Mechanical EngineeringSenior Design2016

from the chair

“University students haven’t been told what’s possible

or impossible, and sometimes their creativity goes

in directions we never thought of. When we sponsor

a Senior Design Project, we not only get to work

with young minds that are creative and enthusiastic,

we also gain access to professors and other resources

that far exceed our capability. Last year, a JHU team

focused on improving our existing bicycle locks against

theft, and the team discovered a unique approach

that we currently are pursuing.”

— S A M I R TA M E R

A DVA N C E D T E C H N O LO GY L E A D E R , A L L E G I O N ( S A N TA C L A R A , C A )

.

During my three years as chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, I have

conducted dozens of exit interviews with our students as they head out into the world.

The one thing I hear repeatedly is how much they value their Senior Design experience.

Students almost universally describe Senior Design as “the most challenging and

rewarding experience of my time at Hopkins.”

The capstone of their years in mechanical engineering, Senior Design is an opportunity

for our students not only to demonstrate a knowledge of scientific concepts, but also to

apply their deep understanding of engineering principles to tackle design projects offered

by industry, non-profit and governmental organization sponsors.

The results are nothing short of remarkable—for students and for sponsors.

The students get access to the sponsors’ resources and technical contacts, and learn to

work within a budget to create solutions to real problems. The sponsors come away with

working prototypes complete with user manuals, specifications and design histories, not

to mention the chance to take an up-close-and-personal look at some extraordinarily

talented potential employees. Both parties benefit immeasurably.

L O U I S L . W H I T C O M B

Chair, Department of Mechanical Engineering

What

Why

f.

“

We believe strongly in establishing relationships with

student engineers in order to mine local talent. For us,

that is what sponsoring a Senior Design Project is all

about. Yes, along the way, the students do meaningful

work for us. But we also get to conduct a nine-month

interview with them. It’s a win-win situation for us both.”

— M AT T H E W V E L A Z Q U E Z

P R I N C I PA L E N G I N E E R , T E X T R O N ( H U N T VA L L E Y, M D )

sponsor a Student Design Team? Working with a Student Design Team provides sponsors

from industry, government and non-profit organizations with multiple benefits, from fresh

and creative new perspectives on technical challenges to access to engineering professors

and the full resources of a world-class university and engineering school.

The Senior Design Process is much like an apprenticeship: It fully immerses students in

the design process, allowing them to apply the skills and concepts they have learned in

the classroom to real-world problems that matter. During the course, students are

encouraged to seek out whatever additional training they need and to use our fully

equipped Machine Shop and to consult our experts there.

Sponsors tell us that one of the biggest advantages of working with a team is the

opportunity to identify top engineering talent (and to observe their problem-solving skills,

creativity and teamwork) before these students graduate.

is Mechanical Engineering Senior Design at Hopkins?

The capstone experience in mechanical engineering at Hopkins, the Senior Design Project

challenges student teams to tackle design challenges posed by industry, government,

and non-profit organizations. Sponsors provide teams with funds for materials, access

to world-class resources, and technical contacts, and students provide sponsors with

real-world prototypes that have been tested.

Senior Design Day: Tuesday, May 3, 2016

“Senior Design taught me

the design process, which I use

every day at my job. Even more

important, I gained valuable

insight into teamwork on

engineering projects. For students

looking to become engineers,

practical and hands-on experience

is so valuable. In fact, through

my Senior Design teacher,

I contacted an engineer at SBD

and after sending him pictures of

my senior design project,

I was asked for an interview.

Now I work there.”

— J E N N I H E R C H E K ’ 1 4

D E S I G N E N G I N E E R AT

STA N L E Y B L A C K & D E C K E R ( TO W S O N , M D )

current projects

1. SPONSOR: AIR FORCE RESEARCH LAB

Team AFRL: Amanda Canezin*, Teo Gaudin, Rachel Hegeman,

Kevin LeBlanc*, Ari Messenger, Christian Richardson

Build a device that allows soldiers to descend from a hovering

aircraft at heights varying from 20 feet to 90 feet. The descent

must occur as quickly as possible, as soldiers may be in

compromised situations.

2. SPONSOR: ALLEGION

Team ALL: Katharina Ertman, Rachael Guess, Trevor

Holmgren, Christopher Naco, Jacqueline Roche

Add smart self-monitoring features to the classic “door closer”

so that it can detect malfunctions and inform building

management systems.

3. SPONSOR: BALTIMORE AIRCOIL COMPANY

Team BAC: Rohan Agarwal, Alexi Bennink, Joshua Harris,

Jorge Rivera, Simon Rojas

Develop a cost effective cooling tower for dirty-water

applications.

4. SPONSOR: JHU CENTER FOR BIOENGINEERING

INNOVATION AND DESIGN

Team CBID: Stefan Arnold*, Glenn Balbus, Minjea Jo, Dmitriy

Kats, Kyle Kirwan

Develop a personal cooling unit for use with the Ebola suit

previously developed at Johns Hopkins.

5. SPONSOR: JHU CENTER FOR BIOENGINEERING

INNOVATION AND DESIGN

Team MASK: Laura Scavo

Improve the design of the hood portion of the JHU Ebola suit

to passively provide defogging and air circulation.

6. SPONSOR: HONDA R&D AMERICAS, INC.

Team HRA: Fernando Concepcion, Keith Pallo, Michael

Scarlato, Alex Schlink

Develop a device to electrically emulate the accelerator pedal

of modern vehicles, to facilitate full vehicle testing and control

in a proving ground environment.

7. SPONSOR: JOHNS HOPKINS PEDIATRIC

TRANSPORT & LIFESTAR MEDICAL

Team JHPT: Madeleine Abelson, Joonghyun (Peter) Ahn,

Kyle Candela, Theophilus Moss, Oritsetimeyin Moju

Improve the safety of the emergency medical technicians

(EMTs) performing ambulance transports by increasing the

time the EMTs remain seated, and seat-belted, during patient

care

8. SPONSOR: KRYPTONITE SCHLAGE LOCK

COMPANY

Team KRPT: Sydrake Abdi, Edward Kunkel, Alexander

Lambert, Adrian Pearl, Christopher Scherz*

Streamline the process of unlocking a bike lock by inventing

a new way for riders to authenticate themselves.

9. SPONSOR: OFFICE OF THE UNDERSECRETARY

OF DEFENSE FOR ACQUISITION, TECHNOLOGY

AND LOGISTICS, CORROSION POLICY AND

OVERSIGHT

Team OUSD: David Gorman, Samantha Lott, Patrick Reilly,

Rachel Tsao

Develop a fast, modular way to mask off large or small areas,

both inside and outside an airplane, for painting.

10. SPONSOR: JOHNS HOPKINS APPLIED PHYSICS

LAB

Team RIZK: Michelle Camacho, Rodrigo de Costa*,

Alexander Griffith, Thomas Keady*, Alexander Kearns

Develop a safer and more comfortable robotic device for

aiding colonoscopies.

11. SPONSOR: STANLEY BLACK & DECKER

Team SBD: Niki Entin, Ryan Howarth, Michael Howland,

Miles McKey*, Luke Moloznik

Develop an oscillating tool as proof of concept for expansion

of a product line.

12. SPONSOR: JHU DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AND

ASTRONOMY AND SPACE TELESCOPE SCIENCE

INSTITUTE

Team STScI: Carlos Benavides, Zachary Bredl*, Devin Conley,

Nicholas Garcia, Sebastian Yllanes*

Develop a test system to verify functionality of a modern

digital micro-mirror device (DMD) at cryogenic temperatures.

Then use it to confirm that these micro-arrays are reliable.

13. SPONSOR: TEXTRON SYSTEMS

Team TEX: Rami Bedewi, Byron Benjamin, Thomas Fiorelli*,

Kyle Johnson, David Levi

Develop hardware to allow a quadcopter to land on a tree

branch of nearly any size at nearly any angle.

14. SPONSOR: UNDER ARMOUR

Team UA: Pawel Malicki*, Matthew Re, Zachary Robbins*,

Valeria Vasconcellos, Jared Wang

Use advanced materials to create new structures for use in

athletic wear.

15. SPONSOR: WALTER REED NATIONAL MILITARY

MEDICAL CENTER, AND JOHNS HOPKINS

UNIVERSITY MILITARY AND VETERANS HEALTH

INSTITUTE

Team WRVL: Clara Aranguren*, Luke Brown, Devin Holladay,

Benjamin Keyser, Katelyn Koons, Patrick Tilson

Design a foot and ankle prosthesis that would allow veterans

to quickly adapt to different footwear, specifically adjusting

the heel height from 0 to 4 inches.

16. SPONSOR: WALTER REED NATIONAL MILITARY

MEDICAL CENTER

Team WRVU: Kiana Duncan, Colin Egan, Colin Friedman,

Joseph Hirsch, Suzie Kellogg*

Develop a new version of a patented elbow prosthesis for use

with active duty and veteran amputees.

* indicates team member is a Junior classman and a student in the

Junior level Engineering Design Process course

To sponsor a project or for more information, contact Nathan Scott (nscott@jhu.edu) or visit the Department of Mechanical Engineering at me.jhu.edu.

Department of Mechanical

EngineeringSeniorDesign

“The senior design project definitely helped make me

a competitive applicant for Duke University’s Master of

Engineering program. In my application, I talked about how

working on the project taught me teamwork and sharpened my

ability to communicate my ideas verbally and in writing.

The project also helped me land a summer internship.

My interviewers took note of the fact that the project taught

me skills that were directly transferable to what was

needed in the internship.”

— W E S L E Y C O H E N ‘ 1 5 , D U K E U N I V E R S I T Y M A ST E R S O F E N G I N E E R I N G P R O G R A M ST U D E N T

I was hired before Design Day by my client. My Senior

Design experience taught me the necessary equations and

ASME standards, among many other things about pressure

vessels, so I was able to make meaningful contributions

during my first weeks on the job. Senior Design was a

great experience that gives you invaluable experience

working on real client problems and gives you the

opportunity to learn from mistakes.”

— S H E E H A N H S U ’ 1 4 , D E S I G N E N G I N E E R , Z E V T E C H N O LO G I E S , I N C . ( O X N A R D, C A .

“