Lansdale, Pennsylvania—June 1, 2016—The Engineering Design and Development
students of the
Engineering Academy at North Penn High
School hosted a nanotechnology and
engineering research presentation on
Wednesday, June 1, 2016 at North Penn High
School in Lansdale PA.
Engineering Design and Development, or EDD, is the capstone course
of a national Pre-engineering program called
Project Lead the Way. In this course,
students work together to
research, design, and construct solutions to
engineering problems.
North Penn’s EDD course has a unique
nanotechnology research program, developed by its
instructor, known as The Future is N.E.A.R.
(Nanotechnology Education And Research).
The EDD course and NEAR program offer its
students the opportunity to gain essential
21st century skills that will
prepare them to become successful leaders in
a technological global society.
The program introduces the fundamentals of
nanotechnology, engineering research
principles, and a rigorous application of
their skills and knowledge to high school
students while cultivating their interest in
engineering, problem solving and life-long
learning. Students seek opportunities
to
design and test solutions to global issues
by capitalizing from the fundamentals of
nanotechnology and engineering
utilizing the latest published research
available.
This
year, 18 students in seven
research teams and three students from the
Engineering Projects in Community Service
(EPICS) club presented their research. Please see
the video recorded by North Penn Television
and images
from their final presentation below:
2016
Invitation
2016 Program
Image 1: The Future is NEAR (Nanotechnology Education and Research)
students after their presentation.
Image 2: The Future is NEAR (Nanotechnology Education and Research) students
after their presentation.
Jonathan Hollenbach |
Nicholas Seiberlich |
Mark Wallace
Deltaphase
Enterprises: Phase Change Core-Sheath Nanofibers
Does it bother you when your coffee gets cold, or even when your iced coffee
gets too warm? If you could control the temperature of everything around you,
wouldn’t you be happier? This idea of thermal management has an almost limitless
list of potential applications. For instance, engines need to be cooler in order
to operate at maximum performance, however; the temperature increases over time
and engines become less efficient. The same can be said about computers,
servers, electrical connections and so on. However the current solutions for
thermal management are expensive; heating and cooling accounts for 48% of the
energy costs for a US household. There needs to be a better way to manage heat
at a low cost.
Keith Earle |
Tyler Gillett
KT Technologies,
Inc.: Concussion Detection and
Prevention
It is estimated that 1.6-3.8 million sports related concussions occur in the
United States each year, and that number continues to grow rapidly as time
progresses. A concussion is a temporary unconsciousness caused by a blow to the
head or the term is used to describe the after effects of a concussive force.
As of today many different companies have tried to come up with more innovative
and technological ways to detect and/or prevent a person from attaining a
concussion. The number one sport that has the highest concussion rate is
football. By testing current materials that are used in players’ helmets, a
material can be developed that absorbs more impact force than the current
materials and in return reduces the risk of head injuries.
Tommy Novia |
Mash Pramanik
MT
Bioscience: Water Quality: Purification and Filtration
1 in 10 people around the world lack the access to safe drinking water. That is
over 783 million people and more than double the population of the U.S. Water is
one the most essential needs of our body. A person can only live without water
for eight to ten days and these 783 million people having been living like that
for their entire life. Approximately 1400 children under the age of five die due
to unsafe drinking water every day. The lack of water has caused a widespread
dehydration in developing countries. A current solution is to create a cheap and
effective water filter that anyone can afford.
Tom Gerhart |
Brian Lawn
Nanomedical Solutions: Cellular Regeneration, Scaffolding and
Antibacterial Core-Sheath Nanofibers Our knowledge on oral
medications and xenobiotic metabolism, the drug degradation process in the
liver, has expanded in the past 5 decades, however the rate at which drugs are
introduced to the blood stream is not proportional to treat the pain that we
experience when suffering from external wounds. Many fabrics have been created
to aid in cell regeneration, but none have had the combination of antibacterial
characteristics, drug encapsulation, and cell regeneration scaffold’s to help
heal wounds quicker, thus lessening the chance of infection. Although wound
treatment and our knowledge of infection prevention is at its height, we believe
that these treatments could still be improved. Typical wound treatments today
involve wrapping the wound with gauze, which not only traps bacteria but also
does nothing to improve the pain that the patient is experiencing. By applying a
bandage that has a cellular scaffold, core-sheath Nanofibers containing
Naproxen, and anti-bacterial nanofibers, we can aid in the cellular regeneration
process, reduce pain symptoms, and reduce the chance of infection thus reducing
the healing time and reducing the chance of complications.
Dominic DiBerardino |
Thomas Dickson |
TJ O'Hagan
PiezoTech: Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting and Storage
Imagine being able to charge your phone simply by walking. Currently more that
50 percent of power in The United States is produced from fossil fuels. If more
time and effort is put toward piezoelectric materials and energy harvesting, it
could reduce the amount of fossil fuels consumed every year and eliminate
pollutants produced from other methods.
While sound is an extremely important asset to human communication, its negative
effects can be disturbing, and damaging in some cases. Sound pollution is a
global scale problem, and can be damaging to an environment. In addition,
different sound frequencies can have a varied effect on the eardrums, which can
do permanent damage to one’s hearing.
Bailey Harp |
Nate McWilliams |
Abdullah Nahean
ThermoTech: Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting and Storage
By-product heat from many energy production processes has many viable and
practical uses, such as the production of electricity. However, current thermal
capturing and repurposing methods are not widely used. Current state of the art
is inadequate, expensive, and inefficient.
Anthony Brigidi |
Engy Khoshit |
TJ Schmidt
Engineering
Projects In Community Service (EPICS): Hydrophobic Nanofibers
A group of students in the Engineering Projects In Community Service (EPICS)
Club presented research regarding the development of superhydrophobic nanofiber
based coatings to protect electronics during land, air, sea and space travel.
This opportunity stems from a collaboration with Montgomery County Community
College through Temple University and a Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium
research grant they have been awarded. This year, the EPICS NASA research
students have run and characterized several experiments utilizing various
polymers and have gained promising results! The greatest contact angle
measured was over 1340-
that's almost super hydrophobic!
