One hundred and forty-three teams from seven schools and two colleges competed for prizes at the Fall 2019 Capstone Design Expo as students showcased their senior projects. The event was held on December 2 at McCamish Pavilion on the Georgia Tech campus. 

Of the 143 teams participating, the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) was represented by 16 teams in the ECE discipline-specific category and by 18 teams in the interdisciplinary category.

As the largest student design competition of its kind, Capstone is attracting sponsors from all over Georgia, from local fixtures like the Atlanta Hawks, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Cox Automotive, Emory Hospital, Georgia Department of Transportation, and Southwire, to national brands including CamelBak, Cisco, General Electric, General Motors, Lockheed Martin, the United States Air Force, and Under Armour. 

Sponsors specific to projects in the School of ECE or interdisciplinary projects involving ECE students were Agnetix, Alo Farms, CDC, Cox Automotive, Dupont, Racemark, thyssenkrupp, OXOS Medical, Georgia Tech Research Institute, Grady Hospital, and Emory Voice Center. 

The teams who did not pursue sponsored projects came up with their own problems to tackle, designing firefighting robots, an automated tamper-proof pill dispenser, a range of medical devices, and a device for turning any writing tool into a smart device. 

After several hours of judging, the winners were a mix of sponsored projects and individual pursuits, with the award for best overall project going to "Sky's the Limit," a Delta-sponsored project that examined the airline's warehousing methods. The team was from the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering.

The ECE disciplinary award was presented to “Backup Key Generation for Encrypted Website Data.” This service will bridge the gap between the two major approaches to handling user data today, providing both the security of fully encrypting user data to protect it from data breaches and other cyberattacks while still allowing users to recover access to the data if they forget their password. 

The interdisciplinary award was a tie between “Calibration Nation” and “Temptec;” both teams involved ECE students. The goal of the Calibration Nation team is to automate components of an ADAS calibration system to reduce the calibration time, while the Temptec team is developing a device that will switch from hot to cold instantly and that will help people deal with pain management.

In the end, Capstone competitors showed why Georgia Tech students are renowned for their ability to hit the ground running and making an impact, whether they're working on behalf of sponsors and employers or pursuing passion projects for their own interest in the hopes of starting their own companies. 

Full Award Results

Best Overall Winner - Sky's the Limit, sponsored by Delta Airlines

Carolina Llerena (ISYE) - San Mateo, CA
Thomas Suh  (ISYE) - Augusta, GA
Kelsey Keith (ISYE) - Woodstock, GA
Mack Hathaway  (ISYE) - Atlanta, GA
Afreen Fahad (ISYE) - Mount Olive, NJ
Christine Valerie (ISYE) - Charlotte, NC
Madison Messier (ISYE) - Atlanta, GA
Priya Sharma (ISYE) - Alpharetta, GA

Aerospace Engineering - Flyright

Zivan Bholai (AE) - Orlando, FL
Denise Woode (AE) - Damascus, Maryland
Vikas Molleti (AE) - St. Pete Beach, Florida
Hamidreza Nazemi (AE) - Houston, TX
Emily Glover (AE) - Lawrenceville, Georgia

Biomedical Engineering - Bullseye, sponsored by Dr. Anand Sagar Jain, Emory Healthcare

Oscar Gutierrez (BME) - Doraville, GA
Ahmed Alnamos (BME) - Watertown, MA
Nishani Kanthasamy (BME) - Alpharetta, GA
Sondos Alnamos (BME) - Watertown MA

Civil and Environmental Engineering- Still Design Group, sponsored by Georgia Tech's Office of Capital Planning and Space Management

Kimmie Hernandez (CE) - Sandy Springs, GA
Rachel Still (CE) - Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
Poonam Patel (CE) - Palm Harbor, FL
Danielle Kronowski (CE) - Augusta, GA 

Electrical and Computer Engineering- Backup Key Generation for Encrypted Website Data

Matthew Riley (CMPE) - Decatur, GA
Maddy Parnall (EE) - Charleston, SC
Kee Hong (CMPE) - Seoul, South Korea
Michael Brzozowski (CMPE) - Manhasset, NY
Trenton Bruno (CMPE) - Warner Robins, GA
Reid Barton (EE) - Los Gatos, CA
Michael Lewis (CMPE) - Gainesville, FL

Industrial and Systems Engineering- Authority Life, sponsored by GWCCA

Peyton Skinner (ISYE) - Atlanta, GA
Mayke Vercruyssen (ISYE) - Atlanta, GA
Daniel Alayo-Matos (ISYE) - Miami, FL
Yihua Xu I(ISYE) - Hangzhou, China
Yunsang Kim (ISYE) - Seoul Korea
Brandon Kang (ISYE) - Duluth, GA
Emily Kornegay (ISYE) - Thomasville, GA
Hailun Chang (ISYE) - Taiwan

Industrial Design and Mechanical Engineering- Last Mile

Seunghyun Choe (ME) - Seoul, South Korea
Kai Zhang  (ID) - Qingdao, China
David Xu (ME) - Johns Creek
Francis Lin (ID) - Shenzhen
Uyen My Tran (ID) - Lilburn, GA

Mechanical Engineering- Drink and Thrive

Ryan Bogan (CS) - Libertyville, IL
Eric Ricci (CS) - Long Beach, NY
Sean Fitzpatrick (ME) - Yardley, PA
Alexander Gibson (ME) - Roswell, GA
Thomas Malchodi (ME) - Acton, GA

Best Interdisciplinary (Tie)

Calibration Nation, sponsored by Cox Automotive

Alex Schwartz (CMPE) - Manhasset, NY
Oguzhan Yilmaz (EE) - Istanbul, Turkey
Caroline Eckrote (ME) - Suwanee, GA
Lionel Jones (CMPE) - Fayetteville, GA
Eric Hsieh (EE) - San Diego, CA
Beatriz Dias(ME) - Roswell, GA

TempTec

Nick Zhao (EE) - Mason, OH
Izaan Kamal (CS) - Rochester, NY
Vibhav Bhat (CS) - Andover, MA
Jared Canty (EE) - Johnson City, TN
Mark Saleh (ME) - Charlotte, NC
Ryan Yeung (ME) - Roswell, GA
Alex Butterwick (ME) - Alpharetta, GA