Fred O. Armstrong Scholar Award

This award is given to graduating seniors for highest academic achievement

• Elliot Crane, Biomedical Engineering BA, 7 Yr. Medical
• Christopher Lawrence, Mechanical Engineering
• Kevin Mittler, Electrical Engineering
• Jessica Phan, Technology Education
• Ashley Polhemus, Biomedical Engineering BS
• Parth Pankajkumar Shah, Civil Engineering

Fred O. Armstrong Leadership Award

This award is given to graduating senior for leadership.

• Catherine Brabston, Civil Engineering
• Daniel Christiansen, Mechanical Engineering
• Jake Eger, Computer Engineering
• Ashley Polhemus, Biomedical Engineering BS
• Julianna Ryan, Technology Education

Conrad Johnson Award

This award is given to a graduating senior for outstanding overall craftsmanship in a design project

• Daniel Bluman, Electrical Engineering
• Thomas Burns, Mechanical Engineering
• Kevin Dischino, Civil Engineering
• Matthew Potter, Technology Education

Vincent W. Dresser Service Award

This award is given to graduating seniors for outstanding service to the department, the School , and the College.

• Michael Bauer, Mechanical Engineering
• Kevin Bradley, Technology Education
• Stephen Shiffer, Civil Engineering
• Tyler Wardlow, Computer Engineering

Julia Baaklini (Class of 2014) has been awarded the John Lenard Civil Engineering Scholarship by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). The scholarship is awarded to a junior or senior civil engineering student who has demonstrated an interest in either water supply and/or environmental engineering. Two students are selected each year on a national level to receive this prestigious scholarship.

TCNJ students Drew MacFarlane, Jake Eger and Matthew Dietz won first place at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Region 1 Micromouse Competition which was held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Advised under Dr. Orlando Hernandez, the team continued the legacy of Micromouse as their senior project. The goal of the Micromouse project is to design and build an autonomous robotic vehicle that will solve a maze.  Their robot secured first place by making it the furthest in arguably the competition’s most challenging maze yet.

At the conference students had the chance to compete and apply practical engineering knowledge in the various competitions. They also had an opportunity to network and learn from other students from across Region 1. In addition student members had a great opportunity to network with the Industry Professionals and the IEEE Leaders.

Learn more:

• IEEE Region 1 Micromouse Competition
• Micromouse Competition Rules

(Left-right) Dean Keep presents the 1st Place prize of $12,000 to M&S Guitars: James Seyffart, Alex Matteson, and Tim Pfenninger. 2nd Place went to Campus Corner Laundry and 3rd Place to SurpriseMe at the Finale on April 3rd. (Photo courtesy of Deric Raymond

Engineering students had a great presence at the Mayo Business Competition this year. The competition consisted of seven teams, three of which featured engineering students. Alex Mattesons, mechanical engineering, and his team won first place and $12,000. Second place along with $6,000 went to Daniel DeChiara, computer engineering, and his team. The first place team M&S Guitars impressed the judges with their working prototype of a modular and low cost guitar system. The second place team Campus Corner Laundry proposed an email and text message service to notify students when their laundry was done. The third team Jacfit.com consisted of two engineering students, Steve Zilberberg, Computer Engineering and Alex Crane, Biomedical Engineering.

This competition is designed to increase student appreciation for the challenges associated with developing a viable business offering (product or service) while, through an iterative process, recognizing those students best able to articulate a plan that addresses these challenges. In recognition of both the time involved and the difficulty of the task, the competition also provides a suitable award for the successful teams

Learn More:

• NJ.com Article About Mayo
• Business Article About Mayo
• Signal article “M&S Guitar wins Mayo”

“Fused Deposition Modeling BioPrinter” team took fifth place overall at the Senior Project Design Competition

Thirty one TCNJ engineering students (28 biomedical engineering majors and 3 mechanical engineering majors) students presented at the 39th annual Northeast Bioengineering Conference (NEBEC) which took place from April 5-7th, 2013. The conference was held in Syracuse University and the theme for this year was “Rehabilitative and Regenerative Engineering.”  All senior project teams that attended this conference participated in the Senior Design Competition. Judges from several northeastern biomedical engineering programs determined which projects were worthy of an award, which included a monetary prize. One TCNJ team, “Fused Deposition Modeling BioPrinter” won 5th place overall out of 58 entries. The interdisciplinary team members were Hayin Candiotti, Brian Karl, Kendra Knowles and Dana Mathews from biomedical engineering , and Kyle Mohen from mechanical engineering. Their advisors were Dr. Constance Hall (Biomedical Engineering) and Dr. Manish Paliwal (Mechanical Engineering). The other teams were as follows:

A Novel Inductive Biphasic Proximal Humerus Internal Fracture Fixator

By: Joshua Erndt-Marino, Salim A. Ghodbane, Chris Pachomski, Drew White
Adviser: Dr. Manish Paliwal (MEC)

Development and Study of a Hybrid Tissue Scaffold Fabrication System for Neurotrophin Delivery

By: Vishal P. Jani, Ritesh Patel, Rohit K. Reddy & Lee R. Zhang
Advisers:  Dr. C. K. Yan (MEC) & Dr. C. T. Wagner

Low Cost Transportable Infant Incubator

By: Amreen Ahmed, Jordan Cabello, Dave Patel, Danielle Russo (MEC) & Kevin Tseng
Advisers: Dr. B. BuSha & Dr. G. Facas (MEC)

Nasogastric Rehydration System 

By: Gabrielle Bravaco, Jonathan Gabriel, Pam Hitscherich, Joshua Min, & Paige Reinhardt
Adviser: Dr. Christopher Wagner

Portable Capnography

By: Cedd Bautista, Brijesh Patel, Benjamin Seiffer (MEC) & Manil Shah
Advisers: Dr. Constance. Hall & Dr. G. Facas (MEC)

uGrip II: A novel functional hybrid prosthetic hand design

By: Brianne Doherty, Kevin Mackiw, Raj Patel & Ashley Polhemus
Adviser: Dr. M. Paliwal (MEC)

The students were also able to attend several career related activities including a Career Fair and Expo and a Professional Development Panel, which was designed for those early in their training and careers. In addition students attended research presentations by students and faculty in biomedical engineering programs across the Northeast. Other events included a reception for all conference participants, and a panel hosted by the Syracuse University Center for Advanced Systems and Engineering (CASE) which highlighted the potential and challenged of academic industrial interactions.

Learn more:

• NEBEC website
• NEBEC album
• Spring 2013 Senior Projects

Catherine Brabston was recognized for her outstanding leadership effort as the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) student chapter president (12/13). Under Catherine’s leadership the chapter was recognized as an official TCNJ student club. She also led the chapter through the design and installation of the AISE Steel Sculpture in front of Armstrong Hall. The sculpture is not only an art monument but also a learning tool and an impressive engineering landmark for Armstrong Hall. Catherine was nominated for the Leadership Award by the Faculty of the Civil Engineering Department. Her award recognizes her leadership effort in Building the Way to the Future.

Michael Soriano was recognized for his tireless effort in leading the Sigma Pi fraternity. As the current president Michael makes sure that all members continuously meet and exceed expectations. He is a driving force behind the success and respect Sigma Pi receives on and off campus. Michael was nominated for the Leadership Award by Matthew Scorzo, Sigma Pi member, on behalf of Sigma Pi fraternity. His award recognizes his leadership effort in Motivation.

Learn more:

• TCNJ Leadership Development Program
• American Society of Civil Engineers
•  AISE Steel Sculpture
• Sigma Pi

Completed Socket Module Prototype with custom printed circuit board

Dr. Anthony Deese, Assistant  Professor of Electrical Engineering, presented a paper at the International Electrical and Electronic  Engineering (IEEE) Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS) in Seoul, South Korea. The paper is based on a senior project that students Brain Carrigan, Elliot Stein and Elie Klein designed in 2012.  It examines the design and construction of a simple, yet effective circuit-based hardware solution to home automation. Emphasis is placed on cost-efficiency, ability to incorporate wide variety of loads (e.g. HVAC), minimal installation requirements, and user-friendly interfacing. This technology is becoming popular as homeowners desire easy access control over various electronics in their homes. Additionally, they speculate that this system will reduce power utility bills by 5% to 15%.

While many states were actively using the ITEEA curriculum, New Jersey had not yet acquired a license. Anderson took it upon himself to change this by bringing Engineering byDesign™ to the State. The effort is funded by Edison Ventures, Inc. who generously granted the money to support the three-year effort.. Training is conducted by the School’s Center for Excellence in STEM Education and is for pre-engineering/technology teachers of grades K-12. Anderson requires this training as a quality control, making sure the high standards of the ITEAA and TCNJ are met.

So far over 50 8th and 9th grade teachers across 38 districts have been trained. This is only the beginning though. Anderson plans to continue the program beyond the grant period and is actively seeking additional support. His five-year goal is train teachers from half of the districts in New Jersey. Additionally, he is collecting data from the classes that are currently implementing the ITEEA training and plans to use these data to measure the effectiveness of the curriculum, making necessary changes that will ultimately create a national development model.

• Read about the program’s success in Edison Township.
• More information about New Jersey’s Engineering byDesign™

Ellie Barkin, TES President “Chapter Excellence Award”
Ellie Barkin, “Induction as International Secretary”
Frank Caccavale, “Induction International President Elect”
Julianna Ryan, “Award of Distinction International Secretary 2011-2013″
Dr. John Karsnitz, “TEECA Distinguished Adviser Award”

From left to right: Ellie Barkin, Frank Caccavale, Dr. John Karsnitz, Julianna Ryan

]]> http://engineering.pages.tcnj.edu/2013/03/12/tcnj-teeca-leadership-honored/feed/ 0 http://engineering.pages.tcnj.edu/2013/03/12/tcnj-hosts-spring-break-first-robotics-competition/ http://engineering.pages.tcnj.edu/2013/03/12/tcnj-hosts-spring-break-first-robotics-competition/#comments Tue, 12 Mar 2013 15:52:51 +0000 Andrew Specian http://engineering.pages.tcnj.edu/?p=3164 Over spring break TCNJ was the battle ground of a FIRST Robotics Competition district event. For those who do not know, FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics competitions have high school students compete in the sport of science, technology and engineering. This year thirty-plus high school teams who built life-sized robots played a rendition of frisbee golf. The competition at TCNJ was held from March 14th through the 16th. If you are not familiar with FIRST, find out what Morgan Freeman is talking about. If you are interested in volunteering for future competitions or would like to get involved with the TCNJ FIRST Club please contact tcnjfrc@gmail.com.

• Watch this year’s competition animation here
• View the visitors guide here.