AEPCEC Students Present at 2023 Posters at the Capitol
Five students from the Allen E. Paulson College of Engineering and Computing were selected to present three posters at this year’s prestigious peer-reviewed Posters at the Capitol on February 27. All five students conduct research under the mentorship of Dr. Sevki Cesmeci, assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering. The Georgia Undergraduate Research Collective (GURC) sponsors the event each year, and the University System of Georgia Board of Regents Chancellor Dr. Sonny Perdue, as well as a large number of state representatives and senators attended. Four of the 38 presentations statewide were from Georgia Southern.
Ms. Valesia Davis, a senior mechanical engineering student, presented her research on “An Inexpensive, Lightweight, and Field-deployable High-Performance Liquid Chromotagraphy (HPLC).” This project is about developing a miniatured, portable, cost-effective High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) for critical government missions as well as general public use. The U.S. Department of Defense, including the U.S. Army and NASA, are actively looking for such a device for their crucial battlefield bacteriophage enrichment and space exploration missions, respectively. If successful, the outcomes of this project will not only benefit such critical government missions but also the general public through personal HPLC applications.
Mr. Joshua Bunting, a senior mechanical engineering student, and Mr. Jonah Henry, a junior mechanical engineering student, presented their research on “An Elasto-Hydrodynamic Seal for Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Power Plants.” This project is about supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) power generation, which is considered to be one of the next-generation power technologies. The Biden-Harris administration has set ambitious goals to reduce the economy-wide net greenhouse gas pollution levels in 2030 by 50 to 52% from 2005 levels. Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the project aims to contribute to this goal by addressing the technical challenges at the subcomponent level of sCO2 power cycles. More specifically, there is a lack of efficient shaft end seals in sCO2 turbomachinery, which is preventing the full realization of sCO2 power generation.
Mr. Victor Buitimea, a senior mechanical engineering student, and Ms. Madison Procyk, a sophomore mechanical engineering student, presented their research on “A Novel Magnetorheological Elastomer-Based Artificial Pancreas.” This work is being supported by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Automated Insulin Delivery (AID) systems, also known as Hybrid Closed Loop (HCL) systems or Artificial Pancreas (AP) systems, are used to monitor and control blood glucose levels, which would otherwise cause serious health problems for diabetic patients, including damage to the heart, kidneys, eyes, and nerves. According to the Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) Index – a recent first-of-its-kind data management tool that measures the impact of T1D across the globe – there are about 8.7 million people living with T1D around the world, and not only having access to but also use of Artificial Pancreas (AP) systems could save 673,000 more people worldwide by 2040. Despite the demonstrated clinical benefits, T1D patients avoid taking advantage of such AP systems because of the burden of wearing an on-body insulin pump. Also, the patients need to wear two different devices separately, i.e., (i) a continuous glucose monitoring system; and (ii) insulin pumps, which only contribute to the physical and psychological burdens on the patients. Thus, there is a pressing need for insulin delivery systems with reduced “form-factors” and other “user-centric” features to increase a greater adoption of such devices in the T1D community.
To offer a potential solution, Mr. Buitimea and Ms. Procyk presented a novel Microelectromechanical system (MEMS), which has not been studied previously to offer an efficient, miniature, lightweight, portable, wirelessly controllable, and low-power MEMS for insulin delivery.
Posted in CEC News
Allen E. Paulson College of Engineering and Computing • P.O. Box 7995 • Statesboro, Georgia 30460 • 912-478-7412 • engrcomp@georgiasouthern.edu
