Honors go to Florida Tech Student Teams at Northrop Grumman Engineering and Science Student Design Showcase

MELBOURNE, FLA.—Students demonstrated they were near ready for their chosen careers at the 2013 Northrop Grumman Engineering and Science Student Design Showcase April 19. They showed off over 75 engineering projects and nearly 50 science projects to peers, faculty and the public in the Clemente Center for Sports and Recreation.

Seniors, who are required to complete a culminating project for graduation, are joined by those in other grade levels in the research and development work for the annual exhibition.

“Again this year the College of Engineering students performed in an exemplary manner,” said Fredric M. Ham, dean of the College of Engineering and Harris professor of Electrical Engineering. “They showcased their projects for not only the judges, but also others who attended the annual Northrop Grumman Engineering & Science Student Design Showcase. The dedication of our engineering students is reflected in their outstanding efforts that culminate in state-of-the-art projects in many cases. We are very proud of our engineering students.”

The Northrop Grumman Champion Award for College of Engineering went to the Vector Bravo Thrust Vector Control System, aerospace engineering, advisors Mark Archambault, Ron Reichard and Greg Peebles; the NG Champion Award for College of Science went to Marie McBride, space sciences, advisor Niescja Turner, for “First-Time Analysis of Restored Apollo 14 and 15 DTREM Instrument Data.”

The President’s Cup Award for College of Engineering, personally chosen by President and CEO Anthony J. Catanese went to “Building a Better Home,”construction management, advisor Ralph Locurcio. The President’s Cup Award for College of Science went to “Mathematics: Music to My Ears,” Matthew Malczyk, mathematical sciences, advisors Munevver Mine Subasi and Kshetrajna Raghavan.

“Students from the College of Science performed cutting-edge research in a variety of fields,” said Michael Grace, associate dean of the College of Science and professor of biological sciences. “Some of these students have been performing research since their freshman year, and many will have their results published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Their work not only advances the state of scientific discovery, but it also makes them highly marketable to graduate and professional schools and to prospective employers.”

In addition to the President’s Cup and Northrop Grumman Champions, each of seven College of Engineering departments and two programs, and five College of Science departments earned Northrop Grumman Best in Show awards for top project.

This year’s engineering exhibits included the Baja off-road race car, Formula open wheel rave car, MAVRIC concept car, Lunabotics robot, HullBUG Bio-inspired Underwater Grooming system, sustainable housing construction, autonomous logistic robot and concrete canoe. Students from the Department of Marine and Environmental Systems also displayed posters on their research.

Science research project posters explored a variety of topics. These included investigating the predatory behavior of invasive lionfish; using coronal loops to understand the superheating of the Sun’s corona; mathematical modeling of coral reef dynamics during rapid environmental change; multi-spectral fusion of Landsat images; motivating students through self-regulation to increase performance on assessments; spectrometric detection of citrus greening in Florida’s orange trees; classification and analysis of eclipsing binary star systems; and using electrostatic force microscopy to understand the surface activities of molecules.