Armour College of Engineering students, alumni, faculty, staff, and industry representatives gathered in the John T. Rettaliata Engineering Center Atrium for the Fourth Annual Armour R&D Expo 2018 on April 5. The poster exposition showcased the work of undergraduate students who participated in the Armour R&D program during the 2017–18 academic year.
Armour R&D is part of the Armour College of Engineering Distinctive Education Program and promotes the concepts of innovation and entrepreneurship amongst our undergraduate engineering students. Participants have the opportunity to gain valuable research experience working in the lab with an Illinois Tech faculty member.
Twenty-eight Armour R&D participants presented posters representing research and development projects within the four Engineering Themes (Water, Health, Energy, and Security). Winners were selected by a panel of judges that included Armour faculty members, as well as Ph.D. students from all engineering departments. The judges rated projects based on context, clarity, and overall visual presentation.
An awards ceremony was held after the poster competition to award the highest scoring presenters during each semester. Each of the winners received an award that was laser engraved in the Armour College of Engineering Machine Shop by Craig Johnson, head of Machine Shop and coordinator of Student Fabrication and Design Studio.
Fourth Annual Armour R&D Expo Winners
Summer 2017 Overall High Score: Todd Wilson (BME 3rd Year) and Jovan Brankov, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and associate professor of biomedical engineering, for their project, Comparing Image Reconstruction Algorithms for Enhanced Early Photon Tomography to Rapidly Map Molecular Environment of Cancer Specimens.
Summer 2017 Runner-Up: Jessica Park (BME 4th Year) and Georgia Papavasiliou, associate professor of biomedical engineering, for their project Release Kinetics of QK and VT Peptides from Nanocomposite Scaffolds.
Fall 2017 Overall High Score: Seungyeon Ko (MSE 4th year) and Philip Nash, Charles and Lee Finkl Professor of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering and director of the Thermal Processing Technology Center, for their work on the project, Discontinuous Precipitation in the Co-Ti-Al system.
Fall 2017 Runner-Up: Yusairah Basheer (BME 4th year) and Kenneth Tichauer, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, for their project, Sensitive Detection of Cancer Spread to Lymph Nodes: Evaluating Imaging Agent Delivery Protocols.
Spring 2018 Overall HIgh Score and Overall Highest Score of the 2017/2018 Armour R&D Academic Year: Vincente Chapa (ME 4th Year) and Carrie Hall, assistant professor of mechanical, materials and aerospace engineering, for their project, The Future of FuelFlex Diesel Engine.
Spring 2018 Runner-Up: Sungjin Park (ME 5th year) and Assistant Professor of Mechanical Materials and Aerospace Engineering Carrie Hall for their project, Applying Reactivity Controlled Compression Ignition on Multi-Cylinder Engines.