ACE Announces Winners of 2013 Program for PURE Research Expo
Last semester, over thirty Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) Armour College of Engineering (ACE) students, participated in the Fall 2013 Program for Undergraduate Research in Engineering (PURE) Research Expo. At the event, accepted PURE students presented posters detailing the research they had completed. ACE PURE provides undergraduate students the opportunity to conduct research alongside researchers at and outside IIT. The program is part of IIT Engineering Themes distinctive education initiative, where students are given the opportunity to study areas in which engineers can impact the entire global population, while enriching and advancing their education. All ACE PURE projects related directly to one of the current IIT Engineering Themes: Water, Health, Security, and Energy. Prizes were awarded for first, second, and third place in each of the four themes. The first place winners were:
WATER
Lucas Roat, a third year civil engineering major, was at the top of the podium among students in the Water Theme. His research IIT Hydrologic Analysis aims to shed light onto the impact of both urban compacted soils and vegetated surfaces on precipitation runoff. Lucas designed a tool that measures the infiltration rates of water into the soil at different sites on campus. Lucas hopes it will provide beneficial feedback to IIT about the conditions on campus so that Best Management Practices for stormwater maybe be implemented.
HEALTH
Third year Biomedical Engineering student, Jose A. Rios, placed first under the Health Theme with his project Analysis of Cell Function in a Tissue Engineered Model of Adipose Tissue The purpose of this research is to better understand obesity at a cellular level in order to prevent, diagnose, and treat people affected by diabetes and other diseases where obesity increases the risk.
SECURITY
Top honors in the Security Theme went to Luis Larco for his research into Predictive Policing. Luis is a fifth year student at IIT with a dual major in Electrical and Computer Engineering. His research was done in partnership with the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and was funded by the National Institute of Justice. The project involves developing tools that the CPD could use to develop a better understanding of the categories of crime that would allow them to deploy resources more efficiently into affected areas.
ENERGY
David Llavsky’s research project Investigation of Convex Methods in Optimal Power Flow,took first place in the Energy Theme. David, a third year Chemical and Electrical Engineering student researched the accuracy and efficiency of the Convex Method of analyzing Optimal Power Flow. Optimal Power Flow problems are the way power grids are analyzed to minimize cost and power loses. This research will make power grids more efficient, which is of great importance as power systems move toward utilizing renewable, but non-dispatchable energy sources.
Please note that the acceptance for Spring 2014 ACE PURE applications has closed. Applications are currently being evaluated. Those who submitted their applications will be notified soon as to whether or not they have been accepted into the program. The ACE Spring 2014 PURE Research Expo is currently scheduled for March 26th. More information will be available at a later date.
