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UR Engineering Students Show Off Designs To Solve "Real World" Problems

Photo by Brandon Vick/University of Rochester

Seniors at the University of Rochester's Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have teamed up with local companies to solve real world engineering problems in the fields of medicine, alternative energy, optics and communications. 

Today is Design Day at the school, where the public was invited to view the completed projects.  One of the projects is a portable turbine that provides power via a USB connection. "Clearly, it's one of those projects that goes across the boundaries of mechanical and electrical engineering", said Wayne Knox, Associate Dean of Education and New Initiatives. " It's a very challenging little thing. Imagine if you had your cell phone and you were on the beach and there is a lot of wind. You could charge your cell phone up. It  would be a nice thing to have." 

Other student team projects include a device that detects air bubbles in the heart to reduce the risk of life threatening complications after surgery, a robot that roams through hospitals to kill bacteria using ultraviolet light and a fermentation process that produces ethanol from whey, a waste product of the cheese and dairy industry.  Students also designed an imagining system that detects skin cancer in its very early stages, avoiding more invasive procedures.  

Beth Adams joined WXXI as host of Morning Edition in 2012 after a more than two-decade radio career. She was the longtime host of the WHAM Morning News in Rochester. Her career also took her from radio stations in Elmira, New York, to Miami, Florida.