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Process Engineering

1. Current Year Programs
May 4, 2026

Christened Chrysocolla (Xerox)

Abstract Xerox uses heptane to reduce the viscosity of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) in order to remove 3D-printing particles in their industrial process. Specifically, our goal is to completely separate the heptane…

1. Current Year Programs
May 4, 2026

Terminally Tired Topaz (Thermofisher)

Abstract Mold growth on silicone mouthpieces of water bottles is a frequently reported issue in consumer feedback. This study investigates the effects of silicone composition and zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticle…

1. Current Year Programs
May 4, 2026

Rel8ed

Meet the Team Alvin Yao Model Training & Evaluation Developed performance diagnostics and visualized stage-by-stage model behavior. Authored the next-steps and challenge discussion. Grayson Gong Pipeline Architect Designed the three-stage…

1. Current Year Programs
May 4, 2026

Baseball Bat Contour Analysis

Recent innovations in baseball bat design have introduced increasingly complex and performance driven curvature profiles. The Houston Astros seek to pioneer a fast, portable, and precise method for capturing and recording the 2D contour of a baseball bat’s length and cup enabling real-time insights and streamlined evaluation.

topics: #baseball, Houston Astros, manufacturing, Mechanical Engineering, senior design,
1. Current Year Programs
May 4, 2026

URMC Motion Lab Perturbation Device

Project Overview The team worked with the sponsor (University of Rochester Medicine Motion Analysis Laboratory) to engineer and develop a prototype of an integrated harness for their perturbation device as…

1. Current Year Programs
May 4, 2026

ALD

Atomic Layer Deposition System Design People Chikai (Jason) Cao              Tyler Liao                    Hayden Groeschel     …

topics: ALD, Glovebox, Latch Mechanism, LLE, Polycarbonate Fabrication, Stainless Steel Machining, Vacuum Sealing,

From left to right: LloydAnthony Blackwood, Marcela G. Hinojosa Almaraz, Boris Lokossou, Abdulwahab Sayes Team Members: LloydAnthony Blackwood Marcela G. Hinojosa AlmarazBoris LokossouAbdulwahab Sayes Sponsor: Molly Over Project Description: The…

1. Current Year Programs
May 4, 2026

Finch AI

Portfolio risk analysis & daily reporting. This portfolio risk analysis project was completed as a University of Rochester Data Science Capstone for Senior Design Day, with sponsorship from FinchAI. We…

topics: Data Science, finance, Machine Learning,
1. Current Year Programs
May 4, 2026

Launcher to Break the Drought: Floating Arm Trebuchet

Designed to win, our team developed the Pumpkin Launcher, a high-performance floating arm trebuchet that combines innovative mechanics with data-driven design. By leveraging a translating pivot and optimized counterweight system, we engineered a solution that achieves both long-range capability and consistent accuracy, pushing beyond the limits of traditional launch systems.

1. Current Year Programs
May 4, 2026

Satellite

The Design and Optimization of a Small Cassegrain Telescope Team Members Problem Statement Satellites are highly complex and resource-intensive systems that deliver essential data and images from space, requiring significant time, cost, and…

1. Current Year Programs
May 4, 2026

Development of an Ammonium Sulfate Crystallizer

Crystallized Coral (Kreher Family Farms): Nik Ivanov, Arthur Chen, Yuanxi GaoAdvisor: Professor F. Doug KelleySponsor: Hal Kreher Abstract Work from previous years has proposed a sulfuric acid gas scrubber as…

1. Current Year Programs
May 4, 2026

Team Cassi DIY Telescope

The project aims to design a simple, child-friendly telescope capable of resolving Jupiter’s Red Spot, based on an existing Newtonian design. Improvements include a new focusing system, changing of material, better alignment via collimation screws, and a phone mount for easy astrophotography.

1. Current Year Programs
May 4, 2026

Lidrotec Multiconfiguration Camera

Team Roles Primary Customer Contact: Johanna Cupp Document Handler: Zachary Fox Scribe: Sumedh Anantha  Customer Advisor Student/Faculty Advisor: Jacob Sacks Customer Contacts Marco Smarra and Athul Som Introduction Semiconductor wafers…

1. Current Year Programs
May 4, 2026

Wifi Controlled Tele-Presence Rover

Khoi Phan, Nyasha Gwaza, Quang Nguyen, Saumili Chakravarty, Sufi Hossain, Advisors: Prof. Jack G. Mottley, Prof. Irving Barron Martinez, and Prof. Daniel Phinney Department: Electrical and Computer Engineering class of…

1. Current Year Programs
May 4, 2026

ASML.RETICLE

ASML Reticle Contamination Inspection System Team Stephen RobertsFrank YinBetty Li Customer ASML US, LLC Customer Primary ContactMatthew Scibilia Project AdvisorsGreg SchmidtOliver Zhai Abstract The ASML Reticle Contamination Inspection System project…

1. Current Year Programs
May 4, 2026

LIFT: Lens Interaction Force Tester

Introduction Millions of Americans wear soft contact lenses, but there is currently no method of quantifying contact lens attachment to the eye. As a result, Bausch + Lomb has requested…

1. Current Year Programs
May 4, 2026

NANOVOX

Introduction Traditional optics bend light using a curved surface and are homogenous materials made of a constant refractive index, limiting each lens to refract light only at each surface. Gradient…

1. Current Year Programs
May 4, 2026

Emerald Empire (Kodak)

Factors Affecting Pd/C Catalyst Lifespan in a Continuous Reactor  Presented by Emerald Empire: Courtney Palmeri, Jensen Sminchak, Lorraine Tshamekang Department of Chemical & Sustainability Engineering, University of Rochester Introduction Kodak produces…

1. Current Year Programs
May 4, 2026

C-Posture Patient Positioner

The C-Posture Patient Positioner is an ergonomic cervicothoracic device that enhances the comfort of cesarean section patients while enabling rapid airway access and positioning adjustability to reflect surgical needs that…

1. Current Year Programs
May 4, 2026

PROSTAGRIP™ Surgical Simulator

Introduction A patient is eligible for a prostatectomy when their prostate is in an enlarged or cancerous state. The gold-standard for prostate removal is a nerve sparing prostatectomy. Laparoscopic prostatectomies…

1. Current Year Programs
May 4, 2026

ASML-Precision Air Bearing Testing Rig

  ME 204- Mechanical Engineering Senior Design Team Members Kaan Aytekin, Michael Bartusek, Darren Chen, ​ Amel Rouabhia, Ryan Zorzi Problem Overview Linear motion air bearings use a thin cushion…

1. Current Year Programs
May 4, 2026

Machine Health Sensor and Mechanical Test Bench

Team Members Oliver Annon, Audio and Music Engineering ’26Raffael Venterea, Audio and Music Engineering ’26Emma Wang, Audio and Music Engineering ’26 Project Description Unscheduled downtime due to mechanical issues is…

We investigate the formation of new emitters for single photon source applications by laser irradiation of different types of materials: silicon nitride, silver nanocubes, and a silicone-based contact lens hydrogel polymer. Single-emitter confocal fluorescence microscopy, low-light spectroscopy, and a Hanbury Brown-Twiss correlator are used for characterization of laser-induced photoluminescence centers.

1. Current Year Programs
May 4, 2026

ASML.GRIN

Motivation Microscope objectives are often complex with many expensive elements, many of these used in color correction. With the recent research coming out of Professor Greg Schmidt’s lab on the…

1. Current Year Programs
May 4, 2026

Library Compass Guide

Team Members Mentors Introduction Locating books in large academic libraries can be difficult due to complex shelving layouts and unfamiliar call-number systems. This project presents the Library Compass, a handheld…

1. Current Year Programs
May 4, 2026

Mathworks

Team Members: Bryce Tyler, Carter Schmitt, Mia Alex, Tianyou Tu, Yaxun Chen Sponsor: MathWorks | Instructors: Ajay Anand, Ph.D. Cantay Caliskan, Ph.D. Abstract: The FOMC, or Federal Open Market Committee, gathers…

1. Current Year Programs
May 4, 2026

URMC-CTSI

Leveraging LLMs to Identify Engaging Positive Mental Health Messages on Social Media  Introduction Public health need 60 million U.S. adults experience mental illness annually 1 in 5 youth experience major…

1. Current Year Programs
May 4, 2026

Blessed Bismuth (Sager)

Optimizing Sparge Variables to Maximize Sugar Extraction From Barley MaltWe designed and built a lab-scale brewing system to improve sparging efficiency at Sager Beer Works. Using a Design of Experiments…

1. Current Year Programs
May 4, 2026

Connect 4 Robot

Team: Hudson Ginocchio, Liam Kenny-Jagielski, Newt Perlman, Felipe Villanueva Abstract: This project presents the design and implementation of an automated mechanical sorting and dispensing system inspired by a Connect 4-style…

1. Current Year Programs
May 4, 2026

Studio Quality Microphone Preamplifier

Team Members: Jared Lipkin, William Seastrand, Ajay Sujaritha Ganesh Advisors: Michael Heilemann, Dan Phinney What is it and why is it important?  Preamplifiers are the foundational link in any audio…

1. Current Year Programs
May 4, 2026

Edmund Optics 3-D Printed Beam Expanders

Project Overview Our project involves the the creation, from preliminary optical design to final physical systems, of three beam expander prototypes using 3-D printed mechanical housings. The designs have varying…

1. Current Year Programs
May 4, 2026

RMSC GRIN Water Wave Tank

The Rochester Museum & Science Center GRIN Wave Tank project aims to create a prototype of a water tank with an interactive wave actuator that is capable of simulating refraction…

1. Current Year Programs
May 4, 2026

Tunable Bilayer Grating Coupler

Our project focuses on designing a Tunable Bilayer Grating Coupler (TBGC) that is capable of identifying the orientation of dipoles such as NV centers and single molecules. Current systems for…

1. Current Year Programs
April 15, 2026

Loving Our Country

As a capstone team, we are designing both a public-facing story archive site and a case study website that documents our research, design process, and reflections. Together, these platforms aim to preserve community stories,…

1. Current Year Programs
April 15, 2026

SEASONS’ NOODLES

Problem Disenchanted by reality, we commonly seek escapism through focus on unordinary people. To put it simply, society is for its people yet it doesn’t focus on them. We don’t…

1. Current Year Programs
April 15, 2026

NO CLEAN SURFACES – A Design Collective

Team Members David XieGreta KenyonRowan MulhollandIrene Sheng Wenxi Zhu Advisors Nancy Bernardo, Stephanie Ashenfelder Problem Statement One of college’s biggest advantages is the community and proximity with like-minded people. However,…

topics: Art,
1. Current Year Programs
April 15, 2026

The Wild Center: Capital Campaign

The Wild Center is a natural history museum located in the Adirondacks that is committed to a future where people and the natural world thrive together. In lieu of their…

1. Current Year Programs
April 15, 2026

Project Yearbk

Team Members: Problem Statement: The University of Rochester no longer has a yearbook and current students have no way to document their memories. While past archives exist, there is no…

3. Programs Archive
May 5, 2025

Line Of Sight Communication

Our team designed a line of sign communications system that sends text messages between two devices using infrared lasers.

topics: Arduino, Communication, Handheld, Infrared, Lasers, Pulse Width Modulation, Radiation,
3. Programs Archive
May 5, 2025

EZ-Reduce: Patella Fracture Fixation Method

Team Members Problem Statement  Patellar fractures account for 1% of all skeletal fractures, typically occurring from a large blow to the knee, resulting in a comminuted fracture pattern, or during…

This project investigated whether patterns in medication use among older adults could help predict rehospitalization after home healthcare. Using data from over 6,800 patients, we analyzed active medications, diagnoses, and patient characteristics, mapping them to standardized codes like RxNorm and PhecodeX. We applied clustering techniques and machine learning models, including XGBoost and BERT-based text embeddings, to identify potential risk factors. Although some variables—like hyper-polypharmacy, reduced physical function (ADL), and certain medication classes—were associated with increased risk, no clear or consistent clusters emerged as highly predictive. Our best-performing model achieved 96% accuracy and 97% ROC-AUC, reinforcing the value of advanced methods but also underscoring the need for individualized deprescribing strategies in geriatric care.

topics: Machine Learning, Polypharmacy,

DSCC383 Team 10: Brennan Kalinowski, Tarun Paravasthu, Sean Tian, Madeleine Johnson Advisor: Cantay Caliskan, Ph.D Sponsor: Benchmark Labs Introduction Background: Organizations like the National Weather Service use numerical weather models…

topics: Climate Technology, CNN, Data Science, environmental, LSTM, Machine Learning, Time Series Analysis,
3. Programs Archive
May 5, 2025

Paychex

Project Title: An AI-Powered Regulatory Chatbot for Labor LegislationTeam Members: Ethan Leung, Carol Li, Astha Singh, Keming ZhangSponsor: PaychexAffiliation: Goergen Institute for Data Science, University of Rochester INTRODUCTION In today’s fast-evolving regulatory…

topics: Data Science, Embedded AI,

Team Members Chengze Miao, Xinyu Wang, Yamin Zheng, Bruce Zhang, Isabel Liu Academic Advisor Professor Ajay Anand Sponsor Dr. Zidian Xie Abstract In response to rising public concerns over youth…

topics: Behavioral Science, Data Science, Machine Learning, Public Health,
3. Programs Archive
May 5, 2025

URMC – Dreisbach

Social Determinants of Health Factors as Upstream Predictors of Postpartum Hemorrhage Sponsor: Caitlin Dreisbach Coauthors: Aditi Marupaka Katie Nguyen Tracy Tan Peter Zhao Yuki Li Team 4, ​​DSCC 383W Data…

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Proposed by SPX Flow, the goal of this project is to characterize the oxygen transfer rate (OTR) within inert fluids of various viscosities.
Paul Eisold, Kamal Raji, Rony Waheibi, Collins Yawe

topics: bioreactor, chemical kinetics, excess sulfite method, fluid dynamics, fluid mixing, gas and liquid interface, mass transfer, reactor design, SPX Flow,

This Xerox-sponsored project aims to completely separate high viscosity PDMS and heptane via a solvent evaporation process followed by supercritical carbon dioxide extraction.
Alissa DeRubertis, Colin Ikei, Bryan Schellberg, Mark Volkin

topics: CHE, Extraction, PDMS, Polymers, Separation, Soft Matter, Supercritical Extraction,
CHE Archive
March 17, 2021

URMC Kidney Model Optimization

The URMC Kidney Model Optimization Project aims to create a polymer material that can simulate the human kidney for practice by surgical residents.
Bimpe Isafiade, Harshita Mahaseth, Natalie Ramesh, Baris Eser Ugur

topics: chemical processing, crosslinking, IR, kinetics, material design, material properties, polymer, PVA, surgery simulation, URMC, Young's Modulus,

This project aims to characterize a wastewater stream in addition to addressing biochemical oxygen demand in cooperation with LiDestri.
Katerina Connor, Junseok Jeon, Connor Pope, Brian Yegela

topics: beverage, biochemical oxygen demand, BOD, citric acid, refractive index, spirits, sucrose, waste stream, wastewater, yeast,

This project was to design an accelerated testing system for Harbec, Inc to evaluate gaskets in the India Mark II hand pump for installation by the Ugandan Water Project.

Dan Allara, Oion Akif, Paul Irving, Tessa Ludwick

topics: accelerated life testing, clean water, gasket, hand pump, India Mark II, polymer, polyurethane, rubber, test stand, Uganda, water,

In this project, a lab-scale chromatography process was developed to purify crude LUV dye. Upon scale up at Eastman Kodak Company, the chromatography process would be able to purify 2 kg/day.
Quinton Dang, Waad Magram, Zhiwei Wang

topics: burette, chomatography, column, column bed, manufacturing, pipette, purification, sand, silica,
3. Programs Archive
March 17, 2021

Packed Bed Reactors for Academic Experimentation

This project aims to design and build a multi-channel reverse water gas shift reactor system that allows for exploration of heterogeneous catalysis.
Ahmad El Gazzar, Thien Hung Nguyen, Clive Onyango, Emilio Vega-Ramos

topics: catalysis, catalytic reactors, chemical kinetics, gas chromatography, heterogenous catalysis, reactor, reactor design, reverse water gas shift reactor,
Full assembly of the CAD models of all the chess and board pieces
4. Keywords Archive
April 22, 2020

Medieval Chess Set

The Rossell Hope Robbins Library is underutilized by many students on campus due to the lack of awareness of the library and its resources. To promote awareness for the library, this project contains designs for a “life-size” portable chess set with medieval themes.

Simulator used showing the cascading color changing LEDs
Accessibility Archive
April 22, 2020

Realtime Audio Visualization

Using a rope of LEDs, connected to a Raspberry Pi with our software, we will read the audio signal from an HDMI cable and display colors on the LED strip that match the tone of the music. . The goal of our project is to be able to create a visualization to convey a similar feeling to people that are unable to hear the music.

CAD model of the photochemical test chamber.
CHE Archive
April 22, 2020

Photochemical Test Chamber

Creation of atmospherically-controlled chamber for UV degradation testing of novel OLED materials for Molecular Glasses, Inc.

Kodak's current purification method: wiped film evaporator
4. Keywords Archive
April 22, 2020

Pure LUV

Identify inexpensive process for in-house purification of motion picture film dye for Kodak.

A render of the design for our device.
Accessibility Archive
April 22, 2020

CamPak

We are tasked by Rochester Rehab to create a device that increases the efficiency of packaging an underwater camera into a foil bag, primarily by reducing friction on the camera. By doing so, more cameras will be packaged per hour and the wage of the workers who are employed in the process will increase.