This project focuses on designing and developing four interactive educational models that demonstrate the different types of seismic waves generated during an earthquake: P-waves, S-waves, Love waves, and Rayleigh waves. Each model will visually demonstrate the unique motion and behavior of its respective wave, helping K–12 students better understand earthquake physics. These teaching aids will be used at local STEM outreach events to provide an engaging, hands-on learning experience.

Team: Alexander Colton, Jessica Redmond,  Trevor Easterbrook, Cole Streba, Noelle Phillips
Project Sponsor: Dr Owen Kingstedt
Co-Instructor: Dr Owen Kingstedt

A pneumatic launcher that is vehicle mounted to launch an emergency medical drone that delivers supplies to remote areas.

Team Members: Adam Brown, Ben Leifer, McKay Pond, Mark Rausch, Jeremy Riedl​
Project Sponsor: Cam Leang
Co-Instructor: Ian Goodfellow

Delivering medical supplies to remote areas often requires a drone that can cover long distances, while still landing where it is needed. Fixed-wing drones offer range but need runways or open space to land, while multirotor drones can land almost anywhere but have limited flight range. This project modifies a fixed-wing drone with a twisting-wing mechanism, allowing the aircraft to cruise like a plane, and then descend into a controlled spiral to drop-off its payload. The mechanism rotates the wings through the range of motion needed while integrating with the existing airframe.

Team: Timothy Zimine, Jayshawn Jessop, Jack Modler, Aayush Gada, Kaio Nishimura
Project Sponsor: Dr. Kam Leang
Co-Instructor: Dr. Jay Kim

Our team is building an automated wire bender that turns a digital design file into a finished bent-wire part in just a few simple steps. It feeds high-strength wire through an adjustable feed, bends it into tight angles and smooth continuous curves, and cuts it to length.

Team Members: Jett Kearney, Victor Boyer, Stephen Cottam, Lance Selijestad, Sum Brown
Project Sponsor: Randall Morrill
Co-Instructor: Dr. Jay Kim

Our Senior Design project is designed to assist the Machine Shop in lifting 4ft by 4ft by 1in plates that weigh up to 600 pounds. Their current solution relied on their staff wiggling metal into the machine, which would result in some back pain and injured fingers. Our cart was modeled to alleviate loading stress from in and out of the machine along with the transportation of the material to its designated point.

Team: Harrison Bross, Catherine Davey, Sofia Girardi, Katie Lorenzo, Simon Nelson
Project Sponsor: Reid Rouse
Co-Instructor: Kate Youmans

Many manufacturing processes could benefit from the unique microstructures possible through Mixed Energized Field freeze casting; however, no current systems incorporate multiple energy fields. The objective of this project is to design an apparatus that effectively combines electric, magnetic, and ultrasonic energy fields to control the freeze casting process. The final design should, through repeatable methods, enable controlled application of combined energy fields and demonstrate their effects for further research.

Team Members: Riley Dunn, Zak Riesen, Holden Hamm, Nicholas Plaza.
Project Sponsor: Dr. Steven Naleway
Co-Instructor: Dr. Jay Kim

This project involves creating an attachment method for the pressurized tensile testing of blood vessels. We designed, manufactured, and iterated small-scale clamps to hold vessels onto 1mm diameter needles. They have been designed to apply force equally along the circumference of the vessel to prevent leakage without causing damage. These clamps will be used in the Head Injury and Vessel Biomechanics Lab to test the mechanics behind concussions.

Team: Tyler Dean, Alexander Scholl, Scott Angier, Hyrum Andes, Andrew Koenig, Rhett Hagen
Project Sponsor: Dr. Ken Monson
Co-Instructor: Dr. Eric Anderson

Luxury watches have long used the Swiss escapement design to miniaturize accurate timekeeping to a size that fits on your wrist. This is a design that can be accurate in a number of orientations. Large clocks have utilized large weights and pendulums to keep time, which counter friction and cost but can only operate in one orientation. Making a large clock with a Swiss lever escapement has not been done before due to issues when scaling the geometries. This project intends to push the boundaries of physics and watch making to ultimately create a functional art piece that captures the capability and grandeur of the Mechanical Engineering department.

Team: Amir Dimachki, Jaden Shelton, Will Selfridge, Phillip Ngu, Soren Kocurek-Orr
Project Sponsor: Ken d’Entremont
Co-Instructor: Dr. Kim

The University of Utah is hosting its second annual Soapbox Derby. While the first event was a success, major improvements were needed to create a better experience for both riders and staff. The main issues with the previous karts were that they were too small, didn’t steer well, and had wheels that lacked adequate grip and impact absorption. All of these issues have been addressed in the new design, which remains straightforward to assemble and comes with a full instruction manual and video guide. To further improve the overall experience of the Soapbox Derby, a new course was also designed featuring wooden obstacles and a starting ramp built to keep top speeds under 15 mph.

Team: Alexander Heilig, Lucas Tille, Caleb Jessen, Anders Braun, Logan Friel, Pat Ruthirawut
Project Sponsor: Office of Student Experience
Co-Instructor: Dr. Shad Roundy

The goal of the Acoustic Levitation device is to levitate two droplets of varying viscosity and coalesce them using acoustic pressure alone. The device uses 40 kHz transducers to create acoustic pressure fields that suspend droplets and particles. An open-source software is then used to manipulate the ultrasonic waves and translate the droplets until they meet and coalesce. This device will be useful for studying the fluid dynamics of spherical droplet coalescence.

Team: Jenica Pierce, Thomas Pullen, Grant Housley, Savannah Thomson
Project Sponsor: Dr. Samira Shiri
Co-Instructor: Dr. Erik Anderson

The objective of this project is to design a system that preheats resin to a target temperature to prepare for pumping and weight dispensing, ultimately reducing operator touch time and speeding up time before final infusion. The final design should preheat resin to a desired setpoint, pump resin out of the original containers, automatically dispense the resin reliably and accurately at desired weights, while being user-friendly and ergonomic.

Team: Una Willhoite, Thomas Yoshida, Ximena Jimenez, Ethan Breyer, Jaden Hunter

Project Sponsor: Nammo

Co-Instructor: Dr. Jay Kim

There are few if any self-serving food dispensing systems available for on campus students. For J.W. Marriot’s future housing experience initiative ‘College Town Magic’, there is a goal to create a system to dispense exact amounts of dry and wet ingredients to reduce food waste for students and to allow ease of access to nutritional ingredients for student who have minimal storage space while fostering community through cooking. This system dispenses liquids in high precision in order to manage costs while providing properly proportioned ingredients for recipes.

Team: Sadam Alsabsabi, Ian Beauregard, Isaiah Lewis, Ethan Morgan
Project Sponsor: Marc Brown
Co-Instructor: Dr. Jay Kim

Partnered with the University of Utah School of Dentistry, our objective is to design and produce an improved oral biopsy punch capable of fully retrieving a viable biopsy sample from anywhere within the oral cavity. Current Biopsy punch tools require multiple tools to make an incision, cut the underside of the sample, and retrieve the sample without damage. Our punch utilizes machined blades with laser-cut gates to retain a small wire which cuts the underside of a tissue sample when pulled. Coupled with a custom handle, our design allows for reduced procedure time, improved sample integrity, and takes a three-tool process down to one.

Team: Ryan Brennan, Michael Kelly, Wei-Ming McCage, Quinn Brown, Andrew Monson
Project Sponsor: Dr. Brian Trump
Co-Instructor: Dr. Carter Bruett

The RIME Project aims to reduce avalanche victim recovery time and increase survival rates by transitioning beacon-search operations from manned helicopters to drones. Standard avalanche transceivers emit an emergency signal at 457 kHz. Our team is developing a drone-mountable payload that houses this specialized receiver, filters and conditions the signal to mitigate onboard electromagnetic interference, relays spatial telemetry back to the pilot in real time, and deploys a physical ground marker directly over the pinpointed beacon.

Team: Alex Dumont, Jacob Loseman, Cooper Miller, Jaylissa Ostler, Max Johnson, Grace Walker
Project Sponsor: JT VonLunen (RMUS)
Co-Instructor: Dr. Erik Anderson

Pelvic floor disorders affect approximately 25% of women and can impair bladder, bowel, and sexual function. Current clinical assessment relies heavily on subjective manual evaluation, which can vary between physicians and visits, making it difficult to accurately monitor changes in pelvic floor muscle strength. This project focuses on improving an existing levator ani measurement device by increasing its force measurement resolution to at least 0.1 N and integrating the results into a digital readout. The improved device will provide clinicians with objective, reliable measurements over a patient’s recovery timeline while remaining low-cost, hygienic, scalable, and either disposable or compatible with disposable components.

Team: Will Frantz, Nick Jones, Clayton Derrick, Adam Hansen, Madison Maldonado
Project Sponsor: Dr. Sonia Parra
Co-Instructor: Erik Andersen

One aspect of study performed in the Neuroergonomics & Occupational Biomechanics Laboratory, headed by Dr. Erika Pliner, is the hazards that arise from climbing ladders. While forces at the bottom of a ladder can currently be examined from floor force plates in the lab, a force instrumented ladder attachment is necessary to examine the forces between the top of the ladder and a roof surface. This attachment will contain load cells for force sensing as well as seek to increase friction forces and decrease risk of ladder slippage.

Team: Mark Barsotti, Alex Davey, Theodore Hays, Megan Long, Seth Overman
Project Sponsor: Dr. Erika Pliner
Co-Instructor: Dr. Erik Andersen

Our **Dual-Actuated Load Frame** is a versatile mechanical testing platform designed for precise and controlled loading of materials, components, and structural assemblies. Featuring two independently controlled actuators, the system supports synchronized, opposing, and asymmetric loading configurations to accommodate a wide range of experimental applications. Its rigid frame construction provides stability and repeatability, while the modular design allows for the integration of specialized fixtures, sensors, and instrumentation. Designed for research and development, the system enables controlled force and displacement testing, material characterization, deformation analysis, and experimental validation of mechanical systems.

Team: Renzo Neil, Ian Goodfellow, Jace Talavera, Scott Biddinger, Edgar Doan

Project Sponsors: Dr. Nelson Vieira De Carvalho & Dr. Michael Czabaj

Co-Instructor: Dr. Erik Anderson

 Our sponsor, Greg Mallory, built a two-wheeled adaptive bike prototype to provide disabled riders with an experience similar to traditional mountain biking. The bike is propelled using handcranks and is designed to be ridden in a kneeling seated position. We are tasked with creating a stabilizer system that allows for controlled starting and stopping of the bike and prevents tipping over. The stabilizer must allow the rider to keep their hands on the handcranks, and it must support the rider on varying terrain.

Team: Camas Alexander, Beau Reavey, Sebastion Jenson, Emily Paul
Project Sponsor: Greg Mallory
Co-Instructor: Dr. Erik Andersen

The goal of this senior design project is to design and develop a mobile, safe, and reliable out-of-autoclave (OOA) curing system for carbon fiber composite manufacturing using prepreg carbon fiber resin. The system is intended to cure prepreg carbon fiber materials using a controlled and uniform temperature ramp-up process without requiring a traditional industrial autoclave which uses high pressure to keep the mold intact. The OOA system will utilize a vacuum bag molding process to maintain the carbon fiber shape against a mold while applying a carefully controlled thermal cycle.

Team: Alexander Wilcox, Teagan Davis, Averil Estrada, Casey Green, Chad Berghoff

Project Sponsor: James Barsdorf