FIGHTING THE OPIOID EPIDEMIC:
A DRUG INJECTION SYSTEM

Gertrude Dabo
Naomi Javitt

ADVISED BY PROFESSOR ERIC LIMA

According to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), over 130 people died each day from opioid related overdoses from 2017-2018. Fortunately, there is a drug called naloxone or Narcan, which can reverse an overdose within minutes. The biggest challenge in saving an individual from an overdose is timely access to Narcan and a bystander to administer it. To combat this problem, we have created a novel device that can detect an opioid overdose, and inject the individual with the correct dose of Narcan.The device is low profile and wearable, so it will always be on hand. It consists of an accordion shell with a needle and medicine reservoir, which when compressed, can inject an individual, and then retract the needle when it is released. 


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CARBON FIBER
COMPRESSION MOLDING

Dean Chan
Raymond Choi
Connor Lowry



ADVISED BY PROFESSORS DAVID WOOTTON AND SVEN HAVERKAMP
 

The Cooper Motorsports team seeks to reduce the weight of their 2020 racecar by 20 lbs. Manufactured aluminum components like suspension uprights, the differential mount, and pedals contribute significant weight. These components have undergone constant refinement, thus it is difficult to further reduce weight without sacrificing stiffness. We propose carbon fiber bulk molding compound [CFBMC] as an alternative to aluminum. As opposed to purchasing expensive commercially made CFBMC, we developed an in-house manufacturing method. Testing rigs were made to characterize its material properties and validate our process by redesigning and manufacturing a suspension upright. Preliminary tests show that in-house CFBMC samples are 50% of the weight of aluminum, 50% of the strength, and 200% of the stiffness in tension, which achieves our minimum requirements. We expect to save at least 5 lbs overall by applying this material to aluminum componenets on the car.

SHAPE-LOCKING
CATHETER

Gregoire Caubel
John Nguyen

ADVISED BY PROFESSOR ERIC LIMA,
DR. ANTHONY COSTA,
AND ALEXIS BRUHAT

80% of strokes every year are ischemic in nature, meaning a physical clot blocks blood flow to a certain region of the brain. Physicians only have 4.5 hours to intervene after a stroke event, and commonly use neurovascular support catheters to physically remove the blockage. These catheters need to be flexible enough to maneuver around complex vasculature, but rigid enough to hold their position during an operation. Instability of these support catheters caused by buckling can lead to longer surgical intervention times and greater risk for the patient. The aim of this project is to develop a computer simulation to better understand the dynamics of a catheter within the aortic arch and to use the simulation to determine the feasibility of a variable stiffness mechanism for improving the operational stability of support catheters.

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REFLECTIVE SOLAR
CONCENTRATORS
FOR CUBESATS

William Morris
Brian Lee Aqib Sadique

ADVISED BY PROFESSOR DAVID WOOTTON

CubeSats are small, modular satellites that are popular for commercial, scientific, and educational use due to their low cost and ease of manufacturing compared to traditional satellites. However, their power systems are still costly and limited in power generation capacity due to their small surface area. A power system utilizing a deployable reflective solar concentrator would mitigate these problems; a large reflector would increase the amount of sunlight collected, thereby increasing the power generation. Additionally, the concentrator would only require solar cells along the focus of each reflector, which would decrease costs compared to a traditional solar array of comparable size.

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