About the Senior Capstone and Design Project
The Department of Materials Science and Engineering Senior Design and Poster Presentation is held annually at the Officer’s Club on Historic Fort Douglas at the University of Utah. The senior design project is a capstone project that prepares the student for engineering design practice. It provides an avenue to determine if the student has an integrated understanding of the scientific and engineering principles. All seniors are required to complete a unique Capstone Design Project. Each project is independently completed, mentored jointly by the instructor and the project advisor.
The seniors present their posters at the annual senior banquet to the faculty students, and guests. In addition to oral presentation, the students present their posters in an open house format to the faculty voting committee. The posters are judged on: content of the oral presentation, design of the project, poise of presentation, effectiveness of the poster, and the defense by the student of the project. Based on the scores by the faculty the top three students are awarded ribbons and are recognized near the administrative office (304 CME) for the next academic year.
The 2012-2013 Senior Design and Poster Presentation will be held on Thursday, April 11, 2013 in the Officer’s Club banquet room.
2012 Senior Design Projects
FIRST PLACE
Benjamin Perschon “Annealing Enhancement of Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) Photovoltaic Absorber Layer”
Advisor – Professor Michael Scarpulla
SECOND PLACE
Megan Campbell “Effects of Epitaxial Strain on Metal-Insulator Transition in NdNiO2”
Advisor – Professor Ashutosh Tiwari
THIRD PLACE
Colin Craigo “Palladium-Silver Addition for Improved Joining of Lanthanum Strontium Cobalt Oxide”
Advisor – Professor Dinesh Shetty
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Braiden Chou “Zero Thermal Expansion”
Advisor – Professor Dinesh Shetty
Joshua Johnston “Environmental Barrier Coatings for Next Generation Gas Turbine Engines”
Advisor – Professor Dinesh Shetty
Ryan Vasquez “Finding a Fourth Component to Stabilize an Emulsified Perfluorocarbon Blood Substitute”
Advisor – Professor Agnes Ostafin
Jesse Velarde “Utilizing Finite Element Analysis: Design of High Strength Flooring”
Advisor – Professor David Richerson
CLEAR INSTRUCTOR
Kimberly Aguilar