Engineering Commons^™

Combining Undergraduate Student Curriculum, Research, And Outreach: High Altitude Balloons And Rockets, Eric Davis, Russell Garner, Ryley Shingleton, Brittany Williams, Jason Sheetz, Kim Nielsen

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Student research is known to be a high-impact learning to participating students. At Utah Valley University, we are introducing a student-driven research paradigm where the research is integrated with the undergraduate curriculum and students form their own scientific hypotheses and design experiments to address the science objectives.

Extracting Dna From Salt: Using Picogreen To Explore Detection Limits, Joshua Webb, Luisa Rusta, Erin Tabish, Edgar Chavez, Brett Denney, Bonnie Baxter

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Biological materials surviving in modern halite (salt) on Earth may point to a method for detection of potential or former life in salt deposits on Mars. This project attempts to find an efficient method extracting cells and DNA from modern halite crystals to gain more insight into efficient method of extracting DNA from ancient salt. Our method considers the limitations of Mars Rover techniques in terms of reagents and simplicity. Halite was collected form the north shore of Great Salt Lake, Utah. Through direct experimentation, we designed a filtration system to isolate DNA from salt samples and refined this process …

The Space Survivability Test Chamber, Alexander Souvall, Benjamin Russon, Brian Wood, Gregory Wilson, Jr Dennison

Utah Space Grant Consortium

The Space Survivability Test Chamber (SST) provides an extensive, versatile, and cost-effective system for pre-launch verification and assessment of small satellites, system components, and spacecraft materials. A UNSGC Faculty Research Infrastructure Grant was awarded a for the purpose of making improvements to enhance and extend the capabilities of the SST. Since the SST was brought online in August 2016, several externally funded projects have been completed and collaborative projects with The University of Tsukuba (Japan) and Logan High School (Utah). Many more projects are forthcoming and the capabilities of the SST continue to be improved and developed for the future.

Design Of In-Flight Instrumentation To Characterize A Hybrid Thruster, Stephen Whitmore, Hybrid Thrustuer Usip Team

Utah Space Grant Consortium

The NASA Undergraduate Student Instrument Project (USIP) is a program with the goal to provide hands-on flight project experience to undergraduate programs, and to fly new technology in space to improve Technology Readiness Level (TRL).

Survey Of Mars South Polar Craters For Subsurface Water Ice, John Armstrong, Michael Hernandez, Mars South Pole Survey Team

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Mars' polar ice caps experience seasonal sublimation, the process in which ice skips a liquid state, and moves directly from solid ice to gaseous vapor. Through geospatial analysis, we identify craters, observe geomorphology, then search for correlations with temperature and albedo to study the climate interaction between the surface and atmosphere in a search for liquid water.

The Utah Robotic Mining Project, Jonathan Davies, Utah Mining Robotics Team

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Autonomous robotics technology is improving at an exponential rate, and has the potential to be the largest leap in technology since the invention of the personal computer. Robot Operating System (ROS) [1] is a catalyst in the development of fully autonomous robots. With a large community of developers and many resources available, it allows researchers to focus their time on implementing fully autonomous systems on their robotic platform, instead of spending time developing algorithms.

This research focuses on the development of an autonomous robotic system using ROS, with the purpose of competing in the NASA Robotic Mining Competition [2]. While …

A Robotics Framework For Simulation And Control Of A Robotic Arm For Use In Higher Education, Craig Christensen

MS in Computer Science Project Reports

Robotic arms have been in common use for a several decades now in many areas from manufacturing and industrial uses to hobby projects and amusement park rides. However, there have been very few attempts to make an inexpensive robot arm with a software stack for use in higher education. This paper will outline a control and interfacing software stack built on the Robot Operating System (ROS) and a simulation of the 5 degree of freedom (DoF) robotic arm.

Literature Review: Biomimetic And Conventional Aircraft Wing Tips, Naseeb Ahmed Siddiqui, Waqar Asrar, Erwin Sulaeman

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

This paper is an attempt to summarize the effect of wing tip devices employed by birds, as well as aeronautical engineers in the past to improve the performance characteristics of aircraft. The focus is on reduction of the induced drag or drag due to lift also known as inviscid drag. This paper will provide an insight on both biomimetic and conventional wing tip approaches to reduce the induced drag. Prior analysis and experiments on the aerodynamics of airplane performance due to both these separate studies have been discussed. The needs of the industry and their past inventions have been described …

Cytosolic Delivery Of Doxorubicin From Liposomes To Multidrug-Resistant Cancer Cells Via Vaporization Of Perfluorocarbon Droplets, Jacob B. Williams, Clara M. Buchanan, Ghaleb A. Husseini, William G. Pitt

Faculty Publications

A common mechanism of multidrug resistance is the upregulation of efflux pumps in the cancer cells that can more rapidly export unwanted materials (e.g. cancer drugs) out of the cell, compared to sensitive cancer cells. This research seeks to overcome this mechanism by vaporizing a perfluoropentane emulsion droplet inside of a drug-containing liposome (eLiposome) that was endocytosed into a cancer cell. Folate attached to the eLiposome facilitates uptake into the cell as observed by confocal microscopy. Ultrasound was examined as a trigger to initiate the vaporization of the perfluoropentane droplet and release doxorubicin from folated eLiposomes (feLD). Two seconds of …

Undergraduate Examination Of Pollutant Aerosols In Earth's Atmosphere, Matthew Toon, Tyler Weenig, Zach Collins, Fred Davis, Christopher Maughan, Kyle Strong, Kim Nielsen

Utah Space Grant Consortium

Air pollution can result from both natural and human-caused actions. Natural pollutants may result from events like: forest fires, volcanic eruptions, wind erosion, natural radioactivity, etc. Human pollutants can result from: toxic emissions from vehicles or manufacturing plants, burning fossil fuels, household or farming chemicals released into the air, second hand smoke from tobacco users, etc.

Pollution can obviously have an extremely negative effect on the air quality that we as humans, as well as all living creatures, breathe and depend on for life. Pollution can also negatively impact water and soil by introducing toxins into these resources needed for …

Hapcad, Prototype For The Gaspacs Aeroboom Deployment, Jan J. Sojka, Get Away Special Team

Utah Space Grant Consortium

This past summer the Utah State University Get Away Special Microgravity Research Team tested several of their prototypes on high altitude balloons. They had a total of four balloon launches were they collected a variety of data. Their primary purpose was to test their passive stabilization mechanism called the Aeroboom.

Byu Passive Inspection Cubesats (Pics), David Long, Passive Inspection Cubesat Usip Team

Utah Space Grant Consortium

The BYU Passive Inspection CubeSat (PICS) is the first stage of a series of technology demonstration missions for spacecraft capable of performing inspection, maintenance and assembly on another spacecraft. PICS will demonstrate ultrafast booting and power-up operation of system electronics and the low-risk inspection of the exterior of a spacecraft by a passive, inexpensive flyaway probe. Two flight systems deployed simultaneously will enable the collection of image data from each other as well as the parent spacecraft. Both units include spherical imaging capability using a camera on each face of the 10 cm cube so that attitude control is not …

Integration Host Factor Stabilized Pcr- Amplified Dna For High-Throughput Protein Synthesis Subtitle, William Bradley, Bradley Bundy

Journal of Undergraduate Research

As the search continues for novel proteins with market-incentivized properties, the demand for tools to accelerate the identification of these proteins increases. This has led to investigating methods for screening proteins that yield faster results (high-throughput) with greater titers of protein stable enough for analysis (high yield).

Tissue Engineering: Cell-Seeded 3d Printed Vascular Graft, Tomonori Baba, Alonzo Cook

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of this project was to create and test a biocompatible modified alginate gel for 3D printing blood vessels to be used in vascular networks for tissue engineering and as vascular grafts. Vascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, and more than $100 billion are spent annually for its treatment. Treatments for cardiovascular disease, such as synthetic blood vessels still have some problems with thrombosis and immune rejection. We propose to use the patient’s own cells to form replacement blood vessels, to reduce the risk of immune rejection and the endothelial cells will be …

The Use Of A Passive Endothermic Reactor Cooling System For Lwr Emergency Cooling, Joel Johnson, Dr. Matthew Memmott

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of the project was to test the viability and begin design on a passive endothermic reaction cooling system (PERCS). The idea behind PERCS is to improve the safety of and to avoid potential disasters resulting from accident conditions in nuclear reactors. To do this, a PERCS will be designed that can be simply integrated into current nuclear power plant systems. The PERCS concepts to date are completely passive; rather than requiring valve or operator actuation, the system initiates due to natural conditions in the reactor system.

Cytosolic Delivery Of Doxorubicin From Liposomes To Multidrug-Resistant Cancer Cells Via Vaporization Of Perfluorocarbon Droplets, Jacob B. Williams, Clara M. Buchanan, Ghaleb Husseini, William G. Pitt

Faculty Publications

A common mechanism of multidrug resistance is the upregulation of efflux pumps in the cancer cells that can more rapidly export unwanted materials (e.g. cancer drugs) out of the cell, compared to sensitive cancer cells. This research seeks to overcome this mechanism by vaporizing a perfluoropentane emulsion droplet inside of a drug-containing liposome (eLiposome) that was endocytosed into a cancer cell. Folate attached to the eLiposome facilitates uptake into the cell as observed by confocal microscopy. Ultrasound was examined as a trigger to initiate the vaporization of the perfluoropentane droplet and release doxorubicin from folated eLipsosomes (feLD). Two seconds of …

Xdr-500 Mo—Single-Use Fermentor For Microbial Processes, Jozsef Vasi, Andreas Castan, Sandeep Kristiansson

Single-use Technologies II: Bridging Polymer Science to Biotechnology Applications

Single-use bioreactors are well-established in production of biopharmaceuticals in mammalian expression systems. However, a similar technology breakthrough for microbial/yeast-based productions is still awaiting due to the unique requirements associated with such high-cell density cultivations, including high oxygen transfer capacity and efficient heat removal. Here, we present the single-use Xcellerex™ XDR-500 MO stirred-tank fermentor system specifically designed for microbial/yeast applications. The performance of the fermentor was evaluated using an E. coli fed-batch process producing a domain antibody (dAb) as a model system. The process was originally developed for a lab-scale conventional stainless steel system. This work describes the transposition and scale-up …

Effect Of Agitation On Protein Aggregation In Vials Made From Glass Or Plastics, Birgit Mueller-Chorus, Erica Tullo, Vinod Vilivalam, Lloyd Waxman

Single-use Technologies II: Bridging Polymer Science to Biotechnology Applications

The increasing use of proteins as therapeutics including monoclonal antibodies has focused attention on the need to maintain the stability of these labile molecules during both storage and shipment. The degradation of therapeutic proteins can arise from aggregation and adsorption in primary containers, as well as from exposure to leachables, and chemical damage due to exposure to oxygen or light. Since vials continue to be used as primary containers for multiple-use applications, including vaccines and lyophilized drug products, we have compared the effect of mechanical stress on protein aggregation in vials made of glass versus vials made of the plastic …

Particulate Contamination In Single Use Systems: Measurement Challenges, Klaus Wormuth, Fanny Gaston, Mathieu Labedan

Single-use Technologies II: Bridging Polymer Science to Biotechnology Applications

In conventional biopharmaceutical processes using stainless steel components, the pharmaceutical manufacturer is responsible for process cleanliness. However for single use systems, the pharmaceutical manufacturer “outsources” process cleanliness to the manufacturer of the single use systems, since no rinsing or cleaning occurs prior to implementation. Especially critical applications such as final fill and finish or aseptic processes demand a high degree of cleanliness with respect to particulate contamination. Although single use component assembly occurs in carefully controlled cleanroom environments, risks arise for particulate contamination from incoming components, cutting and welding operations, and human activity during manually intensive assembly processes. While visual …

Conference Program, Ekta Mahajan, Gary Lye, Regine Eibl-Schindler

Single-use Technologies II: Bridging Polymer Science to Biotechnology Applications

No abstract provided.

Characterization Of Silicone Tubing – Effect Of Pressure And Irradiation On Tubing Diameter, Lise Tan-Sien-Hee, Csilla Kollar, Andrew Diehl, Ernie Jenness, Pietro Perrone

Single-use Technologies II: Bridging Polymer Science to Biotechnology Applications

A Single-Use assembly or system consists of numerous flexible components connected together via heat seals, overmolds or mechanical fasteners. The integrity (e.g. leak assurance) of such a system is dependent on the internal surface being continuously sealed and free of disconnects between the various components. The diameter of the flexible tubing during manufacture of the assemblies and the tubing expansion at operational pressures are important characteristics to know. Understanding these factors can help in the design of assemblies that maintain their integrity throughout their use at operating conditions. The aim of the study was to characterize four different tubing types …

Improving Single Use Bioreactor Design And Process Development Using The Hyperforma 5:1 S.U.B, Michael Goodwin

Single-use Technologies II: Bridging Polymer Science to Biotechnology Applications

Operating bioreactor vessels at low working volumes (high turn-down ratio) is often desirable but brings about challenges in regard to mixing, mass transfer, and process control. Research done towards optimizing cell culture has provided methods to improve performance and control when operating under these special conditions.  Impacts of enhanced energy transfer-Implementing bottom heat exchange, alternate impeller positions, and considering agitation dissipation rates.  Maximizing your platform-Taking advantage of the unique Thermo Fisher Scientific Drilled Hole Sparge design and implementing a new Cross Flow Sparge into the headspace have yielded reliable mass transfer and cell culture results from 10-2000L working …

Life Cycle Sustainability Analysis (Lcsa) Of Polymer-Based Piping For Plumbing Applications, Andy J. Rivas Bolivar

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Water conveyance systems play a critical role in modern developed areas. Polymer pipes have been used for about a century, and their convenient physical properties have positioned polymers as the leading material in the piping industry. Having such influence in the market means that changes in current material selection and manufacturing could lead to significant reductions in the footprint associated with their products. Currently, there are no comparative lifecycle assessments that evaluate the different polymer selections commercially available, which makes it hard to determine what products have the least impact on the environment. Understanding how such impacts are relative to …

Process Development And Implementation For The Imaging Of Heat Treated A2 Steel For Consolidation Into An Atlas, Jessica Roberts

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Material processes, properties, and microstructure are interconnected, often visualized as the points of a triangle. Changing the process a material goes through will in turn change the properties and microstructure of that material. In materials research and education (specifically with metals), comparison between research or experiment results and scholarly-accepted results is important. When reading textbooks addressing different properties of metals and the process of metal treatment, images are often shown of the various microstructures associated with each property or process stage. The difficulty comes in trying to compare the stages or properties to one another; often different materials and processes …

Experimental Analysis Of R134a, R22, And R404 For An Edibon Taab: Air Conditioning Lab Unit, Kyle T. Heesen

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This paper presents an experimental analysis of an Ebidon® TAABTM: Air Conditioning Lab unit running on R-134a being compared with R22 and R404 refrigerants, a $24,449 piece of equipment purchased by the JMU ISAT Department. In this paper we will compare the performance of the R-134a refrigerant under a range of working conditions and compare them to how the system would run on R22 or R404. The experimental tests use varying fan speeds and the R-134a data collected is compared to simulated data collected for R22 and R404. Analysis of the collected data and simulated data will be compared on …

Living Tiny Legally, James G. Rollin

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Over the last 40 years, the average new United States house has increased in size by more than 1,000 square feet, from an average size of 1,660 square feet in 1973 (earliest year available from the Census Bureau) to 2,687 square feet last year (Perry, 2016). In that same time period, there was a 91% increase in home square footage per inhabitant and a decrease in average household size. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average home in the United States costs approximately $358,000 to build, an increase of roughly $200,000 since 1998. Meanwhile, the average annual income in …

Carbon Particles, Stephen M. Lipka, Christopher R. Swartz

Center for Applied Energy Research Faculty Patents

A composition generally includes carbon particles. The particles are prepared by dissolving a carbohydrate-based precursor in water to form a precursor solution and placing the precursor solution in a pressure vessel. The precursor solution is placed in a pressure vessel. The pressure vessel is heated to a reaction temperature to form carbon particles. The carbon particles are subjected to a chemical activation and a physical activation. The composition includes, by weight, about 5% to about 30% oxygen.

Toward Measuring Network Aesthetics Based On Symmetry, Zengqiang Chen, Matthias Dehmer, Frank Emmert-Streib, Abbe Mowshowitz, Yongtang Shi

Publications and Research

In this exploratory paper, we discuss quantitative graph-theoretical measures of network aesthetics. Related work in this area has typically focused on geometrical features (e.g., line crossings or edge bendiness) of drawings or visual representations of graphs which purportedly affect an observer’s perception. Here we take a very different approach, abandoning reliance on geometrical properties, and apply information-theoretic measures to abstract graphs and networks directly (rather than to their visual representaions) as a means of capturing classical appreciation of structural symmetry. Examples are used solely to motivate the approach to measurement, and to elucidate our symmetry-based mathematical theory of network aesthetics.

Investigating The Classical And Non-Classical Mechanical Properties Of Gan Nanowires, Mohammad Reza Zamani Kouhpanji

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Study and prediction of classical and non-classical mechanical properties of GaN is crucial due to the potential application of GaN nanowires (NWs) in piezoelectric, probe-based nanometrology, and nanolithography areas. GaN is mainly grown on sapphire substrates whose lattice constant and thermal expansion coefficient are significantly different from GaN. These discrepancies cause mechanical defects and high residual stresses and strains in GaN, which reduce its quantum efficiency.

Specifically, for nanoscale applications, the mechanical properties of materials differ significantly compared to the bulk properties due to size-effects. Therefore, it is essential to investigate the mechanical properties of GaN NWs using the non-classical …

An Experimental Study On Drag Reduction Of Aftermarket Additions On An Suv, Christiana L. Katsoulos

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Over recent years, the awareness of climate change has become more prevalent worldwide and one major contributor to global warming has been the use of transportation. Vehicles contribute to global warming by releasing petroleum based emissions such as significant amounts of carbon dioxide and numerous other harmful environmental pollutants. SUVs contribute to the emissions problem more so than sedans, since they have lower gas mileage and need more gasoline regularly. The main functionality of sport utility vehicles, or SUVs, includes hauling or off-roading and fuel efficiency is not always the focus in the design process. However, aerodynamic enhancements could improve …