Senior Design

Senior Design

Program Objectives

Through the senior engineering design courses—BE 4290 in the fall semester and BE 4292 in the spring semester—students are able to:

  • Become proficient with basic components of experimental design and build and test prototypes for real-world applications in biological engineering.
  • Effectively present the working prototype of their design to faculty, students, and the public through various communication skills, such as an in-lab or video demonstration, oral presentation, and a poster presentation.
  • Work effectively in teams to submit a professional-quality technical report that describes their design and details of the building and testing of the final design. It is also expected that their report should be in a format that will be acceptable for submission to a national engineering design competition (such as BMES undergraduate design competition, NIH/NIBIB DEBUT, ASABE, and other capstone competitions).

Submitting a Project Proposal

We are looking for 10-15 projects each year. The minimum number of students per project group is four. Project ideas are collected by July 31 of each year and proceed on the following timeline:

  • Project solicitation—July 31
  • Project selection—Beginning of semester (around the last week of August)
  • Team matching—Around September 15
  • Onset of project
  • Demonstration of project—Third or fourth week of April
  • Design competition

When submitting your proposal ideas, please remember to include the following:

  • Project title
  • Project objective
  • Project description—maximum 300 words
  • Required skills
  • Your available budget
  • Intellectual property considerations
  • Contact information—Client/sponsor information, including name, affiliation, email, phone, etc.
  • Funding information—Any amount is helpful. We have received around $1,000 from past clients and sponsors in academia, clinics, industry, etc.

Submit Proposal Idea Form

For questions, contact Yongchan Kwon or Philip Jung.

Current Projects (2022-2023)

1. STICI – Stage-Top Incubator for Cell Imaging

2. Design of Disposable Circumcision Clamps in Clinical Settings

3. 3D Printed Microfluidic Device for the Isolation of High-Quality Sperm for Endangered Species

4. Nonstandard Smart PPE for Risk Mitigation

5. Semi-Automation of Bone Polishing Machine

6. Cell-Free Protein Synthesis Microdevice

7. Audible Temperature Output Device (ATOD) 

8. A Problem as Big as LaHouse: Improving Drainage at LaHouse by Remodeling its Irrigation System

9. Lap Shear Test Machine for Testing Biomaterial Adhesive Properties

10. Semi-Automated System for Fast Soybean Imaging

11. Heart Rate Monitor for Fish Embryos

12. Fabrication of a Device for Slicing Uniform Increments of Breast Cancer Cells

Past Projects

1. Power-Assisted Device For Hospital Bed Transportation

2. Variance of Properties of Circumcision Clamps

3. Low-Cost Bioplastic Bead Powderizer

4. A 3-D Printed Modular Microfluidic Device Incorporating Interdigitated Electrodes for Cell Analysis 

5. Feedback System for Vision-Impaired Equestrian Rider

6. Device Design for Continuous Exchange Cell-Free Protein Synthesis System

7. Neo-Tissue Injection Device for Tendon Recovery 

8. Development of a Controllable Microscope Stage for Automated Image Capture 

9. Portable Top-Load Medical Sanitation Device

10. Development of Open Hardware for Monitoring and Standardization of Cryopreservation

11. Semi-Automatic Cubic Bone Sample Polishing Device

1. Designing a Laryngoscopy Surgical Simulator for Tumor Resection Training Applications

2. Fabrication of a Multi-Component Incubator to Facilitate the Use of a Microfluidic Device

3. Developing a Test System to Characterize Suturing Techniques in Hernia Repair

4. Device Design for Continuous Exchange Cell-Free Protein Synthesis System

5. Electrical Detection System for Cellular Microfluidic Devices

6. Design of 3D Tactile Map for Widespread Use

7. Prototype Crawfish Trap Harvester Arm

8. Territorial Sensor and Auditory Feedback Device for a Visually Impaired Equestrian Rider

9. Human Head Modeling for Physiologically Informed Helmet Testing

10. Power-Assisted Device for Hospital Bed Transportation

11. Solar-Powered Portable Medical Sanitation Device

1. Continuous Flow Pyrolysis System

2. Fabrication of a Multi-Component Incubator for Sterile Sampling from a Microfluidic Device

3. Microfluidic Device with Integrated Microelectrodes for Zebrafish Sperm Cell Activation and Analysis

4. Linear Bone Machining Test System

5. Spatial Sensor Design for Visually Impaired Equestrian Rider

6. 3D Printed Tactile Map for Children with Visual Impairments

7. Wheelbarrow with Lift and Tilt Features

8. Therapeutic Bicycle Attachment for a Wheelchair

9. Design and Fabrication of Fixture to Test Hernia Suturing Techniques

10. Rebuilding the Endocrine Pancreas

1. Automated Flow Contr System for Cellular Diagnostic Microfluidi Devices

2. 3-D Printed Plate Insert for Dynamic Co-Culture Applications

3. 3D Model of Lung Based Hydrogel for Metastatic Breast Cancer

4. 3D Printed Drug Delivery Implants for Canine Osteomyelitis Treatment

5. Design of a Stratification Interface Seeking System

6. Tamper-Proof Automated Pill Dispenser

7. Pressure Sensitive Limb Liner For Below the Knee Amputees

8. Artificial Tree Pump: Enhance Transpiration Of Vocs From Groundwater

9.  Radial Board Design for Left and Right Cardiac Catheterization

10. Myringotomy with Tympanostomy Insertion Tube Simulator

11. The Design of a Chill Spray System for the Reduction of Pathogen Load on the Surface of Fresh Shrimp

12. Mobile Gait Analysis of Running Using a Drone

1. Device for improving ultrasound-assisted, coaxial cannulation of the subclavian vein: controlled plunge depth and velocity

2. Development of a low-cost whipstock as a trackable directional drilling technique in the bioremediation process

3. Design and fabrication of a continuous column still for BR distilling

4. Ang-Gel - colorimetric gel to dynamically monitor joint angle

5. Continuous flow metastatic model

6. Development of a lower extremity automated power evaluation device

7. Vacuum operated modular microfluidic device for analyzing sperm

8. Rapidly deployable flood prevention mechanism for small structures

9. Design an increment tree-coring toll for assessing the timeline of VOC contamination