April 27, 2026 · 3-6 p.m. Capstone Program Showcase Gatton Student Center Grand Ballroom

Sponsor: Dr. Phillip Latham, Dr. Victor Garcia

Brooks Horsford, Madison Hepp, Caroline Smith, Sarah Henderson, Josiah Laakkonen

Our team’s proposed solution is the Pectus Pulley, which aims to decrease the amount of pain and level of restrictions associated with PE correction. Similar to the way that orthodontic braces gradually correct the shape of a smile over the course of several years, the Pectus Pulley would apply a steady upward force to the sternum to correct the deformity over time rather than all at once. Its main mechanism would be a pulley system capable of applying a variable amount of force that depends on the degree of tightening in the wires. During the initial surgical insertion of the device, the wire can apply only a small tension force in order to reduce the amount of initial discomfort. As months pass, motors will pull harder on the wire to introduce more tension, gradually repairing the PE. After at most three years in the body, the Pectus Pulley can be removed, allowing the child can enjoy a life of easy breathing.

Sponsor: Dr. Clinton Morgan

Aidan Arora, Andrew Vaughn, Jackson Stone, Jimena Ramirez Soto

The problem addressed in this project involves the poor usability and safety of current percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) and gastrostomy (G-tube) feeding systems. These tubes are inserted by cardiothoracic surgeons or gastroenterologists using an endoscope to guide placement through the mouth and down into the stomach (PEG) or by performing a direct surgery through the abdomen for interior access to the stomach (Traditional G-tube). The people affected include nurses, caregivers, and patients who rely on these devices for enteral nutrition due to neurological conditions, cancer, stroke, etc. that impair swallowing. Specifically, older patients who receive PEG tubes initially, often need a follow-up surgery once the insertion wound has healed to switch to a lower profile option such as a G-button. This surgery is time-consuming and costly for both patients and clinicians; however, it is the standard for older patients as the less invasive nature of PEG tube insertion allows for quicker and safer placement and healing. PEG tubes leave an external excess tubing of around 8-12 inches which can lead to tube snagging, migration, and dislodgement. This then can evolve into issues maintaining sterility or stabilizing the patient, leading to inefficiency and increased risk of contamination or leakage. The procedure of daily feeding, medication administration, and cleaning require frequent connection and disconnection, but current designs are awkward or uncomfortable to use. Existing products, including traditional PEG tubes, G-tube kits, and low-profile “button” ports such as the MIC-KEY and AMT MiniONE, are prone to leakage, breakage, or accidental dislodgement due to their rigid or complex connectors. This problem is encountered in hospitals, nursing facilities, and home-care environments where staff must balance patient care efficiency, infection control, and device reliability. The proposed design solution involves a three-part, modular feeding tube that is endoscopically placed for a quick, minimally invasive procedure and fitted based on the patient’s abdomen to stomach distance (~1.3-5.5 cm). Its ease of tubular attachment and removal, coupled with its low-profile port design, addresses many key issues with current PEG tube designs. This design eliminates external tubing and graspable edges, reducing the risk of accidental dislodgement. This device is placed like a PEG tube but exhibits a low-profile design much like a G-button which improves surgery time, safety, and eliminates the need for patients with a PEG tube to receive a follow up G-button surgery once the incision area has healed. This device acts as a comfortable, one-time placement surgery that considers the patient’s needs and the clinician’s time. The ribbed tubing that is locked into the middle port components space allows for adjustable length of the inner lumen depending on the patient’s abdomen to stomach distance. This novel design is not seen or considered on any of the current market’s devices. The top cap component is then placed once the tube is fixed in the middle port and cut, introducing an internal one-way pressure valve and external tube attachment cover to prevent leakage and contamination. Patients would experience better day-to-day experiences with this device such as reduced risk of snagging causing dislodgment, reduced risk of leakage, and low-profile aesthetic. Caregivers would experience a clean and straightforward method of attachment and detachment, improving the bolus feeding experience for patients.

Sponsor: Dr. George K Thomas

Samuel Wakeman, Nathaniel Petrie, Zander Via, Bodie Woodrum, Eli Blay

General laparoscopic surgeries (hysterectomies, bariatric procedures, appendectomy, hernia repair, etc.) have a step where a surgeon will insert a Veress needle into the patient’s abdominal cavity to create a pneumoperitoneum via carbon dioxide gas. The common method for insertion is to use prior knowledge and experience to calculate where the needle should be inserted into the patient. If the patient has conditions that could complicate this process (morbid obesity, previous abdominal surgeries, etc.), the surgeon will use ultrasound to assist them. There are two problems we are currently looking at. One is that this current method of insertion results in unnecessary iatrogenic injuries to patients including vascular, visceral, solid organ, or omental injuries. Two is it is costing the patient (or patient’s insurance) too much money to use feedback systems like ultrasound imaging; that is why it is not used in every case causing more patients to have insertion of the Veress needle done “blindly.” These problems affect everyone from the patient to the surgery technologist to the nurse to the surgeon and so on. Current products are inefficient and if the surgeon inserts it into the correct spot there is usually no issue related to the needle, but 1 in every 1000 cases has an abdominal injury and there are over 13 million laparoscopic procedures performed annually, leading to over 13,000 abdominal injuries. The mortality rate for this problem is low (0.02% of cases), but that does not take away from the severity of the injuries. The injuries resulting from abdominal entry complications can result in minor symptoms like bruising or can be as major as septic shock or multiorgan failure. This can also lead to long term effects including adhesions, chronic pain, hernia at incision sites, or changes in bowel and bladder function. Surgeons performing laparoscopic surgeries that require entry into the abdomen need a reliable method of entry that reduces the likelihood of vascular or bowel injury and enhances overall surgical safety and recovery outcomes without altering standardized workflow.  The Smart Veress needle solves this problem by using Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy to prevent bowel injury. It also uses a pressure sensor to ensure correct placement into the abdominal cavity with accurate feedback to the clinician.

Sponsor: Dr. Mark Fritz

Madison Cook, Arin Bateman, Jacquelyn Neltner, Katline King

Chronic cough (CC), a cough persisting for more than eight weeks, affects approximately 10% of the global population and is frequently driven by maladaptive neurogenic hypersensitivity rather than protective airway reflexes. In refractory and unexplained chronic cough (RCC/UCC), patients continue to experience symptoms despite guideline-based treatment of common comorbidities such as asthma, gastroesophageal reflux disease, or rhinosinusitis. The absence of objective tools to quantify cough frequency and intensity forces clinicians to rely on subjective patient reports, leading to prolonged trial-and-error pharmacologic management, increased healthcare costs, and reduced patient quality of life.

This project proposes the development of a wearable force-sensing diagnostic belt to provide continuous, objective monitoring of cough events. The system utilizes a low-profile polyester–elastane belt integrated with a strain gauge sensor to measure diaphragmatic tension associated with cough-related respiratory movement. Analog sensor signals are filtered to reduce noise and transmitted to an external processing platform, where signal-processing algorithms identify cough events based on characteristic mechanical signatures. A companion mobile application allows patients to log contextual factors such as meals, physical activity, and sleep, and to validate detected cough events to improve classification accuracy. This data is displayed through a clinician interface that enables visualization of cough frequency, temporal patterns, and correlations with behavioral triggers.

By providing longitudinal, quantitative cough metrics over extended monitoring periods, this system addresses a critical gap in chronic cough management. The proposed device supports data-driven clinical decision-making, improves assessment of treatment efficacy, and offers a standardized outcome measure for clinical trials and future FDA-approved chronic cough therapies.

Sponsor: Dr. Meredith Owens

Chandler Maddox, Olivia Kelly, Sarah Epstein, Delaney McNeese

This thesis proposes the continued development of a quantitative assessment device to evaluate driving readiness in individuals recovering from lower extremity injuries. Currently, orthopedic surgeons and physical therapists rely on subjective pain and functional scales to determine when a patient may safely resume driving. These methods lack validated safety thresholds and contribute to inconsistent clinical decision-making. At the same time, impaired brake reaction time (BRT) and reduced braking force—well-established contributors to increased crash risk—are not measured in typical rehabilitation settings. This gap leaves both clinicians and patients without objective guidance during recovery. This problem was identified by our clinical collaborators, who work directly with lower extremity injury patients in rehabilitation environments. Patients progress through multiple stages of injury, immobilization, and recovery, yet the most critical decisions regarding return to driving occur when mobility deficits persist but are difficult to quantify. A device capable of measuring BRT and braking force in a controlled, clinic-based environment would provide data-driven insight and improve confidence in clearance decisions. Building on work completed during the fall semester, my interdisciplinary team of biomedical engineering and product design students has developed several prototypes of a pedal-based testing device designed to capture braking performance. Each prototype iteration has incorporated clinician feedback and moved closer to an idealized, clinically deployable system. In the coming term, this project will focus on refining the mechanical design, enhancing sensor accuracy, improving user interface components, and preparing the device for preliminary validation with physical therapists and orthopedic clinicians. The long-term objective of this thesis is to bridge the current gap between subjective clinical assessments and costly research-grade simulators by developing a portable, quantitative, and accessible.

Sponsor: Dr. Rachel Jonas

Joseph Stachnik, Colin Owens, Sam McClure, Michael Ancona, Jordan Mulcahy, Carson Ferrin

Currently, implant sizing during medialization laryngoplasty is a trial and error process. Surgeons estimate implant dimensions using a mix of visual judgment and manual calipers, often relying on experience rather than precise data. The standard tool the netterville set is essentially a manual ruler. Imagine trying to read a ruler in a dark narrow space while operating through a 10 mm by 5 mm window, it would be nearly impossible to get consistent, and quantitative readings. Because of this, implant creation varies, leading to longer OR times and revision rates up to 10% of the time due to improper sizing or alignment. The result? increased operative time, swelling of the throat during the procedure, and inconsistent results. Our digital caliper system solves this by quantifying depth and angle in real time. The device uses a caliper brain setup for the depth and a stepper motor with a button for one degree increments to get the right and accurate data. This data will appear instantly on a sterilizable digital display attached to the handle allowing the surgeon to see exact millimeter and degrees values during surgery. Once the measurements are taken the silistic carving is made easier with the cutter because it will take off more than 50% of the work and give surgeons a pre cut piece without high force requirements. They will be able to press down and then make their final cuts to create the perfect piece meshing both together. Compared to the current Netterville set, our system: - Removes the need for manual estimation and calculations - Reduces procedure time from 15-20 minutes to under 10, and - Improves reproducibility between surgeons Value: By replacing guesswork with digital precision our device directly addresses the key pain point of inconsistent implant sizing. For the surgeon, this means faster, data-driven procedures. For the patient, it means more accurate voice restoration and fewer revision surgeries. It's a low cost, high impact improvement that integrates seamlessly into the existing surgical workflow

Sponsor: Dr. Tama Thé and Dr. Musilli

Avanti Sawardekar, Audrey Cruser, Maryamawit Kebebe, Madison Gauthier

In emergency medicine settings such as the ambulance or emergency room, rapid vascular access is often essential when peripheral intravenous (IV) access is not available. This is especially true for pediatric patients, whose smaller anatomy and vasculature make it difficult to insert a central line and administer medication. Intraosseous (IO) devices are routinely used to access the vascular system through the intramedullary cavity.

The clinical need for improving IO access in pediatric patients is underscored by its measurable incidence, prevalence, and associated outcomes. According to a population-based analysis using an electronic health record (EHR) database, the incidence of IO access is approximately 18 per 100,000 pediatric encounters. This reflects a significant clinical population, especially when the total number of emergency department visits nationally each year is considered. In a separate nationwide study conducted in Germany, as many as one in four critically ill or injured pediatric patients arrive at the hospital with IO access already established, highlighting the frequency with which IO access is used in prehospital and emergency care settings.

Outcomes for this population remain a concern. Overall mortality among pediatric patients with IO access is 31.8%, with a higher mortality rate among infants under one year old (39.2%) compared to children aged 1-18 years old (29.0%). These figures reflect how severe conditions are for the patient population in which IO access is typically employed. Subsequent complications and comorbidities are also common.

Sponsor: Eric Dawalt

Mia Larned, Pat Faust, Z Uruakpa, Jillian Fortwengler

Plastic trash pollution in streams threatens ecosystems, water quality, and nearby communities. Accumulated trash in Jacobson Park Reservoir #4 poses health concerns to the drinking water of surrounding residents. Current LFUCG funded collection systems are costly, inefficient, and difficult to clean. Trash collection previously required manual unloading and frequent maintenance. A streamlined, low-maintenance approach is needed to reduce labor demands and improve long-term waste management.

Website 

Sponsor: David Neville with Capstone Farms

Abbie Davidson, Chloe Osborne, Philip Caldbeck, Gretchen Wahoff

In the United States, 30-40% of the food supply is wasted annually. Composting utilizes food waste to produce fertilizer and reduce landfill. Currently, the market provides large-scale composters for industrial operations and small-scale options for households. Traditional composting requires intensive process management, which results in a reliance on human intervention. A medium-scale continuous process composter that is both affordable and automated is not readily available on the market.

Website 

Sponsor: The Void Sake Co.

Natalie Cupples, Makenna Hull, Ben Lin, Anastasia Myers

The process of fermentation is required in the production of alcoholic beverages. For sake brewing, both solid and liquid fermentation steps are required. In the solid fermentation step, a bed of rice is fermented using a traditional koji table. This table allows brewers to monitor and manipulate fungus growth. The growth cycle of koji mold is in the brewer’s control; deviations from allowed temperature and humidity ranges can lead to an undesired final product. A common problem with koji is the risk of sporulation, or overgrowth of the mold. Sporulation is often signaled by a color change in the rice, which is why koji growth and its environmental conditions must constantly be monitored by the brewer. This color change signaling sporulation can be difficult to notice, often occurring within the bed of rice. The issue of sporulation can lead to waste and large expenses.  The proposed design consists of six fans mounted directly underneath the table, paired with thermocouple temperature sensors implanted in the rice bed on the table. The temperature sensors will be connected to a dashboard, which will display live temperatures for each zone. If the temperature of the rice bed deviates from the ideal temperature, the fans will be prompted to turn on and cool the rice. Once the rice returns to the correct temperature, the fans will turn off. The dashboard will also record the status of each fan as on or off.

Website 

Sponsor: Dr. John McMaine

Jacob Crabtree, Elizabeth Frericks, Natalie Willett

Worldwide, over 200 flood events accounting for 100 billion dollars in damages occur annually. During 100 year or greater rain events, traditional basins are incapable of reducing peak flow. This inability to manage peak flow can be reduced with the integration of an active control system into existing basins. A scale model will be constructed for a two-basin system draining to a watershed to show flooding scenarios for the education of civil engineers and city planners.

Website 

Sponsor: Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, Dr. Mick Peterson and the Racing Surfaces Laboratory

Lauren Kargas, Brynn Cooper, Rianna Mueller

Synthetic turf arenas contribute to global microplastic pollution, with artificial turf responsible for up to 15% of total plastic in waterways. During rainfall, these microplastics enter streams, negatively impacting aquatic organisms, wildlife, and humans through bioaccumulation. This environmental risk is driven by the degradation of turf fibers due to mechanical wear from cleats, weathering, and UV radiation. The resulting fragments, containing toxic polymers, primarily polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), are transported through the sub-surface drainage layers and directly discharged into adjacent waterways, posing serious and complex ecological risks.  Currently, technology to mitigate this contamination is only conceptual. Existing concepts often propose implementing filtration solely through catch basins within the existing drainage network. However, these solutions are characterized by high operational costs, complex installation, and a susceptibility to clogging. This absence of a robust, preventative filtration strategy embedded within the field structure itself represents a critical technological gap that must be addressed. This void creates a unique opportunity to create a cost-effective, multi-layered filtration system designed for implementation during new field construction. The success of this approach is rooted in the efficiency of adsorption and sediment technologies. Filtration media  are effective at removing polymer ions due to their unique surface area, charge, and hydrophobic interactions with microplastics.  To both address and actively combat this issue, a water collection and filtration system will be designed for an outdoor sports arena in Lexington, Kentucky, to capture microplastics of a specific range and discourage damaging environmental results.

Website 

Sponsor: Hubie Ballard, MD

Kynady Thomas, Leah Moylan, Jake Miller, Charles Eisner

The heating and humidification of mechanically ventilated air is critical for the health of a patient’s lungs during invasive, life-saving care. As a consequence of external heating and humidifying before the patient, warm patient air is exposed through thin plastic tubing to a cooler external environment. This cool environment causes the condensation and accumulation of water, “rainout”, in ventilator circuits. Rainout can cause many adverse effects on care for the vulnerable patient population in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of Golisano Children's Hospital. To reduce the impacts of rainout, respiratory therapists must check for and remove rainout, a task that is time consuming and contributing to staff burden present in healthcare settings.

To mitigate rainout in neonatal ventilator circuits, the team proposes an auto drain system that functions in conjunction with the ventilator circuits used at Golisano Children’s Hospital. The auto drain will function to collect rainout in a trap connected to the expiratory limb of the circuit, sense when the trap is full, activate a pinch valve to isolate the trap from the circuit, then drain the trap to a larger storage container using a peristaltic pump. The system will be controlled through a microcontroller. The drain system will maintain a closed, sterile, and functioning ventilator circuit while removing condensation as it occurs. The larger storage container will be accessible to staff for once a shift removal.

Sponsor: Dr. Patrick Erbland - Kentucky State University
Dr. Joe Dvorak - University of Kentucky

Andrew Meade, McKenzie Pickard, Terence Redford

Depletion of wild fish populations has increased pressure on aquaculture to support U.S. food security, making efficient and sustainable fish production increasingly important. Many small and medium-scale fish farmers rely on floating raceways to raise fish, yet they face persistent challenges in monitoring fish growth and biomass. Current methods typically involve manual netting and physical measurements, which are labor-intensive and stressful to the fish. These limitations make it difficult for producers to accurately assess fish health, estimate growth rates, and predict profitability. This project focuses on the development of a hydroacoustic system designed to estimate fish biomass in floating raceways without disturbing the fish. The system uses ultrasonic sound to detect fish and convert acoustic reflections into practical biomass estimates that can support daily decisions. Ultrasonic piezoelectric transducers mounted to the raceway structure transmit short sound pulses across the water and receive echoes reflected by fish swim bladders. Because swim bladders contain air, they create strong acoustic reflections that allow fish to be distinguished from the surrounding water. Transducer frequency and placement are carefully selected to reduce interference from raceway walls, water surface, and confined-space effects. Custom electronics generate the transmit signals and condition the received echoes for digital processing. Automated filtering and modeling translate raw acoustic data into clear estimates of fish biomass and distribution with minimal user input. All components are housed in waterproof, corrosion-resistant enclosures suitable for outdoor environments. By prioritizing durability, simplicity, affordability, and reasonable accuracy, this project aims to bridge the gap between research-grade hydroacoustic systems and the practical needs of floating raceway aquaculture operations.

Website 

Sponsor: N/A

Lauren Lanham, Will Faulkner, Heath Shewmaker, Kyler Kromer

A drivetrain redesign was conducted for the University of Kentucky Wildcat Pulling Team to address performance limitations and inefficiencies identified in the previous tractor model, the Wildcat 3525. The Wildcat Pulling Team competes annually in the International Quarter-Scale (IQS) Tractor Student Design Competition, where a full tractor redesign is required each year. While the prior design achieved high performance results, inadequate technical justification of drivetrain component selections negatively impacted design report and presentation scores. As a result, developing a well-justified, efficient, and reliable drivetrain became a critical objective in support of the team’s 2026 goal of winning the overall competition. During the first semester of the project, efforts focused on evaluating and improving the cooling capabilities of the existing custom right-angle gearbox, designing and testing a custom conical varying gearbox, and developing an engine dynamometer for component testing. In the second semester, the knowledge gained from analysis and preliminary testing was applied to the design, manufacture, and validation of the final drivetrain system for the Wildcat 3526. Major components included a custom aluminum right-angle gearbox, aluminum clutch box housing, aluminum drop box reduction housing, and a custom-geared Cub Cadet transaxle. The right-angle gearbox and clutch assembly were tested using the dynamometer test stand to verify durability and operational reliability. Continuous collaboration with the Wildcat Pulling Team ensured compatibility and seamless integration of the redesigned drivetrain into the final tractor assembly.

Website 

Sponsor: Steve Schafrik, James B. Beam Institute

Hannah Mason, Courtney Phillips, Sydney Dendekker

The Jim Beam distillery in Bardstown has been experiencing corrosion-induced failure of metallic components in the rickhouse. This is due to the corrosive environment created in a distillery from the high concentration of ethanol in the air combined with temperature cycles causing highly concentrated ethanol to condensate on metallic components. Our team was tasked with analyzing the corrosion formed on barrel hoops using testing methods previously established by the organization. Based on the information gathered on the corrosion, a new test is to be developed reflecting the hypothesized mechanisms of corrosion. This test can then be used to determine specific conditions that will lead to failure in the rickhouse and allow the team to propose solutions to mitigate failure backed by evidence gathered from testing.

Sponsor: Bullard

Avi Judd, Renee Elkhatib, Madison Williams, Laila Abdul-Rasheed

Sponsor: Dr. Landon Mills, Gray AES

Cassie Miles, Shelby Lynch, Alex Soutuyo, Nathaniel Payne

This project focuses on the conceptual design of a commercial dry kibble pet food manufacturing facility for Paw-some Pet Bites Inc., a startup company seeking to enter the premium pet food market. The goal of the design was to develop a safe, efficient, and cost-effective process capable of producing 20 million 20-lb bags of dry kibble annually while meeting industry standards for food safety, product quality, and operational reliability.

The design team acted as process engineers within Little Gray Design & Consulting (LGDC) and was responsible for developing the core production process from raw material handling through post-extrusion cooling. Major process areas evaluated include bulk and minor dry ingredient storage, batching and milling, meat slurry handling, clean-in-place (CIP) systems, liquid ingredient supply, preconditioning and extrusion, drying, coating, cooling, and intermediate storage. Emphasis was placed on identifying process bottlenecks, establishing realistic operating assumptions, and ensuring continuous 24/7 operation.

Process flow diagrams, mass balances, equipment lists, and a general facility layout were developed to support early-stage cost estimation and design decision-making. In addition, environmental, health, and safety considerations were incorporated using inherently safer design principles to reduce risks associated with dust handling, thermal operations, and sanitation systems.

The final outcome of this project is a comprehensive basis of design that demonstrates how engineering fundamentals can be applied to a real-world industrial problem while balancing performance, safety, and economic feasibility. This design provides Paw-some Pet Bites Inc. with a strong conceptual foundation for future facility development and detailed engineering.

Sponsor: Corey Draffen, P.E., Westlake

Andres Phillips Calderon, Matthew Fisher, Jade Miller, Dylan Cowan

During this semester, our team will collaborate with Westlake to redesign a portion of an existing product stripper system with the goal of improving energy efficiency, operational reliability, and overall economics. The primary focus of the project is the design and evaluation of a new product stripper feed heat interchanger that recovers thermal energy from an existing hot product stream and uses it to preheat the stripper feed to approximately 140 °F before entering the column. This heat recovery strategy is expected to significantly reduce steam consumption and utility demand associated with the stripper operation. The project scope is divided into five integrated components. First, a detailed heat exchanger design will be developed using Aspen Plus with the HeatX block and the NRTL thermodynamic method. Aspen Economic Analyzer will be used to determine key exchanger parameters, including tube geometry, surface area, overdesign factor, exchanger configuration, installed cost, and equipment weight. Second, the existing pumping system will be evaluated by analyzing total flow rate requirements, pump curves, net positive suction heah, and extended operating ranges. Third, the feasibility of merging  three existing feed lines into a single 8-inch line will be evaluated , with alternative piping designs proposed if required. Fourth, an economic analysis will be conducted to quantify steam savings, total capital investment, internal rate of return, and project payback period. Finally, a node-based HAZOP will be performed for the new interchanger system.

Sponsor: Rachel Draffen, P.E., Arkema

Nicholas Calhoun, Enri Diaz, Aaron Hoback, Carlie Williams

This project focuses on Forane 1233zd, a fourth generation hydrofluoroolefin, that is being utilized at Arkema as a heat transfer fluid. The purpose of this project is take this fluid and design a system that removes nitrogen contamination. Initial conditions include an existing 30,000-gallon tank containing 1233zd that has 4 volume % of nitrogen and reduces that to 1 volume %. It is also required that this system's production rate reaches 250,000 pounds per year of purified 1233zd product. Purified product is sent to storage cylinders on-site. Multiple design options are initially considered prior to making a final decision on a design including justifications such as block flow diagrams and general costing analysis. Upon making a final design decision, a process flow diagram is made that displays this design's equipment, control loops, etc. A detailed equipment list is also created that provides sufficient data about each equipment piece in this process. A process hazard analysis is also conducted on this operation to consider the safety aspects and avoid potential hazards. Lastly, a final economic analysis is performed that provides a total cost including equipment capital investment, piping, and operating costs.

Sponsor: Dr. Harmione Bettenhausen and Dr. Kevin Baldridge, James B. Beam Institute for Kentucky Spirits

Payton Richter, Kathryn Kelly, Dylan Bayer, Tyler Sickmeier, SJ Lycans

This James B. Beam Institute sponsored design project focuses on the chemical engineering principles associated with the lab-scale malting of barley for bourbon and whiskey production. The overall objective of this project is to design a process that simulates lab-scale malting operations in the bourbon/whiskey industry, which follows three specified steps. With this process design, it is also asked that the economics of the process and safety concerns in the field are addressed. This project includes the three main steps of malting: steeping, germination, and kilning. The steeping step will demonstrate mixing grain in excess water under controlled temperature conditions, followed by draining the water to wash the grains in activated enzymes. The next step, germination, involves maintaining controlled temperatures, careful mixing, and continuous airflow over a period of a few days to promote internal enzyme development. The kilning step is the final step of the malting process in which the germinated malt is dried to stop germination and prevent the loss of starches as well as preserve the enzymes for fermentation. This is done by carefully controlling the temperature of the process. These three steps will be demonstrated utilizing a process flow diagram (PFD) as well as explained with a professional report and a poster presentation. The design will be evaluated for inherently safe operations, economic impact, product quality, and overall malting efficiency.

Sponsor: Dr. Alan Rassoolkhani, ElectraMet

Amanda Bastian, Andrew Johnson, Daniel Silva, Thomas Coolidge

The overall objective of this project is to develop a continuous process for recycling spent piranha etch by recovering sulfuric acid with a residual hydrogen peroxide concentration below 5 ppm. The process will treat 150 L/hr of a piranha solution composed of a 3:1 volume ratio of 96 wt% sulfuric acid and 30 wt% hydrogen peroxide.

A primary focus of the project is the design and sizing of a catalytic reactor system. Reactor performance will be evaluated by comparing catalyst particle diameters of 1 mm and 5 mm and assessing multiple reactor configurations, including single-bed, packed-bed, series, and parallel arrangements. The selected design must meet residence time and safety requirements while ensuring hydrogen peroxide levels remain below 5 ppm and reaction temperatures do not exceed 90 °C.

A thermal management strategy will be developed to maintain safe operating temperatures and ensure the liquid outlet stream remains below 60 °C. This includes evaluating the need for post-reactor cooling, identifying optimal operating temperatures to enhance reaction kinetics, and integrating heat exchangers based on calculated thermal loads and cooling requirements.

The complete system design will incorporate chemically compatible, corrosion-resistant materials and include a detailed piping and instrumentation diagram (P&ID) and parts list, with materials of construction clearly specified. Environmental, health, and safety considerations will be addressed through a comprehensive EHS audit, emergency shutdown logic, operator protection measures, and mitigation strategies for acid mist risks.

Finally, an economic analysis will estimate capital and operating costs, calculate cost per liter processed over a three-year operational lifetime, and identify key cost drivers through sensitivity analysis.

Sponsor: Jeremy Teague, Evonik Industries

Luke Schneider, Hakeem Kalik, Laura Russell, Elena Smith

This project addresses Evonik's diisopropyl ether (IPE) losses to the atmosphere from a slurry-handling process, estimated at approximately $1,000,000 annually. In the current system, IPE is used as a carrier fluid to slurry a fine solid through a series of processing tanks. Each tank is equipped with a condenser on the conservation vent cooled by a propylene glycol loop at roughly −2 °C; however, IPE is still lost through venting to the atmosphere. The overall objective for this process challenge is to engineer a solution that minimizes IPE losses while meeting performance, safety, and economic requirements. After selecting the most efficient recovery design solution, a Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) will be performed to identify hazards and accident scenarios, evaluate risk, and define necessary safeguards. Finally, an economic analysis will estimate capital and operating costs. This investment will be compared with the value of recovered IPE to assess financial viability and practicality, with a preferred one-year payback period and a maximum of three years.

Sponsor: Dr. Rollie Mills, Funky Rooster

Gwendolyn Hinkle, Kyle McGreevy, Samantha Gentry, Blakely Harden

This project outlines the design, simulation, and economic analysis of an industrial-scale supercritical carbon dioxide decaffeination facility for Funky Rooster Coffee. The primary objective is to engineer a continuous process capable of treating 20,000 tonnes of Arabica coffee beans annually, achieving a minimum caffeine removal efficiency of 97% to meet regulatory standards for decaffeinated products. The design utilizes supercritical CO2 as a selective solvent, chosen for its ability to extract caffeine efficiently while preserving the flavor compounds essential to product quality.

The engineering team will utilize ASPEN Plus software to model the complete process, including high-pressure extraction, solvent recovery, and water recycling loops. The simulation aims to produce three specified outlet streams: solid decaffeinated beans, a concentrated liquid caffeine by-product, and purified water for system reuse. A critical aspect of this study involves an optimization analysis to investigate the technical feasibility and economic trade-offs of increasing decaffeination efficiency from the standard 97% to 100%.

Beyond process simulation, the project scope includes detailed equipment sizing, material selection, and an economic evaluation. This analysis will determine the Total Capital Investment and assess profitability over a 15-year plant lifetime. Finally, a comprehensive Environmental, Health, and Safety report will identify strategies to mitigate risks associated with high-pressure operations and minimize the facility's environmental footprint, ensuring a sustainable and commercially viable design.

Sponsor: Dr. Prachi Gupta, AbbVie

Ethan Smith, Joseph Zabik, Justin Hornaday, John Mendel

The current approach relies on a headspace nitrogen sweep combined with controlled agitation. In this method, nitrogen displaces oxygen in the headspace while gentle mixing enhances mass transfer at the liquid–gas interface without direct sparging. This configuration offers very low shear stress, minimal contamination risk, and high operational familiarity. However, at larger working volumes it is associated with high nitrogen consumption and extended processing times, limiting efficiency.

To address these limitations, alternative nitrogen–oxygen exchange concepts will be developed, including enhanced headspace utilization, indirect nitrogen dissolution approaches, and hybrid configurations that preserve low shear while improving oxygen removal kinetics. Each concept will be evaluated for its ability to achieve <1 ppm DO while reducing nitrogen usage and process duration relative to the baseline method.

The concepts will be systematically compared based on gas efficiency, time to reach target DO levels, impact on product quality and shear sensitivity, scalability within the Mobius Mixer platform, safety and regulatory considerations, and overall cost of implementation. The outcome of this study will identify optimal solutions for deoxygenation in Mobius Mixer operations, supporting robust, efficient, and scalable mAb manufacturing processes.

Sponsor: Bill Meehan and Dr. Gosia Chwatko, Spirited Biomaterials

Jake Childress, Jessica Howard, Emily Knabel, Kali Lewis

Mass-produced food products, especially chips, pretzels, etc., are typically stored in multilayer, biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) plastic. BOPP is a durable, flexible plastic that, despite being recyclable, is environmentally persistent and cannot be broken down naturally. To combat this issue, recent advancements in sustainable manufacturing have identified a possible alternative polymer to replace BOPP. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are biosynthesized polymers that could be engineered to perform similarly to traditional plastics. This project, sponsored by Spirited Biomaterials, aims to study and test multiple different combinations of single-layer and multiplayer PHA films for food packaging applications. Multiple different methods of manufacturing, including solvent casting and hot pressing, will be used, as well as the fabrication of both single-layer and multilayer films. The composition and physical properties of the different film combinations will be tested, including properties such as durability and water transmission rate. For the scope of this project, studying the oxygen transmission rate will not be done. The effectiveness of the films will be tested on food products as well to determine how effective the films are as food packaging. The economics and safety of the films will be studied as well. The goals for these films are to both perform similarly to traditional packaging as well as be cost-competitive with packaging on the market. In the film making process, the use of several different solvents will be used. Understanding the safety of the process is critical to ensuring sustainable manufacturing is a feasible option for industries in the very near future.

Sponsor: Griffin Shively, Bespoken Spirits

Zachary Lockhart, Dalton Hale, Raegan Elder, Blaine Biddle

Bespoken Spirits is a technology driven whiskey producer specializing in accelerated spirit finishing through its proprietary ACTivation (Aroma, Color, & Taste) process. As demand for finished and specialty whiskeys continues to grow, the company is pursuing expansion through the design of a new purpose built production facility in Bardstown, Kentucky. This capstone project presents a comprehensive process and facility design capable of producing 250,000 wine gallons of finished whiskey per year while operating continuously with scheduled maintenance downtime.

The project addresses the integrated design of all major operational areas including barrel receiving and handling, wood storage and treatment, ACTivation vessels, temperature control systems, bottling operations, laboratory space, and finished goods warehousing. Process flow diagrams, mass and energy balances, and equipment sizing calculations were developed to ensure efficient and consistent product quality and regulatory compliance. Material handling logistics and facility layout were optimized to reflect Bespoken Spirits short term barrel storage strategy and reliance on reusable totes following processing.

An economic analysis was conducted to estimate capital investment, annual operating costs, raw material expenses, and projected revenue based on production volume. Alternative design options were evaluated to identify cost effective solutions without compromising operational performance or product quality. Environmental safety and sustainability considerations were incorporated throughout the design with emphasis on safe working conditions that align with applicable regulatory standards.

The final design provides a scalable and commercially viable facility that supports Bespoken Spirits innovative production process while positioning the company for growth and industry leadership.

Sponsor: Andrew Colburn, PhD. PE, Strand Associates

Ysabella Malaya, Jason Kubis, Nicholas Chelgren, Zachary Santana, Henry Kwok

Raven’s Roost Distillery is exploring long-term options for managing wastewater due to ongoing operational issues, aging infrastructure, and future growth. The facility currently produces several wastewater streams, including high-strength process wastewater that is hauled off-site, sanitary wastewater treated by an on-site septic system that frequently backs up, and boiler blowdown and cooling water that are discharged to a nearby stream. With plans to increase production and continued growth in visitors, the existing wastewater systems are no longer sustainable. This project evaluates current and future wastewater flows and loadings over a 20-year planning period. Regulatory requirements, including discharge permitting, municipal sewer availability, and compliance with 10 States Standards for Wastewater Treatment, are reviewed to define design constraints. Using the available site space, three wastewater management alternatives are developed that consider different combinations of on-site treatment, connection to the municipal sewer, and continued hauling. Each alternative is modeled to estimate expected effluent quality, and preliminary capital and operation and maintenance costs are developed. The alternatives are compared using a present worth analysis and non-monetary factors such as reliability, operational flexibility, environmental impact, and safety. Based on these evaluations, a recommended wastewater management approach is selected. The project concludes with a conceptual implementation plan, including construction phasing, a 20-year cash flow analysis, and a review of environmental, health, and safety considerations to ensure compliance with applicable regulations.

Sponsor: HMCIDA and STV Inc.

Grant Rudd, Chris Conley, Kyle Burke, Zach Blevins, Noah Hamblin

This project will be about the Bluegrass Innovation Gateway Industrial Park. It has been commissioned by the Harrodsburg-Mercer County Industrial Authority and STV Inc.

Sponsor: STV

Gus Eilers, Peyton Eaton, Alex West, Andrew Knerr, Abigail Thompson

Sponsor: STV HMCIDA - Greyson Evans, Executive Director

Sarah Buckner, Mary Audi, Lucas Kinzer, Robert Bright, Owen Davis

*For educational purposes only in UK’s CE 429 Capstone Design Course for Spring 2026. DATE: January 21, 2026 SUBJECT: HMCIDA Request for Proposals (RFP) PRESS RELEASE* The Harrodsburg-Mercer County Industrial Development Authority (HMCIDA) announces a Request for Proposals (RFP) to be published Monday, January 26, 2026, open to all qualified design firms. RFP responses will be accepted through February 11, 2026, at midnight EST. HMCIDA seeks qualified design firms to provide site assessment, alternatives development, and preliminary design for the Bluegrass Innovation Gateway (BIG) industrial campus, to be located northwest of Harrodsburg, KY. “HMCIDA, Harrodsburg, and Mercer County are thrilled to bring the community’s first new industrial land in decades to market. Bluegrass Innovation Gateway has the acreage, development potential, utilities capacities, and workforce availability to serve as a nationally competitive site. Surveys & due diligence are complete and site master planning is under way.” – Local HMCIDA Officials Additional project information, mapping and site data are available from: https://www.hmcida.com/BIG.aspx A mandatory client meeting will be held January 28, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. for any interested parties, in OHR 228, University of Kentucky.

https://www.hmcida.com/BIG.aspx 

Sponsor: HMCIDA and STV

Maggie Elam, Chance Thomasy, Tate Ballinger, Sawyer Cannon, Andrew McGinnis

We have been asked to provide a site development design for a 958-acre farmland site located in historic Harrodsburg, Kentucky. The site's proposed use is an industrial park for both light and heavy industrial applications. The site has many unique characteristics. The land is located right off of a railroad with applications for a rail laydown yard. The site contains a blue hole spring which must be preserved per environmental regulations. There are multiple nearby neighborhoods that require buffering and screening for both noise and light encroachment. This site has strong potential for industrial use, supporting economic growth in Harrodsburg

Sponsor: STV and HMCIDA

Ezra Brooks, Andy Clark, Jacob Hogan, Hanna O'Donnell, Clay Smith

This project includes engineering design services for the development of the BIG Industrial Campus, located in Mercer County, to bring light industry, heavy industry, and commercial space to the former Wilkinson Farm property. The Project Clients are HMCIDA and STV Inc. The Project Liaisons are Prof. Wright, Dr. Yost, and T.A. Trent. The purposes of this project are to 1) develop a problem statement for the project; 2) identify, analyze, and evaluate potential solutions; and 3) develop preliminary design documents to support final recommendations.

Sponsor: STV

Reece Holt, Grayson Gough, Hayden Strong, Avery O'Bryan, Joshua Harwood

The Bluegrass Gateway Mega Site is a large industrial site which includes both heavy and light industrial facilities. The U.S. legislature is currently involved in the construction and funding of the site, indicating its value as a national priority. As part of the site, on-site housing is being contemplated for the workers. The 958-acre property is being headed by STV engineering, and we will be collaborating with STV for the development of early site concepts and some engineering work.

Sponsor: STV

Christian Howe, Andrew Barber, Luke Baker, Eryk Carrillo, Chanel Salbego

Sponsor: STV Inc.

Brayden Dunn, Colin farmer, Catie Terrill, Blake Riffe, Ana Torres

Sponsor: Stephanie Fairchild Fister, Creator of The Human Domino Effect

Arianna (Ari) Ramundo, Madison Lanaghan, Daniel Howard, Anthony Arnold, Lauren Hayes

The Human Family Team Website

A school-to-home communication platform designed to connect families, educators, and community leaders. The site will offer parents age-specific tips, checklists, and links to local resources across nine areas of child development, while also allowing families to request needed materials and support. This semester’s goal is to complete and launch the site, building on the progress made last semester.

Sponsor: Company: Beaconforge Solutions, Inc
Client: Jamaal Jackson, EdD

Thomas Ryan, Fatima Fayazi, Miten Patel, Yuhang Lin, Ehsanullah Dehzad

TransferTrak is a proof-of-concept software system designed to improve the accuracy and efficiency of college transfer-credit evaluation. The system addresses a long-standing challenge in higher education: the inconsistent and time-consuming articulation of transfer coursework, which often delays student progress toward graduation. TransferTrak explores how transcript data and course descriptions can be ingested, parsed, normalized, and compared using structured rules or machine-learning-assisted logic to generate preliminary course-equivalency recommendations.

At many institutions, transfer articulation remains a largely manual process that requires advisors and registrars to interpret transcripts and compare course content by hand. This approach frequently leads to delays, inconsistencies, and errors that negatively impact students. Transfer students may lose earned credits, be required to repeat courses unnecessarily, or wait weeks for evaluations that should take far less time. These inefficiencies affect graduation timelines, financial aid eligibility, athletic participation, and student retention.

TransferTrak demonstrates how automation can support academic decision-making by reducing manual review effort while improving transparency and consistency in transfer evaluations. The project aims to deliver a functional prototype that highlights the feasibility of technology-assisted transfer articulation while preserving human oversight in final academic decisions.

Sponsor: Barbie Carter

Jackson Russell, Thomas Kennett, Connor Tallent, Abhinav Kumar Jha

The DBHDID team within the Pennsylvania Health AI (PHAI) division is contracted by the state to provide web application development, data management, reporting, and website support for the Division for Behavioral Health, Developmental, and Intellectual Disabilities (DBHDID). The TASA (Third Amended Settlement Agreement) Web Application manages data from state facilities and Community Mental Health Centers, performing analysis and reporting to evaluate compliance with legal requirements that support clients with serious mental illness in living in community-based settings whenever possible. This project focuses on developing version 2.0 of the TASA web application. The updated system will incorporate business logic to manage referrals of individuals with serious mental illness. Key features include an initial referral form, a searchable and filterable table view for submitted referrals, and a workflow for processing referrals. The workflow involves tracking multiple transaction codes throughout the referral lifecycle, with each code having unique interdependencies and specific data capture requirements, representing moderate business logic complexity. The technology stack for TASA 2.0 consists of a React TypeScript client application paired with a .NET 10 Web API. The current database schema has already been defined and will remain unmodified during this process. The development will utilize a fake dataset structure that will be identical to the live database, due to the sensitive data on the live database. The goal of TASA 2.0 is to deliver a secure, efficient, and user-friendly platform that streamlines referral processing, strengthens reporting capabilities, and supports DBHDID’s mission of facilitating access to community-based care for individuals with serious mental illness.

Sponsor: Valvoline

Thaddeus Brockwell, Gabriel Kahle, Cameron Lira, Taylor Brannon, Kaelin Goodlett

In SharePoint-based file control systems, common document types such as Microsoft Word, Excel, and PDF frequently include structured elements like headers, footers, and column headers. These elements are expected to align with corresponding metadata, column definitions, or formatting standards defined within SharePoint web pages or lists. Maintaining this alignment is critical for data consistency, governance, and downstream automation.

Currently, the process of verifying that these document defintions correctly match SharePoint definitions is largely manual. Users must open individual files, visually inspect formatting and labels, and compare them against SharePoint schemas. This approach is not only time-consuming but also prone to human error, especially when applied across large document libraries or frequently updated files.

This project serves as a proof of concept to evaluate whether automated validation of these elements is feasible. Specifically, the goal is to programmatically extract headers, footers, and column headers from Word, Excel, and PDF documents and compare them against the associated SharePoint column definitions. By identifying mismatches or inconsistencies, the solution aims to demonstrate how automation could reduce manual effort, improve accuracy, and enhance compliance within SharePoint-based document management workflows.

Sponsor: Dye, Holly

Chandler Dotson, Xavier Jones, Jacob Grieco, Andres Aguirre Baldubin

Project Summary: Create a tool that generates staffing needs based on metrics including: total patients per day, first patient, last patient and number of providers per day. It would have the capability of recording employees who are unavailable due to leave and suggesting when additional coverage may be required. The setting is for a manager of multiple ambulatory clinic locations for which staffing must be assigned each day. In addition, it needs to be fair regarding who gets Fridays off, for example, if there is a 4-day option for employees. Currently this is a time-consuming manual process that I hope could be simplified.

website link - in progress at time of this assignment

Sponsor: Gluck Equine Research Center : MacLeod Lab

Shubhanshu Pokharel, Ghaleb Abualsoud, Ayham Yousef, Parker Jenkins, Ibrahim Amjad, Donovan Jenkins

Catastrophic musculoskeletal injury (CMI) is a leading cause of euthanasia in Thoroughbred racehorses, often occurring with limited prior clinical warning. The MacLeod Musculoskeletal Laboratory at the Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center has amassed one of the largest annotated databases of equine forelimb computed tomography (CT) scans, providing a unique opportunity to contextualize patient-specific findings within a large epidemiological framework. This project aims to develop an automated, patient-specific diagnostic report generation system that integrates individual forelimb CT scan findings with population-level lesion data from the laboratory’s database.

The system extracts patient data and  detailed anatomical annotations across over 100 sites. By preforming comparative analysis between affected and contralateral limbs and evaluating helical and axial modalities, we identified lesion patterns associated with elevated CMI risks. The system is a modern data-driven interpretation that easily allows veterinarians to see potential CMI related issue for thoroughbreds.

The project delivers a secure administrative interface for report generation, supports automated PDF output with audit logging, and emphasizes data integrity and reproducibility. By combining structured medical imaging data, comparative analytics, and automated reporting, this framework lays the foundation for AI-assisted diagnostic support in equine medicine. The resulting platform is extensible and promotes the safety of Lexington's most prized industry.

Sponsor: Zebulon Hart / Kentucky Energy Planning and Inventory Commission (EPIC)

Brett Carson, Ketsile Dikobe, Nathan Hamby, Alex Vela, Justyn Douthit

The Kentucky Energy System Modeling Capstone Project aims to support the mission of the Kentucky Energy Planning and Inventory Commission (EPIC) to better understand and plan for the Commonwealth’s energy future. Energy-related information for Kentucky currently exists across many separate sources, including state Public Service Commission filings and federal databases maintained by agencies such as the Energy Information Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency. Since this information is spread across different formats and locations, it can be difficult and time-consuming to use effectively for planning and policy analysis. This project addresses that challenge by creating a unified system that organizes energy data into a single, accessible framework. The system consists of three main components. First, the project develops a centralized database that represents Kentucky’s energy system from fuel production and transportation to electricity generation and delivery. This database is designed to store historical and operational data, economic measures, and regulatory information in a structured and reusable way. Second, the project builds a flexible data extraction tool that automatically collects and standardizes information from regulatory filings and federal datasets, reducing the need for manual data entry and improving consistency and reliability. Finally, the project provides a simple web-based interface that allows users to explore the data through the use of basic queries, tables, and visualizations. Together, these components will allow EPIC to analyze Kentucky’s energy infrastructure more efficiently and accurately. By improving access to high-quality energy data, the project directly supports informed decision-making and evidence-based energy policy development for the Commonwealth.

Sponsor: Clayton Thyne

Isabella Karn, Daniel Krutsick, Owen Louis, Michelle Alcantara, Jennifer Maldonado Macias

This project continues and substantially advances a coup forecasting model developed by students last spring in response to a request from the U.S. State Department. Last year’s team built both the forecasting model and a public-facing platform to display the results. The goal this term is to produce a product that we would be fully comfortable presenting to senior policymakers—including congressional staff and executive-branch decision-makers. t this stage, the underlying forecasting model is already exceptionally strong—the best coup forecasting model currently available—but we want to improve how its results are generated, communicated, and consumed before it is deployed at the highest levels of government.

Sponsor: Kentucky's Office of the State Entomologist

Ty Eubanks, Jacob Schuetter, Jack Morgret, Rian Gallagher

Our team is excited to be given the opportunity to work with the State Entomologist on updating the web and data systems tools used by both state officials and the University of Kentucky Department of Entomology. The current state of entomology survey data management is characterized by a fragmented, piecemeal collection system relying heavily on manual data entry. This type of workflow not only introduces significant bottlenecks in data processing, but also increases the risk of human error. Our team aims to address these inefficiencies by implementing automation within the pipeline. Beyond the pipeline, we also aim to integrate data validation and standardization protocols. By implementing these protocols, we ensure that data entries meet the conventions required for analysis. With these automated standards, the State Entomologist and the UK Department of Entomology can pivot resources away from administrative maintenance and toward high-impact scientific and ecological research.

Another crucial component of our optimization is the visual redesign of the database’s and survey’s web interfaces. Many of the web interfaces are convoluted and/or too complicated for the general public to use effectively. Recognizing that citizen scientists and other motivated members of the community are vital to large-scale ecological monitoring, we plan to overhaul the UI to prioritize accessibility and user engagement. Through dashboards and survey maps, contributors will be able to analyze their findings and see their direct impact on state-wide conservation efforts. By stripping away technical clutter and implementing intuitive design principles, we plan to foster a dynamic, scalable research ecosystem.

Sponsor: Valvoline Global Operations

Evan Jones, Lucas Adams, Gavin Prewitt, Ryan Belcher

This project will develop a limited-scope, proof-of-concept AI assistant to support users of one specific laboratory instrument. The assistant will focus on guided training and operational support, allowing users to ask natural-language questions and receive structured, step-by-step guidance for: initial setup, basic operation, calibration, common troubleshooting scenarios, routine maintenance, and high-level data interpretation. The AI assistant will rely on a curated, customer-provided knowledge base (e.g., manuals, SOPs, FAQs) and will not attempt real-time instrument control, advanced diagnostics, or autonomous decision-making. The goal is to demonstrate effective AI-assisted knowledge retrieval and user guidance rather than full automation or expert-level reasoning.

The system will be implemented as a web-based application with support for multiple users across multiple sites, using simple role distinctions (e.g., trainee and standard user). A lightweight collaboration feature will allow users to submit questions and validated solutions that can be reviewed and added to the shared knowledge base by an administrator role. The project will include core deliverables such as a requirements document, system architecture, AI prompt and data design, working prototype, and user documentation. Scope is intentionally limited to ensure feasibility within one semester, emphasizing software lifecycle execution, teamwork, documentation, and presentations. The final product will be a functional demonstration suitable for training, evaluation, and future expansion rather than production deployment.

Sponsor: Stephanie Fairchild Fister, Creator of The Human Domino Effect

Charles Cochran, Rex Norvell, Benjamin Perry, Danylo Tkachenko

The Human Domino Effect Game is a video game designed to show children that their life is incredibly important and their impact on the world is part of a much larger, human domino effect. The game is based on an existing board game, which is part of an educational system developed by Stephanie Fairchild Fister. The purpose of developing a video game version is to make the game and the principles it teaches accessible to wider audiences. Our team received a prototype version of the game that had been worked on in previous semesters by teams from different universities. We were tasked with refining its current functionality and implementing later levels of the game from scratch. The game is built using the Godot game engine.

Sponsor: Stephanie Fairchild Fister, Creator of The Human Domino Effect

AJ Fluty, Dayne Freudenberg, Garrett Strange, Janet Black, Zain McCoy

The Positive Pathway Board is an educational technology project developed under the broader Human Domino Effect initiative, which focuses on fostering cooperation, student wellness, and academic success through practical, classroom-centered tools. This project offers our team members the opportunity to contribute to an actively developed system with real users, existing momentum, and a clear path to live deployment, rather than starting from an early conceptual stage.

The Positive Pathway Board is a smart classroom platform designed to help teachers track, visualize, and reflect on student effort and positive behavioral choices in real time. Through an intuitive, mobile-friendly web application, educators can quickly record observations during class, view short- and long-term trends, and generate daily, weekly, or monthly progress reports. These insights are intended to support positive reinforcement strategies, data-informed decision-making, and transparent communication of student growth.

Last semester's CS 499 team established a strong technical and conceptual foundation for the system, producing a functional prototype and documenting key architectural and design decisions. A recorded final presentation was made available to provide our team members with immediate context, and several members of the previous team have assisted our team with onboarding. This continuity allows our team to focus on refinement, stability, and usability rather than foundational development.

During the Spring 2026 semester, the project will transition from development into live classroom testing. The Positive Pathway Board will be piloted with 3-4 teachers at Julius Marks Elementary School, a Fayette County public school in Lexington, Kentucky, during the 2026-2027 school year. This pilot will give our team direct exposure to real-world educational constraints and feedback, while enabling us to deliver a tool with measurable, community-facing impact.

Sponsor: Papa Johns International

Luke Zurad, Dalton Casey, Jason Sun, Nick Stone, Nate Baker

Title: Customer Demographic Fill-In Company: Papa Johns International Client: Ben Keener Client Email: benjamin_keener@papajohns.com Project Summary A significant share of Papa Johns’ customers are missing third-party vendor demographic attributes, resulting in biased samples and inconsistent downstream analytics. Historically, analysts have addressed this problem by either excluding affected customers or applying one-off imputation logic, leading to non-reproducible and inconsistent results. This project proposes a standardized, model-driven pipeline to infer missing customer demographic attributes using first-party behavioral, temporal, and geographic data. Supervised models will be trained on customers with known demographics, evaluated for accuracy and calibration, and used to score missing cases with confidence thresholds. The resulting predictions and probabilities will be persisted into shared tables for consistent reuse across analytics and modeling use cases. Challenges

• Incomplete Demographics: A non-trivial portion of customers fail to match to the third- party demographic vendor.
• Biased Samples: Excluding unmatched customers reduces sample size and introduces systematic bias.
• Inconsistent Imputation: Analysts independently implement one-off demographic fixes that are not reusable.
• Non-Reproducibility: Lack of standardized methodology leads to inconsistent results across projects.
• Wasted Analyst Time: Repeatedly solving the same imputation problem slows analytical velocity. Success Criteria
• Demonstrated lift over geographic-only imputation
• Reusable feature and modeling code
• Clear business guidance on when and how to use modeled demographics Contact Info

If you are interested in this project, please email Ben Keener at benjamin_keener@papajohns.com 

Sponsor: Clarity Co. / Carrie Downey

Jack Ingemunson, Daniel Haughian, Jayden Green, Jonathan Stilz

Small to mid-market job shop manufacturers commonly rely on ECI JobBOSS as their core ERP system. While JobBOSS is highly effective for production planning, job costing, and inventory, many manufacturers face persistent challenges in their "front-of-house" operations. Critical workflows—including customer coordination, KPI visibility, and people operations such as hiring and onboarding—are often managed through a fragmented landscape of disconnected tools. This leads to functional partitions where office teams lack effective coordination between tools, resulting in inefficiency and administrative overhead that disrupts production.   To address this, our capstone project presents a design for an ERP-adjacent front-of-house operating system. Instead of developing a standalone software product, we have constructed a reusable system blueprint and architecture strategy that complements the existing ERP environment. By analyzing the functional boundaries of JobBOSS and utilizing the Open API capabilities of modern platforms like monday.com, we established integration patterns that unify these disparate workflows. This approach allows companies to quarantine sensitive ERP data while providing office staff with the real-time information needed for agile decision-making. The proposed architecture bridges the gap between production and administration, covering everything from RFQ intake to employee training. Ultimately, this solution enhances the business's software ecosystem, proving that manufacturers can achieve operational unity through strategic integration rather than total system replacement.

Sponsor: Great American Insurance Company and UK College of Engineering

Joseph Haufe, Emma Lohrer, Clayton Curry, JP McNerney

This capstone project focuses on the development of a voice-guided navigation application designed to provide turn-by-turn directions for navigating the campus at the University of Kentucky. The application aims to assist individuals unfamiliar with the campus layout by offering an accessible and intuitive navigation experience. By including voice guidance, the application reduces reliance on visual navigation tools and enhances usability for a broad range of users. This project focuses on building upon prior work completed by a previous computer science capstone team, with the goal of expanding accessibility to a broader audience. The existing Android version developed last semester will have some bugs fixed, but the main development of the project will come by developing an IOS version of the existing Android-based voice navigation. Extending the app’s availability to IOS in addition to Android will mean almost anyone who comes onto UK’s campus will be able to have a voice-guided navigation assistant at their fingertips. The main development will be done between Android Studio and Swift or SwiftUI. Android Studio will be the development environment used when working on the pre-existing Android version. Swift and SwiftUI will be the main development environments used when working on the IOS version of the app. The final product aims to provide accurate routing through voice prompts and an easy-to-use UI for real-world campus use. By enhancing and extending an existing navigation app, this project will provide a practical tool for campus navigation.

Sponsor: James Brusuelas

Mostafa Mubarak, Trevor McCowan, Mayur Patel, Naman Rao, Caleb Harper

This project focuses on designing and developing an immersive extended reality (XR) learning experience aimed at helping young learners engage with the alphabet in a more interactive and intuitive way. Traditional alphabet learning often relies on passive methods such as flashcards or worksheets, which can make it difficult for children to stay engaged or fully understand letter sounds and associations. Our goal is to explore how XR technologies can enhance early childhood education by turning learning into an active, hands-on experience. The system places learners inside a virtual environment where they can visually and audibly interact with letters of the alphabet. Through spatial interaction, sound cues, and simple feedback mechanisms, users are encouraged to explore letters, associate them with sounds, and build early literacy skills in a playful and engaging manner. The experience is designed to be intuitive, safe, and adaptable, making it suitable for first-time XR users. From a technical perspective, the project involves researching and selecting appropriate XR development tools, building simple 3D environments, integrating audio feedback such as text-to-speech, and ensuring compatibility with modern XR hardware. Special attention is given to usability, accessibility, and spatial constraints to ensure the experience can be demonstrated effectively in a limited physical space. Overall, this project serves as both a technical exploration of XR development and a practical application of immersive technology in education. It demonstrates how emerging technologies can be used responsibly and creatively to support learning in meaningful ways.

Sponsor: Dr. Nikki Brown

Ethan Thompson, Andy Zheng, Sing Hieng (James) Wong, Chaz Rutke

"Cataloguing Jim Crow Laws in Kentucky: Developing a Large Language Model to Build an Archive of Jim Crow Laws using Kentucky Statutes" seeks to take all of Kentucky's Jim Crow Laws and put them into one easily accessible website. Right now, it takes a lot of time and energy to try and find a couple laws. This website will help speed this process up. By enforcing a LLM and OCR, and putting all of the laws into a database, we will be able to easily find specific laws we are looking for relating to a topic. The user will be able to use key words and dates to find the specific law they want. The LLM and OCR will work hand in hand together. The OCR will take pdfs and images and be able to turn the words into readable text for the LLM to then use and help filter for the user. It will also provide a brief summary after reading the law.

The issue this seeks to solve is to help users find specific laws quicker. By implementing the LLM and OCR and reading through a database of the laws, it will allow the user to quickly and easily find the specific law relating to Jim Crow Laws that they will be looking for. It will solve the issue of long hours looking for one or two laws and be able to find them quickly and efficiently, along with a brief summary of the given law you are looking for.

Sponsor: PPL Corporation Research & Development

JC Edwards, Ramtin Matin, Cole Hinkes, Parker Nurick, Nick Overstreet

Our project consists of correcting and enhancing PPL public facing interactive renewable dashboard. It directly connects asset performance with environmental factors. The aim is to give users clear, data driven insights into how weather and operating conditions affect renewable energy assets like wind, solar, hydro, and battery systems. We plan on using ppl standards to make the dashboard look more accurate to ppl guide lines. The new dashboard will have asset specific pages with detailed visualizations. These include wind capacity factor compared to wind speed, wind rose plots showing dominant wind direction, solar capacity factor against irradiance and temperature, hydro generation in relation to rainfall, and battery round trip efficiency versus ambient temperature. This project will also help improve time period selection to allow user to look at date from days, months, and years. Besides showing trends, the dashboard will calculate and display important performance metrics like capacity factors and efficiencies. This will enable users to make meaningful comparisons across assets, time periods, and operating conditions. All of our data will be provided from an existing AWS server and will allow us to update and refresh the dashboard roughly every 5 seconds to give the most up to date data. The dashboard will also allow multiple users to view the page at the same time. Our team is also instructed to create an usable url instead of using an ip address to access the dashboard to be used on computers, tablets, and phones. Our team will also be directly talking with our clients to add/remove and existing assets on the dashboard. We will also be communicating with ours clients to check our work before pushing any final changes to the server.

Sponsor: Dom Trivison, Colton Hinrichs

Harshini Ponnam, Jayadeep Kothapalli, Rudwika Manne, Dylan Devereaux

This project investigates the relationship between weather conditions and retail store traffic using historical data and predictive modeling techniques. The system integrates historical store-level visitor data provided by the client with historical weather data retrieved from an external weather data provider. These datasets are aligned by store location and date to form a unified time-series dataset suitable for analysis and modeling.

Using this combined dataset, the project develops a machine learning pipeline that learns how weather variables such as temperature, precipitation, snowfall, and other relevant conditions, interact with calendar-based features (day-of-week and seasonal effects) and store-specific patterns to influence visitor counts. Weather is treated as an explanatory input, while store visits are the prediction target. The model is trained using time-aware evaluation methods to ensure realistic assessment of predictive performance.

For forward-looking analysis, forecasted weather data is supplied as input to the trained model to generate predictions for future store traffic. In addition to predicting absolute visitor counts, the system estimates relative impact by comparing weather-based predictions against a baseline representing typical traffic under normal seasonal conditions. This comparison enables the system to quantify expected percentage increases or decreases in store visits attributable to forecasted weather events.

The outputs of the system include predicted visitor counts, percent change relative to baseline, and an associated uncertainty estimate to communicate confidence in the prediction. The project emphasizes interpretability and practical applicability, producing clear, business-oriented outputs rather than purely numerical forecasts. Overall, this work serves as a proof-of-concept for incorporating weather data into retail traffic analytics to support operational planning, staffing decisions, and short-term forecasting.

Sponsor: Lauren Huff

Ayah Abdeldayem, Hannah Hale, Camila Luna

Ellow is a wearable heart rate (HR) and blood oxygen (SpO₂) monitoring system designed to improve nighttime safety for individuals at risk of medical emergencies, particularly those with epilepsy. The device consists of a foot-worn sensor enclosed in a comfortable fabric wrap that continuously tracks HR and SpO₂ levels using a MAX30102 sensor connected to an ESP32 microcontroller . Data collected from the sensor is transmitted to a mobile application that displays real-time readings and allows caregivers to configure personalized alert thresholds based on the individual’s normal physiological ranges.

A key feature of Ellow is its free-standing alarm unit, which operates independently of the mobile application. The alarm, also powered by an ESP32, uses an LED NeoPixel ring and a piezo buzzer to provide both visual and audible alerts when readings fall outside of preset thresholds. This design ensures alerts can still be triggered even if the caregiver’s phone is dead, unavailable, or disconnected, making the system more reliable in emergency situations. Alerts are designed to persist for a fixed duration to ensure caregivers are awakened and able to intervene.

The motivation for Ellow comes from the risk of Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP), which disproportionately occurs at night due to delayed intervention. By providing continuous monitoring and dependable alerts, Ellow aims to reduce response time during critical events. While initially inspired by epilepsy care, the system is designed to be adaptable for other caregiving scenarios, offering peace of mind to families monitoring loved ones with various health conditions.

Sponsor: Jena Hinds, Ph.D.

John Courtney, Ryan Kollar, Andrew Winterman, Caleb West, Nicholas Sereleas

This project describes the design and implementation of a database application that will securely collect, manage, and organize biometric and academic data from students during a research study on stress and anxiety during examinations. They system is designed to support reliable and readily accessible storage of physiological measurements, such as heart rate and blood pressure, alongside test performance data and the stress performance evaluation (SPE) scores that are calculated from that data. There is an emphasis on creating a data architecture that will allow for efficient analysis whilst maintaining a strict separation of access based on the user's role in the study. The application integrates data collected from devices and smart technology that monitor student's biometric data through a desktop-based application. This application serves as the primary data ingestion point. A tiered database structure is then employed, consisting of instructor-level access for an instructor's own class, and a centralized master database containing all data for research leaders to further their studies with. This design will reduce the probability of data exposure whilst supporting aggregate analysis across a full study population, and potentially across multiple different studies. Key design considerations include integrity of data, controlled access, and scalability within an environment that is being hosted in the cloud. The system supports secure authentication, role-based access control (RBAC), and data processing that will ensure accurate storage and the retrieval of both processed and raw data. By prioritizing data organization and the separation of privileges, the application and database architecture delivers a foundation for managing sensitive and personal data. It will enable both researchers and instructors to view and analyze results whilst maximizing privacy and minimizing attack risks, supporting responsible data stewardship in the process.

Sponsor: NASA KY, ASNE

Callie Feltner, Nadia Turner, Spencer Goode-Kulchar, Jake Allen

Our team has been tasked with enhancing an inherited electric boat design. The existing system includes a fully electric propulsion system, onboard electronics, remote control functionality, and a vision-based navigation system. As participants in the new PEP 26 Autonomy Division, our goal is to transform the vessel into a fully autonomous boat equipped with advanced capabilities such as GPS-based routing, collision avoidance, upgraded electronics, an improved power distribution system, and an integrated cooling system. To ensure the updated design meets both competition and regulatory standards, our group has developed a series of marketing requirements, each supported by corresponding engineering requirements that provide testable and feasible solutions. The successful fulfillment of these requirements will serve as a measure of our project’s overall success. Additionally, we have created a user story to represent the project from an end-user perspective, a functional decomposition diagram illustrating the breakdown of each subsystem, and a behavior diagram outlining the logical decision-making and system operation processes. Together, these efforts represent significant progress toward the development of a fully autonomous electric boat.

Sponsor: Georgia Pacific Dixie Cup Manufacturing

Sophia Hahn, Taylor Dudley, Derrick Price, Aaron Newbill, Jason Jacbos, David Fursman

At Georgia Pacific Dixie cup manufacturing plant in Lexington, KY a paper trim collection system uses an air vacuum system called a cyclone to collect the wastepaper from the Dixie cup manufacturing process and transport it to a bailing machine for recycling. There are 7 A/C 3 phase motors of varying horsepower that currently have almost no monitoring or control system. Our team’s project is to develop and design a monitoring system to collect data on these motors while in operation to assist the plant engineers to plan maintenance and early notification and identification of issues with the motors.  The main focuses are to build a safe, cost effective, efficient, and reliable system that will collect current, voltage, temperature, vibration, and air velocity of the motors and cyclone system and send them for storage on the plant network and for access by plant engineers. As the prototype is sized to function in a factory setting, the equipment must also be scaled to accommodate a greater demand.

Sponsor: Movestones (Dr. Kevin Donohue)

Luke Young, Stephen Fridley, Katie Lester

The sponsor for this device is Move Tones; a company focused on mixing movement with music. This project falls directly into the company’s focus of tracking and analyzing movement with sensors. Team TEMPO has been tasked with creating a device that will give more in-depth data on your physical health. This wearable device will fit securely and comfortably onto a runner's trunk and has the potential to detect physical health problems before they occur. This device will monitor the movement and positioning of a runner’s body as they run. This data will be collected by sensors and stored on board for later analysis using a computer.

Sponsor: Reese Terry Funding, Dr. Kitzman

Clay Webster, Magnus Lindsay, Audra Proffitt, Matthew Stokes

Sports are an extremely popular past time amongst many children growing up in the United States. Unfortunately, not all children are capable of participating in these activities with their friends and families due to physical disabilities. This should not be the case. According to the CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, neuromuscular disorders affect roughly 1 in 2,450 children in the United States, with muscular disorders like Duchenne/Becker Muscular Dystrophy affecting roughly every 1 in 5,000 boys aged 5-9. Children with these disabilities should be able to interact with and enjoy the sports they are interested in with the assistance of an adapted device. Additionally, with the varying needs of different disorders, the number of adapted toys on the market is limited. Furthermore, these limited options that are available are typically offered at a very high price point and unattainable for most families. There needs to be a fun and affordable way for children with disabilities to be included in the sports they love. The objective of our project is to design a football launcher that can sit beside the wheelchair of an individual with muscular dystrophy and be accessed using his existing joystick and button. This will provide autonomy for our client and a way for him to engage with friends and family as millions of other children across the world do. A special thanks to Dr. Kitzman and the Reese S. Terry Grant for providing support on this project.

Sponsor: NASA KY, ASNE

Preston Keith, Lawson King, Ethan Staten, Michael Sims

This project focuses on the design and construction of a long-range remote-controlled (RC) boat capable of operating at a minimum distance of one mile while completing a two-mile competition course. The goal is to demonstrate how modern RC technology can expand the operational range of unmanned vessels and provide a safer alternative to human-operated systems in both commercial and military applications. By removing the need for onboard personnel and eliminating the requirement for visual shoreline contact, the project highlights the advantages of remote operation in environments where safety and distance are critical. The system will use two microcontrollers: one installed onboard the vessel and another integrated into the handheld remote control. These microcontrollers will communicate wirelessly to transmit control signals and operational data. A GPS module mounted on the boat will stream real-time location data to our devices, allowing us to monitor navigation and performance throughout the course. The project also requires the integration of reliable power systems, communication hardware, and structural components to ensure efficient operation and durability. Beyond technical performance, the project emphasizes system integration, real-time communication, and reliability under extended operating conditions. Development will take place from August 2025 through May 2026, with guidance from our sponsors, Dr. Hannemann and Michael Briscoe. By the conclusion of the project, we aim to deliver a functional prototype that demonstrates long-distance RC capability, robust communication, and coordinated electrical and mechanical design suitable for future innovation in unmanned marine systems.

Sponsor: Bee Safe Mosquito Control LLC; Todd Montgomery

Benjamin Puthoff, Leah Norvell, Ethan Conrad, Ben House, Nolan Michalak

Mosquitoes have been an annoyance to the human population since humans first encountered them. While essential to the world's ecosystem, they can pose a medical threat to humanity due to them carrying various diseases such as malaria and the West Nile virus in extreme cases. In most scenarios, their bites cause small irritations around the bite location that affect the victims’ quality of life. Our sponsor, Todd Montgomery, founded and owns a small company named Bee Safe, where he and his employees work to try to keep the mosquito population under control. He has tasked our team with developing a new product that his team could use to try to mitigate the growing mosquito population at its starting point. A common reproduction spot for mosquitoes is inside storm drain basins, where there are often a few inches of stagnant water. The product that we have developed is a device that affixes to the bottom of a water basin lid and can dispense larvicide in tablespoon increments on a user-programmable basis, as well as whenever water flow is detected. This will enable our solution to be convenient, reusable, and user-friendly while staying out of sight of the public eye. The goal of the device is to eliminate mosquitoes in their larval stage while having a minimal impact on the environment, cost-effectively.

Sponsor: ECE Senior Design

Milen Mikov, Tristan Davis, Bashar Issahaku, Paul Roberts, Mostafa Mubarak, Logan Calhoun

The Shaper Drone team built a sub-250g autonomous drone that uses computer vision to fly through an obstacle course with three different shaped goals. Before taking off, the drone is given three command shapes that tell it the order it should fly through the goals. The drone then takes off on its own, detects each goal using its camera, and flies through them in the correct sequence. After completing the course, it returns to the same landing pad it took off from.

Sponsor: NASA KY, Boeing, Dr. Bailey

Benjamin McDaniel, Adam Nichols, Luke Fister, Mustafa Albaree

The KRUPS (Kentucky Re-entry Universal Payload System) capsule is a previous senior design project designed to give space agencies a method to retrieve objects from outer space. The capsule is launched to a specific point on Earth, the oceanic pole of inaccessibility, which is the location farthest from all land masses. The capsule is designed to float and transmit a GPS signal upon splashdown. Our project builds upon this work by developing an autonomous retrieval system. The boat must autonomously navigate to the designated GPS location, avoid obstacles during transit, and maintain position while waiting for the capsule to land. Once the capsule has been manually retrieved, the boat must autonomously navigate to the nearest landmass while avoiding obstacles. We are working in coordination with another team that is handling manual control systems and power management considerations. Current efforts focus on a comprehensive evaluation of legacy hardware, including onboard cameras, processing units, and mechanical systems from previous prototypes. By distinguishing between historical implementation suggestions and mandatory mission requirements, the team has identified two primary development pillars. First, the system must achieve full legal compliance for autonomous maritime travel, ensuring safe operation within international navigation standards. Second, the architecture emphasizes modularity, allowing for a seamless transition from a controlled prototype to a rugged, sea-ready vessel. While technologies such as AIS integration, camera-based machine vision, and specialized pilot solutions remain viable options for ensuring safe autonomy, the design philosophy prioritizes a flexible framework capable of adapting to varying environmental demands and hull configurations. This ensures the final system is not only functional for current testing but also scalable for future maritime recovery missions.

Sponsor: Boeing

Dylan Maddox, James Russell, Zakk Moseley, Nicholas Wittrock, Ben Brinkman

The overall purpose of Project Crop Hawk is to develop a mobile ground station capable of controlling and interfacing with both an aerial drone and a prospective future ground unit designed to distribute nutrients to identified nitrogen-deficient areas. The project integrates power systems, structural design, machine learning, autonomous operation, and instructional documentation. A key objective is to design the system in a way that enables a future capstone team to seamlessly integrate their ground unit/s, allowing the complete system to be demonstrated collectively at a farm machinery competition. Beyond basic control and communication, the ground station will serve as a centralized platform for data acquisition, processing, and visualization. Sensor and imaging data collected by the drone will be transmitted to the ground station, where machine learning algorithms can be used to identify nutrient deficiencies and generate actionable maps of the field. These maps will inform decision-making for targeted nutrient distribution. The system is being developed with modularity and scalability in mind to support future expansion and hardware integration. Standardized interfaces, clear documentation, and well-defined operational procedures will be emphasized to ensure ease of use and reproducibility. This instructional focus is critical for enabling future teams to quickly understand, modify, and extend the system without extensive redesign. Overall, Project Crop Hawk aims to help further precision agriculture. By combining autonomous sensing, intelligent data analysis, and coordinated ground-based action, the project showcases how modern engineering tools can address real world agricultural challenges while showcasing continuity and collaboration between successive capstone teams.

Sponsor: NASA KY, Dr. Aaron Cramer, Dr. Savio J. Poovathingal

Aline Muteba, Hersch Nathan, Thais Percebon​, Melissa Hannemann

KOSMOS (KRUPS On Stability Mechanic Operating System) is a reaction wheel-based attitude control system that intends to stabilize the KRUPS capsule during re-entry to improve data collection. This presentation contains details regarding the prototype, components, and functionality. ​

Sponsor: UK Utilities & Facilities Management, Steven Hughes, Britney Ragland

Coleman Earlywine, Noah Hall, Scott Stanisky, Brian Robinson

Outdoor electrical substations pose a significant risk for interference from wildlife, making preventative measures essential to avoid power outages. In response to a request from Steven Hughes, the High Voltage Utilities System Manager at the University of Kentucky, our team is developing a system to detect and monitor small animal ingress patterns. By using multiple power over ethernet cameras and a single board computer, we are able to develop a autonomous squirrel detection system. This system is able to detect once a squirrel is in view, then captures relevant videos of squirrel movement. Once the recorded footage has finished saving, it heads to the analysis section. By analyzing the captured videos of squirrels, we can derive pathing information as well as a overall heatmap to show behavior of squirrel ingress over a long period of time. Using this learned pathing, we can make accurate guesses as to the most efficient method for deterring squirrels inside of medium voltage substations on the campus of University of Kentucky.

Sponsor: Samuel Gerring (MS, DABR)
Department of Radiation Medicine
Markey Cancer Center

Luis Nunes, Marc Breitenstein, Liam Murphy, Alan Liao, Luke Young

Routine quality assurance (QA) checks on medical linear accelerators (LINACSs) are essential for safe, accurate cancer radiation treatments. However, these mechanical tests are repetitive and time-intensive (up to six hours), especially checks of the treatment couch, gantry, collimator, and beam-shaping jaws. We present a robotic QA system that automates these measurements and allows for function customizability so a qualified medical physicist can verify performance faster and more efficiently.  A six-axis robotic arm is mounted on the treatment couch and equipped with a custom tool that detects the collimator light field (the projected “beam outline” used for setup) and measures orientation relative to gravity. After being placed near the beam area, the robot automatically finds the light field, establishes its starting position, and then scans the field edges and center across a range of couch, gantry, collimator, and jaw settings. The only geometry assumed in advance is that the projected light field forms a rectangle; all couch motions, rotations, and jaw openings are treated as unknowns to be measured and compared against the machine’s commanded values. Software fits the measured light-field shapes to estimate offsets and resolves the small angle and position biases needed to align the robot, linac, and gravity into a single calibrated reference. The system reports corrected indicator zeros, jaw opening and centering errors, couch translation and rotation offsets, repeatability statistics, 3D mappings of the light field, and a full pose history for QA records. A defined safe workspace, collision avoidance, and manual override are built into the control stack. This approach supports standardized QA and can help sites with limited staffing maintain best-practice compliance.

Sponsor: Event Cooling Solutions

Luke Nuzzo, Ephraim Morgan, Owen Galligan, Caleb Eskes, Alfisal Fitian

The purpose of our project is to create an additional marketing opportunity for companies where the use of cooling fans is necessary at outdoor events. Our sponsor is called Event Cooling Solutions. Event Cooling Solutions provides fans, setup, and takedown, to the event. Through the advancement of LED technology over the last several years, our sponsor would like to explore the possibility of creating a persistence of vision display on these fans. This would create a level of marketing opportunities for the event as well as the sponsors of the event. The objective of our team is to improve the design of an already existing lighting system that can produce a seemingly static image using LED strips on the foils of the fan while the fan is operating. Our team will construct our final design using an industrial fan provided by the sponsor. The lighting system we create for the fan must be able to operate for at least 8 hours at a time and be able to be recharged once the event has concluded. The final project will display the logos or advertisements of the vendor’s choice and should have the ability to cycle through a folder of images that are uploaded to the device wirelessly that the team creates.

Sponsor: ECE Senior Design

Jason Maisuk, Nicholas Atchison, Blake Hacker, Sam Lowe, Jake Stewart, Brady Bagshaw

This capstone project involves creating an interactive booth at E-Day where players will drive a RC car through an arena and receive a score. Our objective with this booth is to get a variety of people interested in engineering. We plan to get players interested in engineering by entertaining them with our project and making them curious about the various moving parts involved.  The booth consists of sub-projects which include RC car attachments, a main control console, tunnel with sensors, power-up and penalties, a GUI, and overall arena design. Before the game begins, the player selects a difficulty level of easy or hard. During the game, a projector displays a target shape and color, and players must navigate the RC car through the corresponding tunnel within the arena. If the player drives through the correct tunnel according to the GUI, they are awarded points, with higher scores given for faster response times. Additional gameplay elements include power-ups that grant bonuses such as extra time, temporary double points, or large point increases, as well as penalty tiles that deduct points or switch up the current objective. The arena is fully enclosed with physical barriers to ensure safe and controlled operation since the audience will surround the arena for viewing. Each game session will last two minutes, during which players repeatedly complete objectives, collect power-ups, and avoid penalties. At the end of the session, the final score is displayed on a live scoreboard. The system is then reset for the next participant.

Sponsor: UK Utilities & Facilities Management, Steven Hughes, Britney Ragland

Jonathan Wright, Jack Roof, Dorian Lewis, Parker Bricking, Grant Fischer, Kyle Hager

The University of Kentucky has an underground distribution network that powers the entire campus. This network is accessible to Facilities personnel via manholes that are scattered around the property. Facilities Management has installed Fault Current Indicators (FCIs) on the circuits to help locate any faults that may occur on the line. However, the current system for reading the FCIs is inefficient and, as a result, delays the response time for outages. Facilities engineer Steven Hughes is sponsoring this project to develop a system for getting the FCI readings to the surface. This system will be installed in the manhole to determine the state of each FCI and give an indication to the surface of the situation. This will help improve the response time for fixing outages. Facilities plans to install this system in every manhole, so the system needs to be accurate and cost efficient. Lists of requirements have been created to give an outline of the product’s operation, safety, and cost. Tasks have been divided into subprojects that each member of the team will oversee before integrating into one complete system. Project timelines and budgets have also been defined to keep the team organized.

Sponsor: ECE Senior Design, Dr. Eberhart

Jayden, Matthew Buerger, Andrew Tompkins

Vibrato is a musical technique involving a slight, continuous fluctuation of pitch around a central note and is used to add warmth and expressiveness to the music. Many students struggle to develop consistency in their vibrato because currently the only method to practice vibrato is with the guidance of an experienced instructor. This forces students to rely entirely on periodic instructor comments which can lead to reinforcement of mistakes during time spent practicing outside of lessons. Our sponsor challenged our team to come up with a better method to help young musicians learn vibrato. To address this, our team is developing a portable device that analyzes audio and displays vibrato characteristics in near real time to provide immediate guidance for students learning vibrato. Existing tools such as a metronome or tuners lack the capability to measure and give feedback on vibrato.

Sponsor: Zach Tackett & Carter Boggess

Zach Tackett, Connor White, Grant Hornbeck, Talon Smothers, Carter Lowe, Carter Boggess

MechFX Devices is a senior capstone design project focused on automating analog guitar pedals for live and studio settings. Our goal is to combine the all-analog tone quality of classic guitar pedals with the modern functionality of digital pedal boards. The MechFX system addresses a common problem faced by many guitarists: changing multiple settings on analog guitar pedals is too challenging in a live performance setting. While there are digital pedal boards that emulate analog pedals and provide instant setting changes and presets, they lack the true signal processing of the analog circuitry.  The MechFX system is comprised of 3 primary parts: Footswitch, Head Unit, and Pedal Motor Interface. The Footswitch allows the user to step on 5 different switches to select between 5 pedal presets. The Footswitch sends a signal via MIDI communication to the Head Unit corresponding to the preset selected. The Head Unit receives the MIDI signal and recalls the settings that the user assigned to the selected presets. These settings include any knob on any pedal (volume, gain, tone, etc.) as well as the on/off state of each pedal. These settings can be adjusted through the Graphical User Interface (GUI) via Wi-Fi connection from the user’s device. These settings are finally sent to the bypass loop, and a series of motors mounted to each knob on every pedal. Overall, MechFX Devices provides guitarists the flexibility of digital control while maintaining the authentic sound of analog pedals, offering a practical and cost-effective solution for live performance automation.

Sponsor: Dormakaba

Foster Yates, Zachary Cooper, Helen Yang, Obie Taylor, Amr Kutkut, Jawad Saleem

First, our CenconX ATM Lock Testing Platform project designs and implements a modular hardware-software system that allows for validation, programming, and diagnostic testing of the CenconX electronic lock platform. Specifically, we are constructing this system with Dormakaba USA Inc., a company desiring a reliable answer to streamline lock/entry testing amidst production/firmware development. The current testing procedure involves many disconnected tools and manual steps to confirm power, communication, and lock function. To solve this problem, our team is making a combined test bench, involving a custom-made Printed Circuit Board Assembly (PCBA), power regulation and distribution system, microcontroller-based control unit, and firmware interface that coordinates communication between the lock, entry unit, and PC host. Our system amalgamates important protocols (i.e., USB, SPI, and UART), inciting automated testing/data collection and keeping compatibility with Dormakaba’s current lock firmware. Overall, our created CenconX tester gives Dormakaba a strong and scalable testing platform, aiding hardware validation and firmware debugging for current and future CenconX products.

Sponsor: Zebulon Hart

Courtney Ward, Lucas Epperson, Roberto Perez III, Armando Peñaloza

This project explores a cable-free, battery-supercapacitor energy bulk material haulage system to reduce production stops caused by battery rotation and long recharge times. The project takes a hybrid approach that uses high-power supercapacitor bank to deliver short bursts of energy during acceleration, grade changes, and heavy loading events rather than having the battery operate on its own. In addition the lithium-ion battery provides steady “base-load” energy over the duty cycle. This approach reduces battery current spikes, limits voltage sag, and lowers heat generation—extending usable runtime and improving battery life. The system architecture includes a battery pack, a supercapacitor module, and a dc/dc buck convertor that manages power flow A high-power charging interface at the discharge point can optionally top off the supercapacitor (and/or battery) during unloading, enabling faster turnaround without full battery swaps. Design considerations include explosion-proof packaging, thermal management, current limiting, fault detection, and safe isolation for underground operation. The project assesses feasibility through duty-cycle modeling, component sizing, and trade studies comparing direct DC-link versus DC/DC-coupled supercapacitors. Expected outcomes are increased operating hours per battery, fewer change-outs, reduced downtime, and improved overall equipment availability—providing a practical roadmap toward prototype development and underground field validation.

Sponsor: Xerox/Lexmark

Kasthoori Piranavan, Logan Buru, Alexander Blevins, Jesse Cox

Modular Automated Functional Test Platform for PCBA Validation This capstone project, conducted in collaboration with Lexmark/Xerox, focuses on the design and development of a modular automated functional test platform for printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs). The objective is to create a scalable, cost-effective, and reconfigurable testing system capable of validating motor drivers, memory components, digital I/O, and embedded subsystems prior to production deployment. The platform addresses industry challenges including inconsistent manual testing, limited scalability, and insufficient data traceability in early-stage hardware validation. The system integrates a Raspberry Pi–based embedded controller, automated PWM signal generation, quadrature encoder feedback measurement, and memory integrity testing for eMMC and DRAM components. A modular architecture was implemented to allow interchangeable test modules for brushed DC motors, stepper motors, and brakes. Real-time data acquisition, logging, and automated pass/fail criteria were developed to enable objective performance verification. Testing procedures include dynamic load simulation, speed and torque characterization, signal timing validation, and stress evaluation under controlled conditions. The platform emphasizes repeatability, safety, and rapid reconfiguration for multiple PCBA variants. Results demonstrate improved measurement accuracy, reduced manual intervention, and enhanced validation throughput. This project delivers an industry-ready prototype framework for automated hardware functional testing, supporting Lexmark/Xerox manufacturing quality assurance and scalable engineering validation workflows.

Sponsor: Schneider Electric

Andrew Blevins, Silas Smith, Eli Kuhn, Anderson Valdivia

In our Capstone group, we helped Schneider Electric solve a real world problem through using Lean Methodologies and Problem Solving Tools. The Area 443 Manual Bench’s purpose is to assemble OEM interiors, but this bench lacked a standardized process flow and effect material presentation handling (MPH). This bench had many improvements to be made within the 2-semester long project. These improvements from our countermeasure brainstorming included analyzing & revising the workbench, rebalancing the work steps, reducing process times, reducing Work In Progress (WIP), reducing rotational movement & excessive reaching, reduced inventory, improving throughput, resolving the inconsistent build methods, and creating a physical & visual management system. Whilst brainstorming countermeasures, we followed along the A3 format to track our process. For our implementation, we had presented the proposed countermeasures to the various departments at Schneider Electric to ensure that everyone was on the same page. The Current Layout had over half of the work bench being utilized by WIP parts, with some of the unnecessary WIP being before the build process. For our target, we reduced space by bringing both operators onto the same bench, Reduced movement and turning by bringing the pallets closer to the bench whilst utilizing tilting pallet jacks. We brought many of the required process steps closer together physically by moving everything onto the same work bench. Improving the layout of the manual bench requires a change in the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and a change in the Job Breakdown Sheet which requires for the Team Leader and Team Members to be trained on in order to allow the changes to stick.

Sponsor: UK Healthcare

Jacob Little, Landen Hostetler, William Seay, William Morgan, Alexandria Courtney

UK Healthcare Central Sterile is the department that cleans, sterilizes, assembles, tests, and stores surgical instruments for the operating room. Central Sterile is struggling to meet first case on time starts, which is the scheduled time of the first surgery of the day. If the first case is late it is more likely for the other surgeries to be late. This issue affects not only the patient due to reschedules and waiting, but other departments within the healthcare. Within our scope of Central Sterile we are focusing on improving information flow and abnormality management to reduce delayed surgeries.

Sponsor: Link-Belt Cranes

Spencer Nava, Jared Deaton, Noel Garcia, Benjamin McElfresh​

This capstone project focuses on enhancing operations within Link-Belt Cranes, a leading manufacturer of construction cranes headquartered in Lexington, KY. The company is in the early stages of adopting lean manufacturing practices, making this an ideal opportunity to identify inefficiencies and support a smoother transition toward leaner processes. The Light Part Hang Line (LPHL) serves as the primary focus area for this project. As one of two paint lines at Link-Belt, the LPHL is the fastest-moving line and plays a significant role in meeting daily production demands.

The scope of this project centers on identifying and resolving issues that hinder throughput and First In First Out (FIFO) adherence within the LPHL. When the line falls behind, it can halt production across Bay 7, 8, 9, & 14, amplifying delays across the plant. Additionally, plant-wide abnormalities such as inconsistent material flow, material rework, and communication breakdowns further disrupt the area. By focusing on these operational challenges, the project aims to implement sustainable improvements that stabilize part flow, reduce administrative errors, and enhance overall efficiency in the hang line process.

Sponsor: Georgia-Pacific

Timothy Smith, Hunter Blankenship, James Dewitt, Todd McKenzie, Samuel Hahn

Georgia-Pacific's Dixie® Cup Plant in Lexington, Kentucky, is one of their largest production plants for the Dixie® Cup Brand. Inside the plant, each of their thermoforming lines produces approximately 3 million Dixie® Cup lids a day and runs 24/7 aside from rare scheduled downtime. Because of the continuous nature of this plant, any reductions in unscheduled downtime amount to very significant cost savings for the company.  Dixie® Cup lids are constructed from polystyrene sheets that are thermoformed and trimmed on a trim press. Every second 33 new lids come off the press, and each lid passes through one of 33 sleeves to be collated into 100-count stacks. Once a complete stack is nested, a plunger arm pushes them onto an exterior rail where they are grabbed and placed into packaging lines. All the sleeves are manufactured to tight dimensional tolerances for maintaining lid collation and avoiding lid tipping, which can lead to defective batches of product or machine jamming.  Georgia-Pacific requests a new collating sleeve design for their Dixie® Cup Lid trim press operation. The solution should increase the lifespan of the part by at least 50% with a comparable or better cycle/cost ratio. Solving this problem can directly reduce costs associated with replacing these sleeves along with other avenues of lost revenue such as downtime and maintenance man-hours. Additionally, if this solution proves to be effective in increasing the part life, the design can be transferred to similar trim press lines which have their own versions of this sleeve.

Sponsor: Space Tango

Rhett Schneider, Gavin Tincher, Donovan Adams, Sam Howlett, Trevor Johnson, Sanat Tiwari

Our team was tasked with creating a system that can store experiment housing units, called lockers, before they are send off into space.  The system must be mobile, hold up to 4 lockers, and provide each locker with air at varying temperatures and flow rates.

Sponsor: Jim Beam

Jacob Allen, Luke Potter, Jesse Lowe, Long Pham, Alex Gonzo, Lauren

Jim Beam tasked us with replacing the hoist safety devices used within their rickhouses for fall prevention down elevator shafts. The current design is a 2x4 setup to block the elevator shaft. The group has created a sliding gate device that allows the same form and function as the previous 2x4 setup but is much safer. This device was created by the team over two semesters and tested under worst case scenario conditions in order to prove its value as an addition to rickhouses.

Sponsor: GE Aerospace

Carson White, Nathan Borders, Alex Branch, Ellie Woodward, Luke Jacobson, Eli Cossel

This project, conducted in collaboration with GE Aerospace, addresses the design and  optimization of an internal support structure for a hybrid low-pressure turbine airfoil. The  primary objective is to develop a lattice structure that is fully compatible with additive  manufacturing while matching or reducing the mass of a baseline solid airfoil which is approximately 86.2 grams (depending on final material). The design must simultaneously  optimize thermal management to reduce creep and ensure mechanical stability against  vibrational loads in jet engine operation. Key constraints include strict adherence to the external  airfoil geometry, specific thermal load distributions, and compliance with FAA Part 33 and GE  Safety Management System standards.

The team utilized an iterative design methodology, beginning with the decomposition of engine functions and the generation of six foundational internal lattice concepts, including hexagonal, triangular, and crosshatch geometries. To validate these designs, the team developed  comprehensive plans for two physical testbeds: a thermal signature testbed scaled at 2:1, utilizing  32 thermocouples to map internal cooling effectiveness, and a tensile testing protocol using  modified dogbone specimens to evaluate the structural integrity of the lattice designs under load.

Analytical validation was performed using a custom MATLAB performance function designed to  score concepts based on the correlation between maximum internal temperature, mass, and safety  factor. This was supported by preliminary Finite Element Analysis (FEA) for explicit structural  dynamics and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations to predict airflow and thermal  gradients. Design and Process Failure Mode and Effects Analyses (DFMEA/PFMEA) were also conducted to identify and mitigate risks associated with creep deformation, print defects, and  testing failures.

The project concludes with a solidified design framework and validation plan for the hybrid  airfoil. The established performance metrics, coupled with the detailed design of the thermal and  tensile testbeds, provide a robust foundation for the physical prototyping and testing phases to  follow. The proposed lattice strategies demonstrate the potential to meet GE Aerospace’s  requirements for weight reduction, thermal efficiency, and structural durability in next?generation turbine components.

Sponsor: Toyota PE Motorsports Team

Cameron Webne, Ethan Kammer, Sofia Hutchens, Luke Katalinic, Joe Keough, Jacob Nettles

Our project includes the development of an aerodynamic package for the GR Corolla to be used at track and racing events solely by the Toyota PE Motorsports team.

Sponsor: Lockheed Martin

Ethan Watkins, Michael Chapelle, Trey Davis, Jacob McNiel, Shane Lindsey, Griffin Wright

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) play an increasingly important role in defense, intelligence, and remote sensing missions by providing real-time situational awareness without placing personnel in harm’s way. However, existing small UAV systems typically require a compromise between portability and flight endurance. Compact multirotor systems are easy to transport and deploy but have limited range and flight time, while fixed-wing aircraft offer significantly greater endurance but require larger storage volumes and more complex launch systems.

This project focuses on the development of a compact, canister-deployable fixed-wing UAV designed to bridge this capability gap. The goal is to create an aircraft that can be stored within a small cylindrical canister, rapidly deployed, and transitioned into sustained autonomous flight. Once deployed, the UAV is intended to carry a meaningful payload while maintaining long-duration flight performance suitable for extended surveillance or reconnaissance missions.

Sponsor: James B. Beam Distilling Co.

Grayson Hurst, Brayden Adams, Alex Kramer, Trey Maclay, Thomas Sayers, Samuel White

The Bi-Directional Barrel Ejector project was undertaken by the University of Kentucky ME 411/412 – Team 12 to improve the safety, reliability, and efficiency of James B. Beam Distilling Company’s central-hoist rickhouses. Several of the older rickhouses use central elevators, or hoists, to transport bourbon barrels between storage levels. The primary need for this project is to improve operator safety without requiring the use of harnesses or additional personal protective equipment by developing a system that allows barrels to be loaded and unloaded from both sides of the hoist without requiring operators to step onto the hoist platform. While barrel ejector mechanisms have previously been implemented in Jim Beam rickhouses, the current system has become obsolete, requiring workers to manually load barrels directly onto the hoist. This practice introduces significant safety hazards, particularly given the size and weight of full barrels, which can exceed 500 lbs. Previous bi-directional systems have fallen out of use in recent years in part due to the deteriorated condition of the mechanisms, with most structural surfaces exhibiting substantial corrosion and jointed components requiring excessive force to operate. A primary objective of this project is to reduce the required operator input force to below the OSHA 50 lbs. limit at a minimum, while further minimizing the applied force where possible to reduce repetitive strain on operators. The purpose of this project is to create, evaluate, and develop a design for a bi-directional barrel ejector mechanism that improves operator safety while avoiding incurring extra loading and unloading time.

Sponsor: Wild Turkey

Molly Younkin, Carmen Verst, Grace Busch, Sarah Winbigler, Brianna Burke, Zoe Castle

Sponsor: Toyota - Garrett Powers

Aaron Cook, David Olberding, Peter Omali, Parker Pierce, Brett Roark

Our ME412 Capstone Design project, completed for Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky (TMMK), focused on redesigning the Luggage Drip Jig used in the Camry paint shop. The jig prevents electrodeposition (ED) coating runoff from dripping onto exterior painted surfaces during curing, which can cause coating defects. Although functional, the current jig is inefficient due to its excessive weight of 0.4 kg, bulky geometry, limited storage capacity of 29 jigs per tote, and complex, costly datum manufacturing process.

The primary objective was to redesign the jig while maintaining 100% drip prevention and meeting TMMK’s targets: a maximum weight of 0.18 kg per jig, storage of 60 jigs per tote, a per-unit cost under $25, and a minimum seven-year lifespan in a 218°C oven environment. A structured engineering design methodology was followed, including problem definition, patent research, development of a Product Design Specification (PDS) and House of Quality (HOQ), concept generation, and analytical evaluation. Six concepts were generated and assessed using iterative Pugh charts, resulting in the selection of Concept 4-A, featuring a simplified flat-plate geometry with bent hook datums.

Validation included drip testing, kinetic energy analysis for drop durability, thermal stress finite element analysis, installation and removal time studies, cost analysis, and Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA). Results show that Concept 4-A achieves a 58.25% weight reduction to 0.167 kg, enables up to a 500% increase in storage capacity, reduces material costs to approximately $3.35 per jig, and retains all critical functions while significantly outperforming the baseline design.

Sponsor: Valvoline Global

Peter Szalay, Will Atherton, Isaac Adams, Luke Sullivan, Caleb Shimko, Alex Kogos

Valvoline, in collaboration with Aston Martin Formula 1, is developing a non-stick coating intended to reduce the accumulation of waste tire rubber on race car bodywork. Rubber buildup degrades aerodynamic efficiency and adds unnecessary mass in a sport where performance margins are extremely small. To support this effort, Valvoline partnered with a mechanical engineering capstone team from the University of Kentucky to design a testing rig capable of repeatably quantifying the effectiveness of various coating formulations.

The development process focused on recreating key aspects of the Formula 1 rubber adhesion environment. Primary considerations included the mechanism of rubber impact, the temperature of the rubber at the point of contact, and the distinction between real-world racing conditions and conditions that promote optimal adhesion. Research and testing compared multiple rubber application methods, heating approaches, rubber particle sizes, and material formulations. Evaluation of stored energy, motorized, and passive impact systems determined that a gravity-based passive system provided the best combination of simplicity, consistency, safety, and ease of implementation.

Thermal analysis examined the primary modes of heat transfer and identified infrared heating as the most effective solution due to its controllability, efficiency, and ease of integration. Experimental testing showed that optimal rubber adhesion occurred at approximately 205 °C using finely ground rubber.

The final testing rig uses a lever arm impact mechanism with adjustable mass and release height to precisely control impact energy. Rubber samples are heated on a damped pedestal to the target temperature before contacting mounted carbon fiber test plates. Future work will focus on automation, improved safety, and increased operational consistency to enhance testing reliability.

Sponsor: Valvoline

Harrison Hazzard, Giddeon Brainard, Nathan Dattilo, Jadon Baggett, Ethan Smith, Eric Kehler

This project aims to improve Valvoline’s coolant line by creating a more efficient, automated dye‑injection method. Currently, coolant is dyed in 50,000‑gallon batches and dispensed into one‑gallon containers through a hopper system holding 50–300 gallons. Six dyes are used, with data available for four (red, blue, green, yellow). The goal is to inject any of the six dyes while maintaining a dye‑to‑coolant mass ratio of 0.018% ±10% and reducing the minimum batch size.

The proposed design uses a custom pipe installed just before the hopper inlet. It contains six nozzles—one per dye color—with only one active at a time. Dye is delivered by an accurate peristaltic pump capable of the very low flow rates required.

The team previously tested the viability of this design using a scaled test system built from clear PVC pipe and water. The pipe dimensions are based on Reynolds number analysis to match full‑scale flow behavior. Tests were conducted at scaled flow rates equivalent to 24.2 and 80.7 gallons per minute within the full system’s 20–140 GPM range.

UV Absorbance testing shows promising alignment with the target mass ratio but also indicates the need for refinement. Ongoing work includes preventing nozzle backflow, testing dye‑tank agitation, developing and testing automated flow‑rate controls, and ensuring consistent dye injection at the required mass ratio.

Sponsor: GE Aerospace

Brayden Mefford, Dane Baker, John Boesch, Connor Adams, Lucas Davis

Currently, when testing new airfoil and dovetail geometries, GE Aerospace must machine an entirely new rotor which has the relevant female cutouts for the dovetail fitting to be tested. This carries a significant extra cost and time requirement per test, as new rotors require significant amounts of material as well as tight-tolerance, custom machining. Thus, this project explores methods for universal dovetail attachment to a rotor of a constant geometry. GE Aerospace requested the design and evaluation of a dovetail adapter and associated counterweight which carries modularity between dovetail geometries. A rotor was designed as well to accept the selected adapter and counterweight geometries, and all components were modeled and evaluated to survive at constraints assigned by GE Aerospace.

Sponsor: Jim Beam

Skylar Taylor, Joseph Winger, Evan Grill, Owen Ruggles, Nathan Niebrugge, Chandler Dampier

This project focuses on the development of a comprehensive, full-scale, and fully functional prototype of the device that closely resembles the final product in both form and function. Building the prototype at full scale allows it to be evaluated under conditions realistic to the operator and rickhouse environment, ensuring reliable assessment of performance, safety, and usability. Constructing the device at full scale also reflects the simplicity of the overall mechanical design, allowing the team to focus on guidance, structural strength, and cycle testing rather than relying on assumptions commonly made with reduced-scale or conceptual prototypes. The prototype incorporates the team’s barrel bumper design, which is intended to guide off-course barrels back onto their intended path while preventing barrels from becoming stuck on vertical posts or lodged beneath rick rails. Because this feature directly impacts the reliability and safety of the device, it will be tested at both minimum and maximum barrel impact loads to verify sufficient strength and durability. An additional feature of the design integrates a ratcheting telescoping system that allows the bumper to adjust to varying distances between rick posts and secure the system in place; this feature will be evaluated for setup time and repeatable operation through multiple cycles. Supporting subassemblies are included to satisfy remaining customer requirements and ensure cohesive system performance. Due to the mechanically straightforward nature of the design and the absence of electronics or scale-dependent materials, comprehensive prototype testing is expected to provide the most meaningful feedback and confirm that the final product will function as intended within the rickhouse environment.

Sponsor: Astemo

Jacob Costello, Bryant Craig, Benjamin Hobbs, Akhil Long, Katelyn Muegge, Shreya Pokharel

The purpose of this project is to accurately separate a mixture of desired parts and waste material. Astemo is a manufacturer of a wide assortment of automotive components, including several which are injection molded. At their plant in Harrodsburg, KY, they produce nylon c-clips which are used in fuel injection rails. When the clips are ejected from the molding machine, a runner made of excess plastic also exits into the same collection tote. The next step of assembly requires that the clips be separated from these runners, a job which had previously been completed by hand, requiring over 100 man-hours each month. This prototype device developed for Astemo aims to automate the process. It receives the clip and runner mixture in an input hopper and uses a combination of vibration and carefully designed structures to discriminate between the clips and runners based on their difference in shape. This is primarily achieved by allowing the c-clips to slide over a grate which the narrow runners are unable to span, causing them to fall into a collection area. The result is a tote of sorted clips which can be passed directly onto the next manufacturing step, and a bin containing the waste runners. This device can run autonomously so long as the hopper is regularly replenished, eliminating a meticulous and monotonous task and allowing operators to spend time doing more productive work elsewhere in the plant.

Sponsor: Gary Schrader

Brian Tunney, Griffin Liem, Seth Haughton, Jordan Sheff, Mike Coleman

Typical outdoor events often call for the need of a multifunction system capable of storing all needed drinks, ice, food, and ingredients while also having the ability to make blended drinks for such events. To achieve this the integrated blender and cooler, the BreezeBox, will be designed and prototyped. A successful design should meet the requirements of being able to store ice, drinks, and ingredients for an extended period, being able to blend drinks without jamming due to ice, being fully mobile across different terrains, having the ability to charge other devices, being adjustable in height, and surface space to hold drinks. With a design, pre-prototype fabrication was completed for each subsystem and testing was completed to justify final design choices and for feasibility of the design itself. Testing included battery capacity, blending power, wheel optimization, table loading, and handle fatigue. The feasibility of the pre-prototype was proven to be mostly functional with all subsystems working, however some did not meet the needed constraints and will have to be redesigned and tested accordingly. The pre-prototype could blend and create drinks for the needed cycles, be moved by its wheel assembly with minimal force across a variety of surfaces, and could store ample ice and drinks. The subsystems that did not fully meet constraints were the table deflecting excessively from expected loads, the handle experiencing chipping from fatigue, and the legs not supporting the max cooler weight. The continuation of this project will include design updates and the creation and testing of a more developed prototype and the creation of a detailed final design based on further testing results.

Sponsor: Ardent Animal Health

Luke Johnson, Kylee Furbeck, Brooke Stumph, Kennedy Fong, William Wallace, Brennan Crone

Ardent Animal Health currently uses a Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) kit that forms a fibrin clot within a test tube to drop onto a topical wound for accelerated healing. The current process presents many limitations due to retraction of the fibrin clot and lack of PRP dispersion over the wound, reducing the treatment’s effectiveness. Therefore, an alternative method was needed to maximize wound coverage and maintain integrity of the fibrin clot gel matrix. The team was tasked with designing separate mold and press devices to shape the PRP. The devices must produce a process to shape and form the PRP to a desired area for application, maintain integrity of the fibrin clot gel matrix throughout all interaction with the device or removal from the device, and should be able to be sterilized between uses.  The devices are meant to simulate a process that veterinarian clinics can adopt and continue to use for chronic wounds on animals in need. These devices will allow for an alternative to traditional medicine and provide animal owners with last resort options.

Sponsor: Toyota

Cade Fleming, Mason Hecquet, Elijah Anderson, Mitchell Dreher, Evan Brockman, Jacob Henson

Toyota uses a C-Carrier conveyor to move the cars through the electrodeposition paint process, and the pins that lock the car chassis onto the C-Carrier are fatiguing due to the torsion and bending stress that is being applied. We are tasked with designing a way to reduce both the bending and torsional stresses to increase the service life.

Sponsor: Dr Alexandre Martin

Danie Ashley Ayimbombi, Josiah Allen, Malcom Silver, Harris Ugarak, Logan Shelton

This project focused on the design, testing, and fabrication of an ADEPT-style deployable heat shield system for a sounding rocket application. Sounding rockets experience significant aerodynamic heating during atmospheric reentry, which can deform or damage onboard structures and instrumentation. Traditional rigid heat shields are effective but impose limitations in size, mass, and packaging. To address these constraints, this project developed a compact, mechanically actuated, umbrella-style deployment mechanism capable of stowing within a confined rocket volume and deploying reliably during descent.

Inspired by NASA’s Adaptive Deployable Entry and Placement Technology (ADEPT), the system utilizes a spring-driven mechanical deployment method requiring minimal electrical power. A heat-resistant fabric provided by the sponsor is attached to a deployable structural frame that expands outward and locks into position, maintaining tension throughout descent. The design prioritizes reliability, structural integrity, and compatibility with the geometric and loading constraints of a sounding rocket.

The development process included extensive pre-prototyping using 3D-printed components to verify geometric feasibility and identify critical tolerance regions. Following refinement, full-scale prototypes were manufactured using mixed materials, with aluminum serving as the primary structural material. Theoretical analysis and simulation were conducted using predictive models and finite element analysis to identify potential failure regions. Practical testing focused on component-level validation, including shear testing of fasteners and life-cycle testing of springs.

The final outcome of the project is a fully functional, full-scale deployable heat shield prototype that demonstrates the feasibility of a compact, mechanically actuated ADEPT-style system for sounding rocket applications and provides a foundation for future refinement and flight testing.

Sponsor: Valvoline

Sawyer Arbogast, Rocco Harrison, Teddy Millhollan, Owen Francia, Woody Schoenbachler, Aleksei Shaverin

This project focuses on the mechanical and thermal design, fabrication, and experimental evaluation of a student built continuous process rig developed to study heat transfer behavior under controlled operating conditions. A central component of the system is a primary plate heat exchanger that was manually designed, assembled, and integrated into the rig. Plate selection, channel configuration, gasket layout, and clamping methodology were chosen to achieve the desired heat transfer area, flow distribution, and pressure drop while maintaining structural integrity and leak free operation. These design decisions were guided by fundamental heat exchanger theory as well as practical manufacturing and assembly constraints.

The process rig was mounted on a custom built mobile test cart that was manually designed and fabricated to support all mechanical components, including pumps, piping, instrumentation, and heat exchangers. Structural design considerations included load support, vibration control, accessibility for maintenance, and safe routing of piping and electrical components. The cart layout was intentionally designed to allow rapid configuration changes and repeatable experimental testing.

From a thermal engineering perspective, the system enables detailed evaluation of convective heat transfer, exchanger effectiveness, and overall thermal performance. Temperature and flow instrumentation were positioned to support energy balance calculations and effectiveness NTU analysis under steady state and transient conditions. Experimental testing was conducted across a range of flow rates and temperature driving forces, with results compared against theoretical predictions.

Overall, this project demonstrates the integration of mechanical fabrication, thermal system design, and experimental validation. The completed rig serves as a robust educational and research platform that bridges theoretical heat transfer analysis with practical mechanical engineering implementation

Sponsor: N/A

Joshua Donahue, Rashid Al-Rasbi, Shara-Lynn Carter, Jacob Amos

The goal of the UK Department of Mining Engineering Aggregate Mine Design Team is to report on the geology, mineral resource potential, mining ability, and economic potential of a proposed limestone mining project located in north-central Tennessee. The data provided to the consultant included five drill holes, a topographic drawing file, and a property boundary outline file. All of the information provided to the Consultant was used to support the interpretation, resource estimation, and mine planning assessments. The project will report on the property description, geology and mineralization, exploration, resource and reserve estimate, mining methods, process options, infrastructure requirements, environmental and social considerations, and a preliminary economic assessment of the mine. The results presented in this report should allow one to establish the potential to develop an underground room-and-pillar mining operation for limestone that can produce a Type 1 and Type 2 anti-skid aggregate product.

Sponsor: Hicks Dome Co.

Julian Brown, Ben Turner, Isaac Madill, Matthew Ford, Sawyer Boone

Our capstone project involves producing an integrated, concept-level mine design for the Hicks Dome mineral district, built around a clear set of design criteria and decision points rather than a single “best guess” plan. Because deposit definition is still evolving, we treated exploration uncertainty as a first-order constraint: we developed a phased approach that can adapt as drilling updates grade continuity, geotechnical domains, and hydrologic conditions. We began by translating geologic objectives into engineering parameters—target throughput, development rates, dilution and recovery assumptions, and acceptable safety factors—and used those to evaluate mining method and access options at a systems level. The preferred concept was then carried through into a practical layout and schedule, tying production sequencing to stability and constructability limits (ground support requirements, standoff distances, and operational constraints such as trafficability and ventilation demand). Equipment and haulage decisions were made in tandem with power distribution and reliability needs, so the mining cycle, material handling, and infrastructure loads stay consistent. Key supporting designs include a ventilation and cooling concept sized to diesel utilization and working headings; a dewatering and water management strategy based on expected inflows and discharge pathways; and surface facilities planning for maintenance, consumables, and material stockpiles. We also mapped waste/tailings pathways and closure considerations early so that short-term productivity choices did not create long-term liabilities. Finally, we screened the concept economically and stress-tested it with scenario and sensitivity checks to identify the most influential parameters and the highest-risk assumptions, producing a defendable design basis that can be refined as new site data arrives.