniel Herber
SURE presentor photo

Multifunctional Polymers and Composites

Abby Robertson
The aim of this research project is to test different designs with CAD with different printing materials.
Department:
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Mostafa Yourdkhani
SURE presentor photo

Next generation solar cell manufacturing research internship

Natnael Giday
Environmentally and commercially sustainable solution to rising demand of energy is critically important today than ever before. Advanced solar cell manufacturing laboratory at CSU has been at the forefront of next generation thin-film solar cell research. This internship provides an opportunity to learn several intricate aspects of solar cell fabrication process. The rich experience I am gaining includes key industrially relevant procedures and methods such as, operation of high-tech semi-conductor processing systems, specimen and substrate preparation, solar cell testing and analytics, operational health and safety practices etc. The host research group houses over 25 researchers including three professors, two research scientists, and several graduate and undergraduate research assistants. The laboratory leadership has a combined experience of more than 100 years, that combined with state-of-the-art research infrastructure is providing me with an unprecedented foundational training. Although, the SURE internship program is scheduled to conclude at the end of the semester, I am motivated and intend to continue expanding the depth of my knowledge in this field through supporting research in this group beyond. It is imperative for me to express the excitement of learning skills in a field so impactful reinforced through strong leadership, guidance, and cooperation of fellow research assistants.
Department:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Amit Munshi
SURE presentor photo

OBRL

Ella Olander
Many people in the whole world deal with arthritis and osteoporosis in their knees and shoulders. The aim of this research is to test devices in animals and observe how they promote bone and cartilage growth. Companies come to the lab and ask us to run experiments on their products. If the products end up promoting healing in a good way, then we send that news back to the companies and they hopefully continue to test these products and get them used on humans.
Department:
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Kirk McGilvray
SURE presentor photo

Observing the Adsorption of recombinant bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) onto ovine bone powder and β-tricalcium phosphate discs

Sreya Karumanchi
Bone morphogenetic proteins are naturally occurring proteins that are being utilized as a growth factor in repairing critical bone defects. Although this growth factor is widely used, its adsorption behavior is unknown on clinically relevant biologically (ovine) derived calcium phosphate scaffolds. If successful, the sustained adsorption of rhBMP-2 to test samples will help future studies of these materials by developing an expected loading timeframe for rhBMP-2 in clinical practice. Ultimately, success will be measured by the similarity of adsorption behavior to Medtronic’s INFUSE collagen sponge, which is an FDA-approved product used in clinical bone regenerative procedures.
Department:
School of Biomedical Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
David Prawel
SURE presentor photo

Optimizing Solution Conditions for Biomolecular Crystal Growth for use in Precision Biomaterial Applications

Ashanna Narrie
Crystals capable of precisely binding small molecule guests have potential as a novel biomaterial with diverse applications from drug delivery to structural biology. In this project, our goal is to exploit DNA-Protein interactions in solution with varying molar ratios and volumes to maximize the self-assembly of small, molecule-binding, porous crystalline solids. To achieve this, the DNA building blocks and protein building blocks will be complexed in solution with crystallization reagents of differing volumes and concentration. Once crystals with guest binding sites have formed, the crystals are ligated throughout where it is ultimately strengthened. This will allow for crystal survival in diverse solutions. The high copy number of binding sites in the crystals can precisely hold guest molecules for X-Ray Diffraction and structural biology along with later applications in drug delivery.
Department:
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Christopher Snow
SURE presentor photo

Post-Wildfire Hydrology and Sedimentation

Adrian Jimenez-Ramos
Wildfires can dramatically change the hydrologic response of a watershed, leading to more overland flow and increased erosion rates for a given storm. Fires can therefore cause changes to hillslope and channel morphology, cause increased delivery of sediment to channels, impact water quality and aquatic habitat, and potentially influence landscape evolution. In the summer of 2012, the High Park fire burned 87000 acres of forest near Fort Collins, Colorado. We are using a combination of remotely-sensed topography, field observations of hillslope-scale sediment production, and Total Station, GPS, and terrestrial LiDAR surveys of channel geometry and channel network structure to better understand and quantify post-fire erosion rates at the watershed scale, sediment storage on hillslopes and sediment delivery to channels, changes in peak flows and channel morphology, and expansion and contraction of the channel network.
Department:
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Peter Nelson
SURE presentor photo

Probiotics Research Lab

Jacy Butler
Previous research has been completed on the growth optimization of a strand of E. Coli, looking at various nutrients and/or amino acids. The aim of this research is to identify a media composition that optimizes the growth of lactobacillus. By modeling this data, we can characterize the necessary compounds required for the particular bacteria in question to thrive. Understanding this information can aid in the field of probiotics and the overarching exploration of the gut biome at a microscopic level.
Department:
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Joshua Chan
SURE presentor photo

Profiling of the Earth's Planetary Boundary Layer using Microwave Radiometers

Cody Saunders
This project aims to produce a more efficient and cost-effective method to measure air temperature and humidity profiles in the Earth’s planetary boundary layer, an uneven and constantly changing layer of the troposphere nearest to the surface. Currently, weather balloons are deployed to accomplish this, but they provide sparse measurements since they are expensive and can only be used once. Colorado State University’s Microwave Systems Laboratory (MSL) in the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department is developing an alternative solution to provide this important meteorological information using surface-based, portable microwave radiometers. The MSL is currently adapting its Compact Microwave Radiometer for Humidity profiling (CMR-H) that was custom fabricated for the National Science Foundation (NSF) to perform these measurements and demonstrate the viability of microwave radiometers for this application.
Department:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Steve Reising
SURE presentor photo

Project (Izabella Williams)

Izabella Williams
Department:
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Kirk McGilvray
SURE presentor photo

Project (Kyndal Prahl)

Kyndal Prahl
Department:
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Joshua Chan
SURE presentor photo

Project (Lupita Tejeda)

Lupita Tejeda
Department:
School of Biomedical Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Ketul Popat
SURE presentor photo

QSPT Research Group

Jacob Maslowski
Includes a variety of research projects related to quantitative pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, toxicology e.g that are dedicated to developing approaches to determine optimal drug dosing regimes; through utilizing machine learning, we aim to prioritize possible cancer-causing for testing, developing and an applying methods to relate chemical structure to biological activity.
Department:
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Brad Reisfeld
SURE presentor photo

Research Solar Cells

Jacob Perreault
In this lab, I am researching solar cells with Dr. Munshi. This is to find more efficient builds for the solar cells which be put into solar panels.
Department:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Amit Munshi
SURE presentor photo

Set up a 120kw electrolysis system

Dexter Shafer-White
Global warming is a real threat and we need to find a way to create sustainable renewable energy. Our task is to set up an electrolysis machine that separates water into oxygen and hydrogen. We can use the hydrogen we produce to test different methods of hydrogen combustion. This ranges from gas substitutes in cars all the way to city-wide energy production.
Department:
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Bret Windom
SURE presentor photo

Short Cycle Laboratory, Laser and Instrument Development

Logan Byers
The goal is to create a laser that interacts with a target in vacuum that is about 2 microns in size, and see the results of a high energy beam at around 3-5 femto seconds pulse duration. With a low starting energy of about 1 nJ. To finish with around 10^20 mJ of energy at the point of interaction. To create a peak intensity and see how results differ from experiments in the past around 30 femto seconds.
Department:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Jorge Rocca
SURE presentor photo

Strategies to incorporate social equity considerations into asset management decision-making in transportation

Agnes Mhlanga
The transportation industry in the United States is at the crossroads. There is a crucial need for transportation professionals to recognize the significant social equity challenges faced in our nation, as evidenced by recent national events, and incorporate considerations with respect to social equity into decision-making for transportation projects. There is a need to acknowledge racially and socioeconomically diverse communities in these projects. The aim of this research is to describe an effort to apply the criterion of social equity to a systematic process for transportation asset management. Our initial effort is to serve as the basis for further research that will refine and enhance how social equity is incorporated into engineering decision making.
Department:
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Becki Atadero
SURE presentor photo

Surface modification of implants using Tanfloc and carboxymethyl-kappa-carrageenan (CMKC) polyelectrolyte multilayers

John Kadillak
Blood contact with biomaterials triggers activation of multiple reactive mechanisms that can impair the performance of implantable medical devices and potentially cause serious adverse clinical events. This includes thrombosis, inflammation, and infection. Numerous surface coatings have been developed to improve blood compatibility of biomaterials. The overall goal of the research is to exploit newly reported properties of abundant renewable biopolymers to create novel nanostructured biomaterials with superior hemocompatibility for blood-contacting medical devices. Towards that goal, we will generate and disseminate a detailed understanding of how surface nanotopography and surface chemistry influence blood-material interactions. In this work, nanostructured titania surfaces will be modified with two natural biopolymers, Tanfloc and chemically modified carrageenan (CMKC).
Department:
School of Biomedical Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Ketul Popat
SURE presentor photo

Surface Modifications for Cell-Based Assay

Su San Yar Tun
The aim of this research project is to make an assay for chemicals that disrupt estrogen functioning, using modified mammalian cells in order to develop an effective method of endocrine disrupting chemical identification. The end goal is to produce a product that helps detect harmful chemicals.
Department:
School of Biomedical Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Ken Reardon
SURE presentor photo

Thin-film Layer of Algea

Jaellyn Erickson
A thin-film layer of algae has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions in several ways: Photosynthesis: Algae use photosynthesis to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, which means that by growing algae in a thin-film layer, carbon dioxide levels in the surrounding atmosphere can be reduced. Carbon capture: Algae have a high affinity for carbon dioxide, and they can capture and store large amounts of CO2 from the air and water. When algae die, they sink to the bottom of the water and their carbon content becomes sequestered in the sediment, removing CO2 from the atmosphere. Biofuel production: Algae can be harvested and processed to produce biofuels, which can be used as an alternative to fossil fuels. This process is known as algae biofuel production, and it has the potential to significantly reduce CO2 emissions from transportation and other industries. Wastewater treatment: Algae can also be used to treat wastewater, removing pollutants and excess nutrients that contribute to water pollution. This process can reduce the amount of CO2 emitted from the treatment of wastewater. By incorporating thin-film layers of algae into industrial processes, such as power generation, manufacturing, and transportation, it is possible to reduce CO2 emissions and mitigate the impacts of climate change. Additionally, the use of algae can provide a sustainable source of biofuels and contribute to the development of a circular economy.
Department:
School of Biomedical Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Ken Reardon
SURE presentor photo

Truck In A Box

Austin Cecil
Assisting in building a "truck in a box" system. This system incorporates Kenworth gauges that simulate driving and engine conditions, without being hooked up to the actual truck. My role includes analyzing and learning wire diagrams and schematics, hardware assembly, and some light coding.
Department:
Department of Systems Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Jeremy Daily
SURE presentor photo

Using silk to print biomedical devices

Natalie Green
Many biomedical devices that are currently developed and used are made of plastic. However, there has been promising research about using silk to 3D print the devices instead. This would be a great benefit to the organism with the device as it is made from natural materials rather than plastic, which often works better in the medical context. The aim of this research project is to try and develop a way to print using silk here at CSU. To accomplish this goal, the understanding of 3D printing and design as well as the application of this research should attained. This means lessons on printing and design along with shadowing research projects being pursued already. The hope is to make more compatible biomedical devices for patients.
Department:
School of Biomedical Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Kirk McGilvray
SURE presentor photo

VetVR

Evan Corwin
VetVR is a virtual reality game that can be used for veterinary exams and practice. The focus of our software is to use the advantages of learning in VR for training veterinarians to perform tasks that would originally require a physical machine to practice with.
Department:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Marie Vans
SURE presentor photo

VOCs in Greeley, Co

Sydney Adams
In the last couple years, an oil fracking site has been built only 1000 feet away from Bella Romero Middle School. Even after petitions and parents outwardly speaking out for them not to build so close to school grounds, it was still built. This is clearly an environmental justice case due to the fact that these fracking sites can expose nearby people to dangerous organic compounds such as benzene. The aim of this research project is to monitor and study the gas that is in the air near this underprivileged middle school. Analyzing it and reporting if there are any harmful gasses that must be dealt with, to ensure safety to the students attending.
Department:
Department of Atmospheric Science
Faculty Mentor:
Emily Fischer
SURE presentor photo

Walter Scott Jr. College of Engineering OBRL

Emily Sovern
Hello, we have been working around the lab helping the scientists, graduate, and undergraduate students. There is not a single project we are working on because we are assisting in multiple projects that occur in the lab at different days.
Department:
School of Biomedical Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Kirk McGilvray
SURE presentor photo

Wastewater management via electrochemical systems

Gavin Vonalt
There are many commercial products that use today that have toxic or harmful byproducts in their production, and some of these byproducts will get into nearby water sources. The purpose of this research product is to find a cost and energy effective way to purify these pollutants from the water, and potentially turn them into useful chemicals. Once developed these reactors could be effective for wastewater management. The method used to purify these pollutants is a oxidation/reduction reaction from a electrochemical system.
Department:
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Reza Nazemi
SURE presentor photo

Work on/learn about programming and design of precise dog walking movements in the Vet VR Simulator

Valentina Diaz
As technology keeps evolving and being utilized through society in many aspects, virtual reality has become a branch to expand our abilities to experience and do things with just technology. This research project started with a goal of creating a virtual reality simulator to help in the education process for future veterinarians. Through this project, veterinarians in training can experience real life situations and problem solve through technology as it helps them have a more hands in learning and understanding of their field.
Department:
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Faculty Mentor:
Marie Vans