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Undergraduate Design
Penn State Bioengineering students engage in a major design experience that uses skills learned in EDSGN 100 and other engineering, math, and science courses to design, build, and test solutions to projects sponsored by the medical industry and health professionals. Our major design sequence consists of Introduction to Research and Design (BIOE 401), Clinical Correlations (BIOE 440) and Senior Design (BIOE 450W). Together, these courses help students transition from theoretical knowledge of medicine and engineering to the development of practical deliverables addressing an important problem in health and biology. After these design experiences students are better qualified to be leaders in the medical industry or post-undergraduate study because of their improved skills in teamwork, increased proficiency in developing and implementing design strategies, and improved skills in communicating design solutions to problems in medicine and biology.
Specifically, the design experience entails:
(1) Recognizing the need,
(2) Defining the problem,
(3) Planning the project,
(4) Gathering information,
(5) Conceptualizing alternative approaches,
(6) Evaluating the alternatives
(7) Selecting the preferred alternative,
(8) Communicating the design, and,
(9) Implementing the preferred design.
Students use the "Learning Factory" to implement design solutions through rapid prototyping or machining equipment and the teams meet with the instructor on a regular basis for progress assessment. At the end of the semester, all student teams demonstrate their working project in a formal College-wide design presentation (named "The Project Showcase") which is open to the general public.
The Learning Factory
The Learning Factory provides modern design facilities, prototyping, and manufacturing facilities, including machining (computerize numerical control, CNC and manual) rapid prototyping, welding, metrology, and a computer aided design (CAD). Training classes are offered in shop safety, machining and welding. Any engineering student can use "The Learning Factory" on a walk-in basis for a course-related activity, and instructors can schedule all or part of the facilities for an organized class activity.
Past Projects
At the completion of the projects students are encouraged to submit their designs to national competitions such as the Biomedical Engineering Innovation, Design and Entrepreneurship Award (BMEidea) Competition (National competition celebrating student biomedical innovation, sponsored by the National Collegiate Invertors and Innovators Alliance, apps.nciia.org). In 2007 and 2008, projects from the capstone design class were invited as finalists to the Rehabilitation Engineering Society of North America’s (RESNA) 2008 student design competition in Phoenix, AZ and Washington DC., respectively.
Below is a summary of past projects. Additional information may be available, including how to sponsor a project, on the Industry page.
2012
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2011
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2010
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Ratcheting Handle for Inflation Syringe
Halare New Product Development
Project Lumo
Low Cost Ultrasound Schlieren System
Mashavu and BME Start
Design a bench-top incubator for cell studies
2008
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Diabetes Management for the Disabled: Assistive Device for Patients with One Functioning Arm
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An External Syringe Attachment that Eliminates Unwanted Insulin Cross-Contamination
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Powered prosthetic wrist
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Reach-Assist Insulin Injection Device for Elderly Diabetics
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Syringe Barrel Pressure Study
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Ultrafine Needle Stability Aid for Insulin Withdrawal
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The Penn State Eye Project: Design of Model Eye to be used as a Teaching Aid for Medical Students
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Reliable Insulin Dosage Device for Visually Impaired Diabetics
2007
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(*industry or clinical sponsor)
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Design of an electrode system for intra-operative stapedius muscle EMG recording
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Design of a Rodent Cochlear Electrode Array Fabrication System
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Phase II Design of a robust multi-sensor wheelchair pressure relief timer*
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Design of a stroke volume sensor for a pediatric ventricular assist device
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Design of a Mock Circulatory Flow Loop for Characterizing Flow of Tissue Heart Valves
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Veterinarian Medicine: Design of an Artificial Foal*
2006
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(*industry or clinical sponsor)
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Design of a high volume water degasser I*
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Difficult intubation scope redesign*
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Wheelchair pressure relief timer*
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Wheelchair-toilet transfer board design*
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EKG-triggered circuit designed for cardiac MRI in animals
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Design of a pressure monitoring and triggering unit for MRI in animals
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Design of a biocompatible blood analog
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Design of a pulse oximeter for use in mice*
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Perfusion system design for cultured-cell studies at controlled temperatures
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Design of a high volume water degasser II*
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Design of an improved chronic neural interface connection system
2005
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Design of a Neural Implant Monitoring System
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Design of a Linear Behavioral Chamber with a Drosophila Tracking Device
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Design for Manual C-Mount Filter Wheel for Optical Microscopy
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Design and Development of a Calibration System to Place a Target in a Fluid-Filled Test Loop
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Design of a Temperature Controlled Insert for a Microscope Stage
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Design of Flow Loop to Characterize Nuclei Content
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Design of a Mock Circulatory Flow Loop
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Design of Side-View Particle Image Velocimetry System for Cellular Adhesion Analysis
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The Design of Blood-Contacting Surfaces Using Binary Thin Films
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Design of a System for Rapid Three-Dimesional Digital Rendering of Living Endothelial Cells for Computational Flow and Stress Analysis
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Design of Artificial Calcium-Calmodulin Regulation in Conventional Kinesin Adapted From Kinesin-Like Calmodulin-Binding Protein
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The Design of a Flow Test Apparatus and Experimental Methods for the Quantification of Viral Adhesion to Activated Carbon