The James A. Andrews Memorial Award for Excellence in Capstone Design was established to recognize and encourage students who best demonstrate interest, motivation, and ability in identifying and solving an engineering problem that addresses a real-world concern. The award is intended to honor students who couple creative approaches with practical ability to successfully resolve a situation. James (Jim) Andrews was that kind of engineer. He applied his skills at work for several companies, but the longest as Senior Field Support Engineer for Rockwell Automation. This award was established in admiration of Jim’s flexible, can-do spirit.
Award Winners
2023
Team: 408
Project: Distribution Manifold
Team Members: Gobind Aulakh, Micah Gallagher, Tanner Martin, Scott Vaught
Advisors: Dr. Hessam Taherian, Dr. Anilchandra Attaluri
Sponsor: Sartorius AG
Our mission is to design a mechanism(s) for Sartorius AG to remove safety caps from a distribution manifold and install new Luer-Barbed fittings in place of the safety caps as part of their production process. Investigating the Product Design Specifications for the customer was key in determining that employee fatigue needs to be reduced while increasing production capacity. Brainstorming, concept generation, concept screening/scoring along with "out of the box" ideas provided a clear path for prototyping and testing. Hand calculations and computational analyses led the team to a concrete design. The final goal is to build two tabletop mechanisms; one will mechanically operate the unit to remove the caps, and a second motor/belt driven assembly will install the new caps at the customer’s desired torque specifications. Each unit will be presented as a professionally designed, off-the-shelf product ready to use by Sarotius.
2021
Program: Mechanical Engineering/Mechanical Engineering Technology
Project: Structural Steel Lifting Device
Supported by: Kinsley Manufacturing Co.
Team Members: Matthew Lynerd, Jacob Myers, Ashley Ruch and Robert Sirk
Faculty Adviser: Hessam Taherian
This project’s mission is to design an efficient lifting device that allows for a reduction of time required for moving structural steel beams and columns. The lifting device will be designed to save the customer time by lifting a greater quantity of members than the existing solutions and will utilize the customer’s gantry crane. The final goal for the customer is to load and unload a flatbed trailer up to 40,000 pounds in one pick.
2019
Program: Computer Science
Group: HTML Forge
Members: Hsuan Han Lai, Waqas Latif, and Khalid Qubbaj
2018
Program: Mechanical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering Technology
Project: Personalized 3D Printed Implant for Pediatric Oncology Bone Loss
Sponsors: Four Diamonds and Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center
Group Members: Joshua Adams, Ali Elakkari, Alex Preniczky, Phu Trinh
External Advisers: Dr. Gregory Lewis and Dr. Edward Fox, M.D. (Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center)
Faculty Adviser: Dr. Anilchandra Attaluri
