Design Day Projects 2017

Quadcopter team looks on as their drone takes to the air. (Photo by J. Adam Fenster/University of Rochester)

Audio and Musical Engineering

Construction of naturalistic audiovisual stimulus for neurological experiments
This project designs and implements an algorithm for constructing naturalistic audiovisual stimuli for neurological experiments. Source recordings of human speech are analyzed, processed, and resynthesized to generate these stimuli. The algorithm is implemented in a self-contained module with a user-friendly API.
Team members: Vincent Mateo
Supervisor: David Anderson, PhD, Electrical and Computer Engineering, UR
Customer: Ross Maddox, PhD, Neuroscience, URMC

Flat Panel Loudspeaker with Spatial Controls
A 55" flat panel loudspeaker, ideally for use as a television/projector screen, with stereo capabilities as well as spatial control.
Team members: Nick Bruno, Dan Kannen
Supervisor: Mark Bocko, Dave Anderson, Mike Heilemann
Customer: University of Rochester

Instrument Soundboard Design. (Photo by Bob Marcotte/University of Rochester)

Instrument Soundboard Design
The purpose of this project is to create a soundboard for a unique clavichord-like instrument that effectively radiates the desired frequency range and is highly replicable.
Team members: Rebecca Gillie, Thomas Downey, Dahyun Chung
Supervisor: David Anderson, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Customer: Peter Tennenbaum

The Missing Link: Electric Guitar Eurorack Module
Modular synthesis systems are designed to send and receive control signals between independent 'modules' to synthesize unique sounds. Our module accepts input from an electric guitar (or any other analog audio source) and outputs a variety of useful signals. Specifically: an amplified version of the guitar signal, a full wave rectified version of the guitar signal, a variably-responsive amplitude envelope, and a threshold-compared gate and trigger
Team members: Matt Manes, Dan Waldman
Supervisor: David Anderson, PhD

Multi-channel Speaker Array
Designing and building a high density 3D audio environment for use with Ambisonics research, VR/AR, surround sound mixing, as well as a unique performance space.
Team members: Matthew Dylewsky, Frank White IV, Timothy Dick
Supervisor: Mark Bocko, Distinguished Professor, Chair, PhD, Electrical and Computer Engineering, UR. David Anderson, PhD, Audio and Music Engineering, UR
Customer: AME/ECE Department

Subject To Change: Hip-Hop and Electronic Studio Album by Chris Fertakis
A studio concept album written, composed, produced, engineered, and performed by AME student Chris Fertakis. The album contains 12 tracks of various genres, including hip hop, EDM, pop, and other experimental ideas and features a number of artists from the U of R community. The album attempts to frame the life and experiences of Chris Fertakis loosely set in the context of Greek Mythology and explores themes of love and heartbreak, pride, the fallacies of wanting to live in "the real world," beauty in imperfection, and homosexuality in the music industry/pop culture.
Team members: Chris Fertakis
Supervisor: David Anderson, PhD, Electrical Engineering

Biomedical Engineering

ASAP: Automated Sigma Analysis Platform
Our team has been working with Baxter to improve optical and software techniques to quantify flow rate of their Sigma Spectrum drug infusion pump. Current methods for flow rate calibration of hospital infusion pumps are subjective and prone to errors such as evaporation. Developing an accurate and thorough calibration set-up can be tedious, costly, and space-inefficient. We have developed a novel, inexpensive calibration device to validate infusion pump flow rate intended for use in research and development, and quality assurance of Baxter’s pumps.
Team members: Morgan McDonald, Winslow Powers, Claire Kaiser, Ge Song
Supervisor: Richard Waugh, PhD, Biomedical Engineering, UR
Customer: Baxter International, supervised by Matt Bivans

Raiem Smith models ECG cable system for Art Dee of LabVIEW. (Photo by J. Adam Fenster/Unversity Rochester)

Cable Medical ECG Cable Adapter
In a hospital environment, time is a commodity. Currently, hospital workflow is impeded by clinicians’ need to change ECG systems as a patient moves through the hospital throughout their stay. We aim to modify Curbell Medical's existing ECG cable system in order to limit disruptions to clinical workflow and minimize the hospital’s waste caused by discarding incompatible lead sets. The solution consists of a permanently attached, optimized cable-adapter module which enables smooth navigation through hospital-identified critical pathways.
Team members: Connor O'Brien, Raiem Smith, Madison Schumacher, Vladimir Tokarchuk
Supervisor: Regine Choe, PhD, Biomedical Engineering, UR
Customer: Mike Regan and Don Gibson, Curbell Medical

Clinical Sepsis Detection Using Hyperspectral Imaging
Our team is working to combat the drastic hospital mortality rates of sepsis by developing a faster detection technology. We aim to implement hyperspectral imaging as a non-invasive diagnostic tool for use within an intensive care unit. Instead of conducting cell cultures and blood tests, which are both invasive and time consuming, the goal of this device is to help detect and quantify the presence sepsis in minutes.
Team members: Kathleen Larson, Dylan Latham, Justin Schumacher, Brittany Schutrum, Joshua Schum
Supervisor: Dr. Catherine Kuo
Customer: W. Spencer Klubbens

CTEV Brace Team
Our team has been tasked with creating a better brace to treat CTEV (clubfoot), a congenital deformity where a child is born with their feet turned inward and upward. The current method, the Ponseti Brace, is a boots and bar system with many drawbacks. Aside from restricting movement, it’s uncomfortable and difficult for parents to use. As a team we have created a barless alternative brace that is lighter and more comfortable, while also tracking patient compliance. We hope that our brace can be used to improve the lives of children with CTEV and their parents everywhere.
Team members: Genevieve Caldwell, Ka-Kyung Kim, Matt Stein, Mingyang Mao
Supervisor: Catherine Kuo, PhD, Biomedical Engineering, UR
Customer: Dr. Kuo, Department of Biomedical Engineering, UR and Dr. O'Malley, Department of Orthopedics, UR

Diabetes in Micronesia
Micronesia is a region in the Western Pacific made up of island nations, including the Republic of the Marshall Islands and Federated States of Micronesia. Approximately one-third of individuals in these countries have type 2 diabetes. Our team has developed a tablet-integrated toolkit that facilitates the collection and analysis of biometric data for local community health workers. We consider unique social circumstances in the region to guide community health workers in creating effective individual health plans for their patients
Team members: Tristan Ford, Raaga Kanakam, Omar Soufan, Tyler Vasquez-Dorn
Supervisor: Edmund Lalor, PhD, Biomedical Engineering, UR & Trinity
Customer: Timothy Dye, PhD, CTSI; Ivelisse Rivera, MD, CTSI; Jose Perez-Ramos, MPH, CTSI

Dialysis Patient Simulator Team
Fresenius Medical Care is a leading provider of hemodialysis products and services, treating more than 300,000 patients worldwide. Currently, there is no product that can perform patient simulations for new dialysis machine prototypes. Our device interfaces with a hemodialysis machine just as a patient would in order to simulate changes in fistula blood pressures, hematocrit, and oxygen saturation. It also monitors these pressures, bloodline flow rate, and dialysate temperature to ensure that the sensors and responses within the prototype are correct.
Team members: Runxuan (Sophia) Zhao, Rebecca Lewis, Marina May, Fengyi (Arthur) Jiang
Supervisor: Dean Johnson, PhD, Biomedical Engineering, UR
Customer: Mike Owen, Fresenius Medical Care

Dynamic Wheelchair
In order to help patients with spinal cord injury avoid pressure sores, we have endeavored to revolutionize wheelchair seating. By sensing and recording a user’s current position and pressure distribution our device will assess and adjust the pressure in a seat to prevent the high pressure regions that cause pressure sores. As a mechanically operated adjunct to the ROHO cushion, this customizable sleeve will fit neatly over a variety of ROHO cushion sizes and types.
Team members: Albert Chen, Maddy Cappelloni, Greg Dadourian, Shannon Fitch
Supervisor: Hani Awad, PhD
Customer: Dave Whalen

Glucometry for the Visually Impaired Team
Currently, 28.5% of Americans over the age of forty have some degree of visual impairment due to diabetes. The Glucometry for Visual Impairment team hopes to create a more effective way for patients with diabetes and visual impairment to get a blood sugar reading. In collaboration with Joel Benzel of Touchstream Solutions, we have created a plastic ring with guides for lancets and glucose meter test strips to simplify the process of checking blood sugar for patients with visual impairment.
Team members: David Tannenbaum, James Melton, Brenna Schnell, Janice Youwen Xia
Supervisor: Anne Luebke, PhD, Biomedical Engineering, UR
Customer: Joel Benzel, CEO & Founder, Touchstream Solutions

BME professor Amy Lerner talks with Ambulation Team members on Design Day. (Photo by Bob Marcotte/University of Rochester)

ICU Ambulation Team
Ambulating with patients recovering in the intensive care unit is perceived as a difficult task with all the medical devices necessary to monitor vital signs. Our goal is to deliver a physical therapy aid for patient ambulation in the intensive care unit at URMC. The physical therapy aid will focus on providing the patient with lateral support and stability while also carrying the medical devices necessary to monitor the patient vital signs during ambulation. The design of the physical therapy aid will ensure that patients can safely walk with a normal stride length
Team members: Katherine Konopka, Jeffrey Greblick, Tyler Cavanaugh, Minsoo Kim Katherine Konopka, Jeffrey Greblick, Tyler Cavanaugh, Minsoo Kim
Supervisor: Jim Mc Grath, PhD, Biomedical Engineering, UR
Customer: Kathy Owens, Department of Physical Therapy, URMC

OPTI (Optimal Photoacoustic Transmission Imaging) Phantom Team
Photoacoustic Imaging (PAI) is an imaging modality that combines both optical near-infrared and ultrasonic imaging. For PAI to be implemented in the clinical environment, there must be a reproducible method for calibrating and verifying the imaging system parameters. Our team is developing a phantom that will model the imaging of blood vessels in human tissues. These phantoms will be used to determine the spatial resolution of Dr. Navalgund Rao’s PAI system for imaging vessels of varying depths and diameters
Team members: Zachary Sia, Nick Vohra, Amanda Smith, Vincent Ching-Roa
Supervisor: Steve McAleavey, PhD, Biomedical Engineering, UR
Customer: Dr. Navalgund Rao, Research Professor, Chester F. Carlson Institute for Visual Science; RIT and URMC

Pediatric Assisted Locomotion System (PALS)
We are working with local pediatric physical therapists Kelly Gilroy and Leah Talbot to design a PT system to teach children with motor delays resulting from Down syndrome and cerebral palsy to walk. Children with motor delays learn to walk a year late on average, and because of this, tend not to hit developmental milestones on time. Our treadmill-based supportive gait trainer aims to teach these children to walk earlier, giving them more independence and the capability to explore and learn about their surroundings.
Team members: Alex Kazmierczak, Courtney Semkewyc, Jolan Burger, and Nitish Sardana
Supervisor: Mark Buckley, PhD, Biomedical Engineering, UR
Customer: Leah Talbot, MSPT, Roosevelt Childrens Center and Kelly Gilroy, PT, DPT

Pediclear
During spinal fusion procedures, surgeons need a better way to detect defects in the pedicle tract in order to determine whether it is safe to implant pedicle screws. We designed a surgical probe, Pediclear, that senses changes in vibration pattern as it moves against the walls of the pedicle tract and alerts the surgeon to the presence of a breach. The solution adds certainty to breach detection, reduces false positive rates, and aids in resident training without adding extra time, equipment, and cost to the procedure.
Team members: Spencer DeCinque, Kerry Donnelly, Saadedine El-Homsi, and Brittany Garrison
Supervisors: Amy Lerner, Ph.D, Greg Gdowski, Ph.D, Martin Gira, M.S., Biomedical Engineering UR
Customers: Addisu Mesfin, Orthopaedic Surgery, Paul Rubery, Chair of Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, James Sanders, Chief of Pediatric Orthopaedics, and Kenneth Foxx, Spine Fellow, UR Medicine

Screen grab from video showing the Proteus Medical team's endoscopic retrieval device.

Proteus Medical
Canines are the most common offenders of consuming foreign bodies, requiring a veterinary visit to remove the object to prevent further harm. Endoscopic retrieval is the preferred method of extracting these foreign bodies. However, endoscopic retrieval devices on the market today are neither robust nor reusable, often deforming after single use. At Proteus Medical, our team has developed a unique design that will reduce both the retrieval time and yearly expenditures. Together, we aim to revolutionize the endoscopic retrieval field through our novel device.
Team members: Edward Ruppel III, Chandler Woo, Connor McBride
Supervisor: Diane Dalecki, PhD and Department Chair, Biomedical Engineering, UR
Customer: Erika de Papp, DVM, DACVIM, MSPCA-Angell, Boston, Massachusetts

Sample Illumination Team
Ortho Clinical Diagnostics currently produces a line of immunodiagnostic systems to analyze the chemistry of patient's blood samples using reflectometry. In order to provide a more confident analysis of these samples, our team is developing an illumination system that delivers a more uniform plane of light to the blood sample while also being more robust, reliable, and less expensive.
Team members: Hamilton White, Joseph Malone, Kasey Kwong, Danny Capucilli
Supervisor: Ed Brown, PhD, Biomedical Engineering, UR
Customer: Bob Jones, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics

Sensor Skin for Robotics
The Sensor Skin for Robotics team aims to design a sensory system for a robotic hand to assist the robot in making successful attempts when grasping objects. The system must be capable of detecting contact forces upon a grasping attempt, determine the success of the attempt, and be capable of relaying this information to the robot’s operating system. Thus we intend to design a sensor-skin system with secondary signal processing to meet these criteria.
Team members: Kushael Chakravorty, Ben Abbatematteo, Peter Burlingame, Hyeon Woo Lee, Yesubet Dereje
Supervisor: Ross Maddox, PhD
Customer: Thomas Howard, PhD

Staple Removal Team
Our project aims to redesign the standard staple removal process. Employees at Lifetime Assistance Inc. are required to remove staples from documents for up to six hours a day as part of a larger scanning, archiving and shredding operation. Through the redesign of a staple remover and adding a staple collection and staple detection system, we hope to make this process easier and faster
Team members: Rahul Upadhya, Mara Lanis, Kevin LeBlanc
Supervisor: Scott Seiman, PhD, Biomedical Engineering, UR
Customer: Martin Reeners, Lifetime Assistance Inc.

Andrew Arjana describes features of his team's scoliosis phantom. (Photo by Bob Marcotte/University of Rochester)

S.T.A.R.S: Scoliosis Phantom
Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis is defined as a lateral deviation of the spine which is also commonly associated with rotation of the vertebrae. The Scoliosis Phantom is a realistic model of the lumbar region of a scoliotic spine for an adolescent female patient suffering from idiopathic scoliosis. Our phantom will serve as a research tool to increase the repeatability and reliability of the brace-making process by reducing the number of brace fittings and X-Ray scans a patient will have to undergo.
Team members: Andrew Arjana, Rebecca Amorese, Shamroz Farooq, Stephanie Kamau, Tongxi Zhuang
Supervisor: Amy Lerner, PhD, Biomedical Engineering, UR
Customer: James Sanders, M.D. Chief of Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery, URMC, Sean Zeller, MBA, MSPO, CPO Chief, Orthotics and Prosthetics Program, URMC

Ther DermWell System Team
Transdermal Drug Delivery (TDD) provides a valuable alternative to traditional drug delivery methods, due to its potential to decrease biohazardous waste production and improve overall accessibility. In collaboration with the URMC dermatology department, we have developed a novel system for testing a novel TDD method which involves a reagent that temporarily increases the permeability of the skin, allowing for large molecule drug delivery such as a vaccine.Our device is a low cost, user friendly R&D tool for testing on human skin biopsies
Team members: Breanna O'Reilly, Samantha McGoldrick, Chris Cook, Comfort Adeyemi, Arun Nambiar
Supervisor: Danielle Benoit, PhD, Biomedical Engineering, UR
Customer: Ben Howard, PhD, Department of Dermatology, URMC

Tympanic Membrane Visualization
Due to the prevalence of ear infections - especially in young children - and the potential risks of misdiagnosis, we are developing a device with our customer, URMC Otalaryngologist Dr. John Faria, to allow clinicians to more effectively diagnose this condition through better visualization of the tympanic membrane and the ability to acquire images through a computer interface
Team members: Janet Sorrells, Nathaniel Barber, Kathryn Maisch, Tina (Haitong) Wang
Supervisor: Anne Luebke, PhD, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Neuroscience, UR
Customer: John Faria, M.D. Department of Otolaryngology, URMC

Chemical Engineering

Algae Growth Optimization
Recent years have seen an increase in interest for algae production to be used in applications such as the energy, food, and feed industries. Despite this, algae is not currently grown in cold weather environments on a large-scale industrial setting. The objective of this design project is to determine the economic feasibility of growing algae in atypical environments by augmenting temperature, light, and nutrient levels.
Team members: Tracee Fukunaga, Eric Holmgren, Jake Prindle-Cassidy, and Megan Whalen
Supervisor: Doug Kelley, PhD, Chemical Engineering
Customer: John Zabrodsky, Advanced Manufacturing Technologies, Inc.

Characterization and Mitigation of a Toner Aggregation Problem
Xerox assigned the task of characterizing and mitigating the extent of a toner fouling issue occurring in their industrial process. A tank was built for conducting laboratory bench experiments by accurately scaling down the industrial reactor. Following the completion of the design, the accumulation of toner fouling was determined as a function of time. Several scientific principles from the field of colloidal suspensions were used to develop a working theory for the underlying problem. Hydrophobic coatings were also tested to reduce the extent of the problem.
Team members: Rahima Bah, Samyukta Chakravarthy, Alexander Harding, Dominick Salerno
Supervisor: Cindy Fitzgerald, Chemical Engineering
Customer: Chris Wolfe and Alexander Nee, Xerox Corporation

Biodiesel pilot plant. (Photo by Bob Marcotte/University of Rochester)

Continuous Process Biodiesel Pilot Plant
A pilot plant was designed and built which continuously converted reactants into crude biodiesel. The reaction was between soybean oil and methanol, and produced glycerol and biodiesel products. The apparatus consists of reactant tanks, a heating bath, a series of reactors made from household blenders, a buffer tank, and a coalescing unit to separate the products. Biodiesel product was analyzed and found to have an energy density within 10% error of the accepted literature value.
Team members: Sayaka Abe, Andrew Chavkin, Nicholas Goh, Danielle Neu
Supervisor: Doug Kelley PhD, Chemical Engineering
Customer: Doug Kelley PhD, Chemical Engineering

Determination of Thermodynamic Properties of Organic Light-Emitting Diodes
The team worked with Molecular Glasses, a Rochester-based start-up company, on a method to determine the thermodynamic properties of their organic light-emitting diode (OLED) compounds. This would help them decide temperature and pressure ranges under which to purify the materials they develop. Two methods were used including Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). DSC was performed under a reduced pressure using a custom-made vacuum-bagging system
Team members: Nicholas Kasper, Owen Perlowski, Kristen Webster, Logan Williamson
Supervisor: Mark Juba, Molecular Glasses
Customer: Mark Juba, Molecular Glasses

Determining the Sources of BOD in Wastewater for ORAFOL Precision Technologies
Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) is a measure of the oxygen uptake in water samples by aerobic bacteria breaking down organic pollutants. The sources of high and variable BOD in the wastewater at ORAFOL were determined through a combination of in-house BOD tests and analysis of data reported by ORAFOL. The experimental results provided insight into the variability of BOD testing. Data analysis revealed possible correlations between BOD, nickel and copper concentrations, and sample pH.
Team members: Sammir Lesage, Laurence Lohman, Hannah Middleswart, Dean Smiros
Rachel Monfredo, Chemical Engineering
Customer: Eric Janosko, ORAFOL Precision Technologies

Environmental Chamber for In-Situ Specular Reflectivity Measurements
The aim of the project was to build an apparatus that is able to measure the glass transition temperature (Tg) of ultra-thin (<100 nm) amorphous polymer films synthesized in Professor Tenhaeff’s laboratory via initiated Chemical Vapor Deposition (iCVD). This was done by designing an apparatus to collect thickness measurements as a function of temperature, whose slope changes at the Tg due to the change in the thermal expansion coefficient over this transition. The apparatus is ready for use to begin testing Professor Tenhaeff’s polymer thin films
Team members: Christina Engler, Brynn Lauer, Will Porter, Jacob Post
Supervisor: Wyatt Tenhaeff PhD, Chemical Engineering
Customer: Wyatt Tenhaeff PhD, Chemical Engineering

Exploring Mixing Phenomena in Two CSTR's in Series
Continuous Stirred Tank Reactors (CSTRs) are frequently used in the Chemical Engineering industry to mix multiple components in a vessel. This experiment studied the quality of mixing in two CSTRs in series. Mixing was studied under a variety of different parameters such as varying inlet flow, impeller speed and impeller motor failure. While analyzing the data, it was observed that some RTD curves shifted due to channeling and error added due to instruments used to measure. The best mixing occurred at low flow rates and high impeller speeds
Team members: Alexander Lamothe, Reyna Juarez Martinez, Adam Rosenstein, Steven Trezza
Supervisor: David Foster PhD, Chemical Engineering
Customer: Richard Kehn, SPXFLOW

Electroplating Study for ORAFOL Precision Technolgy Solutions
Various shielding designs were tested in order to improve the thickness uniformity of parts electroformed by ORAFOL. Electroforming, which reproduces metal parts with high fidelity to fine detail, involves the reduction of metal from a solution onto a preformed piece. If parts can be produced with a more uniform thickness gradient, grinding time and costs could be reduced and production increased
Team members: Lauren Dunlap, Michaela Wentz, William Schmidt, Xiang Wang
Supervisor: Rachel Monfredo, Chemical Engineering
Customer: Eric Janosko, ORAFOL Precision Technology Solutions

Scaled down version of a 6,000-gallon vessel used by Xerox for emulsion aggregation toner production.(Photo by Bob Marcotte/University of Rochester)

Optimizing Heating Profile of Xerox EA Polystyrene Toner Process
A scaled-down version of a 6,000-gallon vessel used by Xerox as part of their emulsion aggregation toner production was constructed. Trials compared Xerox’s current heating method of using only the bottom two heating zones with utilizing all possible zones. We found that having a clean tank and utilizing all heating zones along with the bottom heater reduced the ramp time by about 45%
Team members: Jean Brownell, Scott Kirschner, Zach Kaye and Caroline Santos
Supervisor: Cindy Fitzgerald, Chemical Engineering
Customer: Chris Wolfe and Alexander Nee, Xerox Corporation

Photopolymerization of Polymer-Ceramic Mosaics
To make the production of solid state lithium batteries more industrially feasible, a method of making polymer-ceramic mosaics was developed and tested using UV photo polymerization. This project took initial steps towards developing a batch process to provide proof of concept that a continuous roll-to-roll process has potential to be implemented in the future. A device was successfully built and used to create small mosaics.
Team members: Melissa Becker, Nikola Jovanovic, Annie Maguire, Jared Videlefsky
Supervisor: Wyatt Tenhaeff PhD., Chemical Engineering
Customer: Wyatt Tenhaeff PhD., Chemical Engineering

Power to Gas
Power to Gas (P2G) is a technology that allows for the conversion of excess, unused power in the grid to renewable natural gas. A packed bed reactor was built to run a methanation reaction from pure CO2 and H2. Using a 0.5% ruthenium coated carbon catalyst, experiments conducted altered temperature and flow rates to determine optimal reaction kinetics. The optimal temperature for the reaction at atmospheric pressure was 250C. It was found that H2 activation of the catalyst, followed by low CO2 flow, resulted in the highest initial conversions, ranging from 48.7%-59.7%.
Team members: Matthew Prohaska, Shira Johnston, Javier DeLeon Barrelier, Jaleed Anjum
Supervisor: Doug Kelley, PhD, Chemical Engineering
Customer: Chemical Engineering Department

MaryKate Hanchett with the reaction injection molding machine that will be used to scale up production of unique shape memory polymers. (Photo by Bob Marcotte/University of Rochester.)

Reaction Injection Molding of Shape Memory Polymers
A reaction injection molding (RIM) machine will be used to scale-up production of a unique Shape Memory Polymer (SMP) developed by the Anthamatten Group that can change shape with exposure to body heat, which has biomedical applications. The team was charged with the design and installation of thermal control for the RIM in order to melt the semi-crystalline prepolymer precursor of SMP. Additionally, deliverables included installation of the machine, build components such as safety shielding, testing raw materials, and drafting a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).
Team members: MaryKate Hanchett, Aaron Jo, Rachel Robeerts, Ryan Zu
Supervisor: Mitch Anthamatten PhD, Chemical Engineering
Customer: Mitch Anthamatten PhD, Chemical Engineering

Removal of Monomer Impurities by Vacuum Distillation
Methacrylic acid (MAA) is a common monomer used for industrial processes. For many of these processes to succeed methacrylic acid must be separated from its inhibitor and polymer. This project consisted of the construction of a simple vacuum distillation apparatus in order to separate methacrylic acid from the mono methyl ether of hydroquinone (MEHQ) inhibitor and poly-MAA. Simultaneously the team developed a characterization method for the distillate
Team members: Tom Ignaczak, Daisy Jin, Megan Johnson, Vito Martino
Supervisor: Mark Juba, Molecular Glasses
Customer: James Bonafini, Aquity Polymers

Separation of Lactide Linker by MW using HPLC
Incorporation of a lactide linker into an osteoporosis polymer treatment system to temporally control drug release requires distinct ranges of cleavable ester bonds corresponding to linker length. After synthesis, separation of these linkers by molecular weight was attempted using HPLC. To compensate for a lack of separation from HPLC, the kinetics of this polymerization were studied. Parameters such as reagent and catalyst concentration, agitation, reaction time, and temperature were assessed in optimizing the reaction
Team members: Dan Edwards, Sarah Kaminsky, Elizabeth Mauser, Salvattore Morello, Steven Russell
Supervisor: Danielle Benoit PhD., Biomedical Engineering
Customer: Danielle Benoit PhD., Biomedical Engineering

An eight-week immersion in operating rooms and other clinical settings is a hallmark of the Center for Medical Technology & Innovation master's degree program, which trains students in all aspects of medical device design and development. Members of the Instatract team posed for this selfie before entering at operating room and the University of Rochester Medical Center.

Center for Medical Technology & Innovation

CMTI Orthopaedics Team
During spinal fusion procedures, surgeons need a better way to detect defects in the pedicle tract in order to determine whether it is safe to implant pedicle screws. We designed a surgical probe that senses changes in vibration pattern as it moves against the walls of the pedicle tract and alerts the surgeon to the presence of a breach. The solution adds certainty to breach detection, reduces false positive rates, and aids in resident training without adding extra time, equipment, and cost to the procedure,
Team members: Spencer DeCinque, Brittany Garrison, Saadedine El-Homsi, Kerry Donnelly
Supervisor: Greg Gdowski, PhD, Center for Medical Technology & Innovation and Amy Lerner, PhD, Center for Medical Technology & Innovation
Customer: Spinal Surgeons

EyePidural: An Optical & Pressure Feedback Device to Improve Epidural Procedures
Epidural procedures, a method of pain alleviation, involve blindly placing a needle through a patient's back into a small, thin epidural space above the spinal cord. Our device, the EyePidural, is a hybrid optical and pressure feedback system that relies on color variations and pressure differences from the spinal tissue layers. These differences will help guide the needle to the epidural space safely and accurately without causing undue injury, reducing procedural complications and increasing patient and physician peace of mind.
Team members: Bethany Lennox, Caeli Quiter, and Courage Tsiagbe
Supervisor: Greg Gdowski, PhD, Biomedical Engineering, UR; Amy Lerner, PhD, Biomedical Engineering, UR; Martin Gira, Biomedical Engineering, UR
Customer: Daryl Smith, MD, Anesthesiology and Pain Service, UR Medicine

InstaTract: Atrial Retractor for Minimally Invasive Mitral Valve Surgery
Our team is developing a novel atrial retraction device for use in minimally invasive heart valve surgery. Current atrial retractors have a significant learning curve and either create an extra incision through the chest wall and risk bleeding, or take up valuable space in the surgeon’s field of view. The InstaTract is an intuitive and quickly deployable device that provides retraction of varying size atria, exposing the valve being repaired or replaced.
Team members: Ian Baranowski, Margaret Ferrari, Kyle Meyers, Lauren Seitz
Supervisor: Greg Gdowski, PhD, Biomedical Engineering, UR; Martin Gira, Biomedical Engineering, UR; Amy Lerner, PhD, Biomedical Engineering, UR
Customer: Fabio Sagebin, MD, Cardiothoracic Surgery, UR

Computer Science

Snake Bot
This Robot is basically a class project for the "Robot Construction" course (CSC 230). Every Student in the class has participated in building the project using the skills that was learned in the class (building circuit boards, programing an Arduino board, machining the necessary materials, etc).
Team members: K. Agusi, M. Ali, A. Alsayari, E. Basta, S. Blumberg, K. Haut, J. Lowenherz, J. Plvan-Franke, M. Shems, L. Sherman, M. Zhang
Supervisor: Professor. Randal Nelson, PhD, Computer Science, UR
Customer: Irland

Data Science

Rochester Blue Light Cameras Effectiveness Analysis
Staring in 2008 and up to 2016, Police Department of Rochester (RPD) has installed a total of 136 Blue Light Cameras in order to monitor crime activities as well as to deter them. The main goal of this project is to evaluate the effectiveness of the cameras on reducing crimes near them. As a result, we found felony activities such as burglary and robbery are more likely to decrease in the camera-covered area across a multi-year period in comparison to control group.
Team members: Ning Zhang, Keting Lyu, Roger Ren
Supervisor: Ocke Kirk, instructor of Data Science Praticum
Customer: Police Department Of Rochester

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Andrew Lake describes the first person view quadcopter his team designed. (Photo by Bob Marcotte/University of Rochester)

First Person View Quadcopter
A quadcopter which live streams video over the 4G network and is also capable of being controlled via 4G.
Team members: Matthew Dombroski, Borja Rojo, Ibrahim Akbar, Andrew Lake, Jon Aho
Supervisor: Victor Derefinko, Adjunct Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UR. Jack Mottley, Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UR

Hekard: Identity Screening and Data Display
Hekard is a project that utilizes radio frequency identification to identify the info of a tag-bearer & process it for display. It is to be implemented for graduates of ECE and AME during the graduation ceremony of 2017. In addition to personalizing tags and a scanner for this event, the Hekard team successfully developed two UR-specific user-friendly software solutions. The first one is Hekard, which is for live use. The second one is HekaRes, which allows for sustainable update of Hekard's resources for the following academic years.
Team members: Abdulwahab Alhaji, Monsurat Fabanwo, Rahul Manay, Xueqi "Sophie" Zhang
Supervisor: Jack Mottley, PhD, Electrical and Computer Engineering, UR. Victor Derefinko, MS, Electrical and Computer Engineering, UR
Customer: Wendi Heinzelman, Ph.D. - Dean of the Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences. James Zavislan, Ph.D.- Associate Dean of Education & New Initiatives.

Remote Exploration Vehicle
A user-friendly exploration vehicle which has the capability to operate at extended distances as well as in poor channel conditions. Components include:
-An ad hoc wi-fi network
-A rotating directional antenna that orients itself in order to receive a maximum signal strength.
-A 5 MP camera that transmits a live stream to the user interface
-Remote control of the vehicle
Team members: Rebecca Van Dyke, Avram Webberman, Neil Deshpande
Supervisor: Cristiano Tapparello, Research Associate, Electrical and Computer Engineering, UR; Thomas M. Howard, Assistant Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, UR

Jeffrey Kanyama and the self-parking car. (Photo by Bob Marcotte/University of Rochester)

Self-Parking RC Car
The goal of this project was to design and implement a self parking RC car using Raspberry pi as an interface to the RC car and proximity sensors to assist the self parking algorithm determine how far the car is from an obstacle and assist in the control of speed and direction to achieve almost perfect parallel parking.
Team members: Erick Camacho, Jeffrey Kanyama, Alphonse Mugisha, Xavier Joaquinho
Supervisor: Victor Derefinko, Jack Mottley

UR Tour Guidance System
The purpose of this project was to create a portable tour guidance system for the academic quad. The device uses a Raspberry Pi with a touchscreen GUI and a camera to detect AprilTags, 2D bar codes used to mark buildings. The device should be able to guide a user unfamiliar with the UR campus around the academic quad and display information about the buildings.
Team members: Jeffrey Asunmonu, Connor Barth, Ziwei Liu, Jiaru Shi
Supervisor: Jack Mottley, PhD, Electrical Computer Engineering, UR and Victor Derefinko, Electrical Computer Engineering, UR
Customer: University of Rochester

The Vision Controlled Drone. See it in action in this video.

Vision Controlled Drone
This is a hexacopter whose main function is, in addition to being piloted manually, to switch into an automated mode. This automated mode will automatically visually detect and follow an object. We are using OpenCV on a Raspberry Pi for visual detection, and an Arduino to translate those calculations into motion.
Team members: Alexander Alling, Yizhe Cheng, Joseph Lasekan, Philip Fenimore, Hongji Yang
Supervisor: Jack Mottley, PhD, Electrical and Computer Engineering, UR, Victor Derefinko, PhD, Electrical and Computer Engineering, UR

WAFR: Wearable Alert for First Responders
WAFR is a low-power, wearable device that collects and transmits biometric data to a third party platform for monitoring. With this information, a supervisor can detect a "man down" situation and take appropriate action. The WAFR system is intended for first responders that must operate separated from a group or in a low-visibility environment
Team members: Jen Becerra, Justin Fraumeni, Aaron Lim, Christian Riedelsheimer
Supervisor: Victor Derefinko, Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering, UR, Jack Mottley, Professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering, UR

Mechanical Engineering

Baja Tuning Tools
The goal of this project is to design a set of three devices each with a specific capability. One device must be able to lift the SAE Baja vehicle at least 6 inches off the ground whilst the other two must be able to measure the toe & camber on the front wheels to a precision of 1/8 in and 1 degree respectively
Team members: John Bui, Ralph Gemade, Leon Lin, Jang Kim
Supervisor: Christopher Muir, PhD, Mechanical Engineering, UR
Customer: Leslie Johnson, SAE Baja

Brighton High School Stream Monitoring System
The stream monitoring system autonomously gathers water stream salinity, temperature, and depth data to be wirelessly sent to the client.
Team members: Eric Cheng, Josh Hersh, Trevor Marion, Ibrahim Mohammad
Supervisor: Christopher Muir, PhD, Mechanical Engineering, UR
Customer: George Smith, PhD, Science Teacher, Brighton High School

Angela Yang operates a robot to test her team's camera tip-tilt mount, a vibration reducing camera mount for use with robots. (Photo by J. Adam Fenster/ University of Rochester)

Camera Tip-Tilt Mount
This project aimed to create a vibration reducing camera mount that was attachable to a remote controlled robot. Images from the camera became blurry as the robot traveled over rough terrain, hindering its ability to navigate. This was solved by creating a boom system that levels the camera's field of view as the robot pitches up and down.
Team members: Alan Grier, Angela Yang, Hannah McCullough, Loudon Blake
Supervisor: Christopher Muir, PhD, Mechanical Engineering, UR
Customer: Thomas Howard, PhD, Electrical and Computer Engineering, UR

CNC Lathe Retrofit
In order to manufacture parts with geometry that require moving in two degrees of freedom simultaneously, a CNC device was designed and built to work with an existing manual lathe. The CNC device provides the ability to fabricate parts on a lathe that could otherwise not be built by an operator using hand controls
Team members: Kevin Bonko, Robert Gelfond, Robert Lord, Florence Yip
Supervisor: Christopher Muir, PhD , Mechanical Engineering , UR
Customer: University of Rochester

Cryogenic Seal and Release Mechanism
The University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics (URLLE) tasked the team to design and develop a controllable, one-time use sealing mechanism that can be integrated into their new cryostat shroud-retraction designs. The sealing mechanism is needed to seal Helium-3 gas under both vacuum and cryogenic conditions while creating minimal impulse upon actuation for seal breakage. Breakage of the seal needs to be completed before retraction of the shroud in order to expose the fuel target to the lasers that will initiate combustion.
Team members: Devanjith Fonseka, Chayut Teeraratkul, James Tobias, Brian Youssef
Supervisor: Christopher Muir, PhD; Department of Mechanical Engineering
Customer: Jeffrey Ulreich, Research Engineer; Laboratory for Laser Energetics

Dyno
A dynamometer is a device for measuring the power (horsepower) produced by an engine, motor or other rotating prime mover that can be calculated by simultaneously measuring the moment of force (torque) and rotational speed (rpm).
Team members: Ziyan Chen, Fengyue Lu, Shane Saucier, Pengfei Ye
Supervisor: Christopher Muir
Customer: Sheryl Gracewski

Michael Macfarlane and Alden Brewer at work in the Rettner Hall fabrication area. (Photo by Bob Marcotte/University of Rochester)

Field Steering Mirror
The goal of this project is to design, fabricate, and test a system capable of rotating a 7 inch diameter mirror through a specified range of motion.
Team members: Alden Brewer, Collin Rogers, Garrett Gowan, Jeremy Hill, Michael Macfarlane
Supervisor: Chris Muir, PhD, Mechanical Engineering, UR
Customer: Laura Abplanalp, Mechanical Engineering Manager, Harris Corporation

Integrated Position Sensor for Exhaust Gas Re-circulation Valve (EGRV)
The goal is to come up with a position sensor that accurately tracks the position of a stainless steel piston flange as it moves through an oil cavity under 80 psi pressure. The position sensor must integrate within existing EGRV and be installed or uninstalled as required by the application without compromising the physical barrier between hydraulically pressured volume in the oil cavity and outside ambient.
Team members: Sylvia Ngeta, Anne Patterson, John Ndukwe, Nziyonvira Ntakamaze
Supervisor: Mike Pettee
Customer: G.W. LISK

Kodak Alaris Optical Cleaning Station
The objective was to develop a cleaning apparatus that removes dust particles from the camera housings of Kodak Alaris’s I2600 scanners.
Team members: Grace Caza, Anna Mucci, Eli Robbins, Muxi Li, Ben Weinstein
Supervisor: Robert Breslawski
Customer: Kodak Alaris

Maneuverable Microswimmer at Low Reynold’s Number Locomotion
The purpose of this effort is to design and construct a controllable locomotive device that utilizes coin vibration motors to swim through viscous fluid at low Reynold’s number flow. More specifically, this design effort aims to produce a robust microswimmer that can decisively maneuver at neutral buoyancy through glycerin.
Team members: Kelly Chang, Morgan Fishkin, Wenliang Li, Ryan Peterson
Supervisor: Christopher Muir, PhD, Mechanical Engineering, UR
Customer: Hesam Askari, PhD, Professor, Department of Engineering UR, Douglass Kelley, PhD, Professor, Department of Engineering UR, Alice Quillen, PhD, Professor, Physics and Astronomy UR

Miniature Hydrophone
By measuring pressure fluctuations in the cochlea with a miniature hydrophone, scientists can better understand how sound is captured and processed by our brains. Our group created a fiber optic hydrophone, which is comprised of the following basic components: an illumination system, a fiber optic cable, and a hydrophone head. Numerous design improvements were implemented and a method for calibration was delivered.
Team members: Bill Green, Jiacheng Sun, Matt Pisano, and Wendy Snyder
Supervisor: Chris Muir, PhD, Mechanical Engineering, UR
Customer: Jong Hoon Nam, PhD, Mechanical/Biomedical Engineering, UR

Ethan Drugatz's reflection is caught on this team's OLED testing mechanism. (Photo by J. Adam Fenster/University of Rochester)

OLED Testing Mechanism
A local company, OLEDWorks, would like a method of testing two different configurations of organic LED material sheets before the lights are cut and finished. We have developed a mechanism which allows for the quick interchanging of both patterns of lights.
Team members: Joshua Wrobel, Ethan Drugatz, Daniel Fleishman, Ray Tengan
Supervisor: Christopher Muir, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UR
Customer: Timothy F. Spencer, Director - Mechanical Systems, OledWorks

Brady Orem, Simeon Panides, Burak Tuncer, and Sam VanNoy pose with the recirculating water flume that will be used by the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Solar Splash team. (Photo by Bob Marcotte/University of Rochester)

Recirculating Water Flume
The goal of this project is to design and build a rig for testing the hydrodynamics of boat hulls. The recirculating water flume will primarily be used by the Solar Splash team for testing the drag on hull designs but it will also be available to fluids lab students for their projects.
Team members: Brady Orem, Simeon Panides, Burak Tuncer, Sam VanNoy
Supervisor: Christopher Muir, PhD, Mechanical Engineering, UR
Customer: Scott Russell, Mechanical Engineering, UR; Jessica Shang, PhD, Mechanical Engineering, UR

Sample Automation
The goal of this project is to design and construct a mechanism that will transfer caps for blood analyzing from trays and stack them in a specified cartridges.
Team members: Alexis Wood, Erica Achiaa, Elizabeth Fox, Anson Howland,Spencer Alder
Supervisor: Christopher Muir PhD, Mechanical Engineering, UR
Customer: Bob Jones, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics

Members of Scolfit team review their design  Associate Professor Chris Muir at the VISTA Collaboratory before proceeding to fabrication. (Photo by Bob Marcotte/University of Rochester)

Scolifit
Students in the master program of the Center for Medical Technology & Innovation (CMTI) designed the Scolifit. The Scolifit is a wearable torso positioning system to help construct suitable braces for scoliosis patients. Our project is a mechanical optimization problem that aim to improve on the Scolifit design. Our goals are to make the Scolifit x-ray translucent, user friendly, adaptable to various sizes, with repeatable and consistent measurements.
Team members: Regan Wortley, Misael Cruz, Marthe Avissoudo, Andrew Mallen
Supervisor: Christopher Muir, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UR
Customer: Amy L. Lerner, PhD, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, UR; Academic Director, Center for Medical Technology & Innovation

UP Periscope
The goal of the project is to design a prototype of a 70 ft tall periscope. The full size periscope will be constructed in New Rochelle, NY and will provide a view of the ocean from its location in the city. The prototype demonstrates the mechanisms used to adjust the mirrors and rotate the periscope. As per the requests of David Krinick, the sponsor, the model is completely analog and allows multiple viewers to use it at the same time.
Team members: Catherine Yip, Hiroyuki Asaga, Michael Kaplan, Carolyn John
Supervisor: Wayne Knox, Optics; Chris Muir, Mechanical Engineering
Customer: David Krinick

Institute of Optics

3D Plenoptic Inspection Microscope
The goal of this project is to design a plenoptic microscope with 3D reconstruction capabilities and a long working distance. This optical system is targeted to be used in the inspection of microelectronic components on assembly lines.
Team members: Nicholas Montifiore, Zirui Zang, Xinran Li, Jinyu Han
Supervisor: James R. Fienup, Professor Of Optics, UR
Customer: Navitar. Inc

Automated Scratch Dig Inspection
The goal of this project is to design a system to automatically locate and quantize scratches and defects on the surface of a spherical lens. The design is meant to assist optical inspectors with the cosmetic inspection of lenses.
Team members: Eric Kwasniewski, Mark Ordway, and Aaron Greenbaum
Supervisor: Jamie Cardenas
Customer: Patrick Augino

Taylor Paige describes the binocular retinal eye tracking device. (Photo by Bob Marcotte/University of Rochester)

Binocular Retinal Eye Tracking Device
The goal of this project was to design a binocular retinal eye tracking device to be used by an athletic trainer during sporting events to determine if an athlete can return to play after a blow to the head. In addition to being functional, the device needed to be lightweight, portable, and durable. To meet this objective we designed a refractive optic eye tracking system in as small a package as possible.
Team members: Taylor Page, Michael Simonsen, Yun Hui (Ken) Ni
Supervisor: Tom Brown, PhD, Institute of Optics, UR
Customer: Christy Sheehy, PhD, C.Light Technology

Joseph Linden, at left, demonstrates the birefringent stress plate, an interactive exhibit his team designed for Rochester Museum and Science Center. (Photos by J. Adam Fenster/University of Rochester who stood on the device to take the photo at right.)

Birefringent Stress Plate
We have built an interactive exhibit for the Rochester Museum & Science Center that demonstrates how optical materials behave differently under stress, in particular how some materials exhibit birefringence when stressed. To do this we constructed a wooden frame capable of holding a light source; polarizers; and several layers of glass, some for the birefringent effect, some for safety and some for protecting the exhibit. When a person steps on the plate, polarized light gets modulated based on the stress in the glass and creates patterns of light easily visible to viewers.
Team members: Joseph Linden; Eric Hebert; Sara MacNally; Hayashi Masayasu
Supervisor: Prof. Andrew Berger, The Institute of Optics, UR
Customer: Calvin Uzelmeier, Ph.D. Director of Featured Content, Exhibition Support & Special Projects Rochester Museum & Science Center

Comparison of Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy and Existing Trace Gas Detectors
The goal of this project is to provide a comprehensive summary of comparisons between cavity ring-down spectroscopy and other existing technologies that are used in trace gas detection, in order to provide a future senior project team with a thorough understanding of current technologies in this area of study. This is an opportunity for a future senior project group from the Optics Department to work on developing an instrument that can be seamlessly interfaced with the collected samples of seawater.
Team members: Charlotte DeBossu
Supervisor: Dr. John Kessler, Dr. Jannick Rolland
Customer: Dr. John Kessler

Digital Cloaking
A demo showing the potential of a digital cloaking system using three 4k resolution Xperia Z5 phones as displays, lenslet arrays, and a composite image algorithm.
Team members: Johana Escudero, Xi Zhou, Shenghan Gao
Supervisor: Prof. John Howell
Customer: Curtis Broadbent

Effects of Ultraviolet Radiation on Manuscripts
Multi-spectral imaging is used to recover illegible text from damaged manuscripts. The technique employs light emitting diodes at a wide range of wavelengths including visible, infrared, and ultraviolet. The International Commission on Illumination (CIE) recommends that manuscripts are not exposed to any level of ultraviolet radiation, despite the wavelengths' role in text recovery. My project attempts to determine the levels of total ultraviolet exposure that will induce irreversible damage to the manuscripts.
Team members: Sarah Bjornland
Supervisor: Gregory Heyworth
Customer: Gregory Heyworth

Historical Manuscript Imaging
Our team has designed an imaging system which can be used to extract clear, readable images of entire pages from very fragile, ancient manuscripts. These manuscripts cannot be opened past 30 degrees due to the delicate nature of the glue in the binding. Our design utilizes a plexiglass prism filled with liquid silicone and an internal mirror which gets inserted into the binding of the partially open manuscript. Reflections within the prism allow for an entire page to become clearly viewable without having to open the manuscript past the 30 degree limit.
Team members: Joel Hoose, Gregory Roberts, Yuanqi Zhou
Supervisor: Prof. Carlos R. Stroud
Customer: Prof. Gregory Hayworth, Jessica Lacher- Feldman

In-Vivo Thyroid Photoacoustic Camera
This in-vivo photoacoustic camera is designed to detect early stage thyroid cancer. Our project starts on the senior design project done by the “Beam Squad” Team in 2016. In this project, we are majorly responsible for the design and fabrication of an optical reflector installed in the imaging tube. This reflector is required to not only reflect optical waves but also transmit acoustic wave simultaneously
Team members: Lingbo Xu, Bhargava Chinni
Supervisor: Wayne Knox, The Institute of Optics, UR
Customer: Navalgund Rao, PhD, Medical Center of UR

Mechanical Properties of Ophthalmic Hydrogels
A senior thesis investigation to determine the biomechanical properties of ophthalmic hydrogels that have been treated with laser micro-machining techniques to induce refractive and phase structure change
Team members: Kameron Tinkham
Supervisor: Jon Ellis, PhD, Mechanical Engineering and Optics, UR

Neural Adaptation to Spatial Phase Modulations in High Order Ocular Aberrations
Optical aberrations in the human visual system degrade the amplitude (MTF) and phase relationships (PTF) among spatial frequencies (SFs) in the retinal image. Furthermore, it has been found that long term exposure to optical aberrations progressively alters the visual perception through neural adaptation mechanisms. This study uses compound Gabor grating stimuli displayed with an adaptive optics system to test the hypothesis that neural compensation for phase shifts in broadband stimuli is one of the mechanisms underlying this adaptive process
Team members: Not available
Supervisor: Geunyoung Yoon, Professor of Ophthalmology, Professor of Optics, URMC

Optimizing Brewster Angle Rayleigh Scattering Detection of Surface Nanoroughness
Flat optics are very smooth flats that usually have a surface roughness less than 10 Å. To test the roughness of these flats, a scatterometer has been developed to analyse scattered light from a laser incident on the flat. This project is optimizing the instrument by adding a spacial filter and specifying a new laser, using Rayleigh scattering. Brewster angle is utilized to minimize reflections. This project will also set a detector at specific angle at which the scattered light power at that angle can be used to distinguish laser grade flats from standard grade flats
Team members: Redha Al Ibrahim
Supervisor: Wayne Knox
Customer: Sydor Optics

Quantum-Enabled Super-Resolution Microscopy
The most widespread physical limitation to optical imaging resolution lies in how a lens is able to focus light, called the "Rayleigh limit" or "diffraction limit." Most often resolution is a fixed parameter of the imaging system. Literature reports monochromatic imaging with coherent and incoherent light to reach at least 0.01 of the Rayleigh limit, limited by quantum noise. An interferometer is constructed to probe spatial modes of a slit object using a spatial light modulator and ultimately surpass resolution of 0.01 Rayleigh limit features
Team members: Nicholas Kochan
Supervisor: Tanya Malhotra and Dr. Nickolas Vamivakas
Customer: Dr. Nickolas Vamivakas

SMASH Sensor Objective
It is a lens design project. We will demonstrate the lens and how did we make it manufacturable.
Team members: Zhaoyu Nie; Zichan Wang; Yunqi Li
Supervisor: Julie Bentley, Associate Professor of Optics, Opotics, UR
Customer: Hong Ye, Senior Scientist, ASML

Screen grab from a video describing the Up Periscope project that involves teams from mechanical engineering and optics.

Up.Periscope
We are designing three options for an analogue periscope to allow passerby's to view the distant sound in New Rochelle over downtown buildings. First, two reflective mirrors with diameters of ~3 feet, positioned ~70 feet apart, and oriented 45 degrees respective to each other, will allow an image to be collected by the top mirror to project onto a second mirror at ground level. A variation of this setup is to replace the bottom mirror with a telescope. Lastly, we have designed a lens relay system consisting of 7 catalogue relay lenses, an objective, and an eyepiece.
Team members: Yvie Bodell, Jessica Bernstein, Katherine Smith
Supervisor: Duncan Moore, Wayne Knox
Customer: David Krinick, Mesh Print Studios

The Up Periscope prototype attracted a lot of attention on Design Day. (Photo by Bob Marcotte/University of Rochester)