Tech Expo Showcases UC s Engineering and Applied Science Students

Each May, graduating senior students and some graduate students from the University of Cincinnati exhibit their first professional designs at a Technology Exposition.

That research – created by hundreds of students – will be on display during the UC College of Engineering and Applied Science “Tech Expo,” which runs from

10 a.m.–4 p.m., Tuesday, May 4, 2010,

at the Duke Energy Center, Greater Cincinnati Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, 300 West Sixth Street, Cincinnati.

The expo is free and open to the public.

“Tech Expo 2010” features 284 seniors and graduate students from engineering and applied science programs seeking to serve the needs of business and industry as well as consumers in terms of better, more-efficient processes and products. Included also are business and industry exhibits from 12 of the college’s corporate sponsors and 30 exhibits in the Energy Conference devoted to energy trends, careers and educational resources.

Here are some of the highlights:

ENERGY

“Cincinnati Zoo Biodiesel Conversion System”

Mechanical Engineering Technology

(MET) seniors Lawrence Nurre, Jamie Judd and Jonathan Meyer worked with the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden to design a system that would convert the oils leftover from their food concessions into a fuel usable by their children’s train.

VEHICLES

“UC Supermileage Vehicle: Aerodynamic Wheel Fairings”

MET majors Michael Leming, Kyle Wilmers and team manager Brian Hennesey will be displaying their supermileage car, a three-wheeled single-seat vehicle designed to get the best fuel mileage possible. Hennesey describes it as a “highly modified lawn mower engine equipped with a custom fuel injection system.” He says that gearing up for Tech Expo took “hard work, team management skills and especially multi-tasking.”

FUTURE TECHNOLOGY

“Attack of the Zombies: Discovering and Mitigating Bots and Botnets”

Information Technology

student Paul Albert looked at a risk that strikes fear into the hearts of many of us — not really zombies, but network attacks. “With network security becoming an increasing problem, it is important that someone who may not have adequate knowledge in network security to have an accurate, cheap and easy-to-implement solution to detect, mitigate and report on botnet and other malicious activity,” he says. “My senior design project utilizes many pieces of open source software to detect, mitigate and report on botnet and other malicious activity on a network, and includes scripts that allow for easy installation.”

“Control Room Process Indicator”

Electrical Engineering Technology

student Bobby Bruzina’s project is a large analog (dial/ pointer) digitally controlled gauge for use in control rooms to indicate critical process variables including: pressure, temperature, flow and level. Like the speedometer in today’s cars, this indicator is electrically operated but displayed in an analog fashion to present an operator a quicker “feel” for the present state of each process measurement. Bruzina, a nontraditional student, says of Tech Expo, “Working in industry for 25+ years, I can attest this is a perfect exercise for exposing each student to the real world: design, development and implementation to be successful in their career path of choice.”

“LeetTweets”

Computer Science

(CS) students Corey Downing, Corry Paxzon, Jon Rust and Christopher Theisen created software that uses the streaming Twitter Application Programming Interface (API) to categorize and rank tweets based on how influential they are. “No one (that we know of) is ranking tweets this way,” says Downing.

“2CentTV”

CS students Drew Albrecht, Seth Miller and Travis Hughes have taken social networking to a whole new medium: your television.

“MediaCare 2.0”

CS senior Tian Li takes a look at television inside hospitals.

“Smart Plug”

Electrical Engineering

students Brian Mueller, Kevin Miller, Nathan Walker and Will Schellin have designed a plug that can detect when an item’s not in use or defective. No more going back to make sure you unplugged the coffee pot before vacation!

CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

Architectural Engineering Technology

students use the Ovation complex in Northern Kentucky for all the projects, so the designs are tied to an existing structure but each student does it his or her own way.

“The Escape — Condos in Kentucky”

Senior Josh Nimeskern’s project was a complete design for high-rise condo buildings in Newport along the Ohio and Licking Rivers. “My high-rise is a 22-story building with various size bedrooms and space,” says Nimeskern. “The cool thing about my project was that I had no boundaries. There was nobody that said I couldn't make or design my building a certain way. The structural system did hinder some aspects but it really was all up to me.”

Shuttles will be available to get to and from the convention center easily. Three shuttles will be running on May 4. A schedule of shuttle routes and times can be found

here.

Details:

What

: Tech Expo

When

: 10 a.m.–4 p.m., Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Where

: Duke Energy Center, Greater Cincinnati Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, 300 West Sixth St., Cincinnati OH 45202

Tech Expo is free and open to the public.

Many of the students’ designs inventions might actually make it to market, while others simply provide a new way of looking at things, whether they are "greener" building designs, IT networks for community services or adaptive equipment for special-needs users. Perhaps most exciting is the way students continually search for answers to complications in the home or workplace. While the students are showcasing their projects and designs, “Tech Expo” is really showcasing the students, themselves.

“Preparing for Tech Expo is a busy rush,” says student Josh Nimeskern. “I find myself devoting almost all my time to get things in line for the Expo — it is a lot of work but fun and I can't wait for the Expo.”

Running concurrent to the Tech Expo is the

Energy Conference

, with keynote speaker Chad Edwards.

• Find out more from the Tech Expo web site.    
• Read more about the Energy Conference.      
• Find out more about the UC College of Engineering and Applied Science.   
  
• Apply to UC’s College of Engineering and Applied Science.    
  
• Read the latest news from UC.