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Student Teams

Student presenting project at Spring 2022 Expo

The ECE Major Design Experience (MDE) was created in 2014 as a way to bring real-world, hands-on experience to electrical and computer engineering students in the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. 

In its inagural semester (Fall 2014), the MDE had 61 students and 16 projects. Nearly eight years later in Fall 2022, there are 228 students working on 43 new design teams. In 2017, the spring section of the course was added. MDE is now a required course for both electrical and computer engineering seniors.

For students searching for a more interdisciplinary option, there is a new College of Engineering senior design course that focuses on partnering with students from other departments. 

Five "Best Overall Project" awards sit on a table.
Student holding award from 2022 Spring Expo

Winning Projects

At the conclusion of both the Fall and Spring MDE Expos, awards are given to the highest scoring teams in the following categories: 

  • Best Overall 
  • Best by Popular Vote
  • Best Project in Track

Best Overall & Best By Popular Vote

Geolocation Scanning Rig

MDE Fall 2022 Best Overall & Best By Popular Vote Winners Group Photo

Left to Right:  Shiqian Li, Luke Smith, Minzhou Pan, Pratistha Yadav, Hunain Ali Shamsi, 

Best Project in Track #1

 Satellite Navigation Algorithm

MDE Fall 2022 Best Overall & Best By Popular Vote Winners Group Photo

Left to Right: Jeremy Bruce, Aaron Yang, Matthew McLaughlin, 

Best Project in Track #2

Prognostic Health Monitor  of Power Electronic Converters (PHM PEC)

MDE Fall 2022 Best Overall & Best By Popular Vote Winners Group Photo

Left to Right: Kourosh Khoie, Corwin Warner, Li You, Luis Yon, Jeffrey Chambliss 

Best Project in Track #3

Medication Compliance

MDE Fall 2022 Best Overall & Best By Popular Vote Winners Group Photo

Left to Right:  Alex Parrott, Daniel Shin, Hansu Kim, Ming Lu, Jiaye Liu

Best Overall 

Heartbeat Collection & Classification System

group photo

Left to Right: Braeden Muir, Tom Anders,  Andrew Caylor, Yasser Hassan, & Jeremy Kraisser

Best By Popular Vote

IEEE Robotics Machine Perception Team & IEEE SoutheastCon 2023 Hardware Competition Object Manipulation Team

Best By Popular Vote Group Photo

Back Row Left to Right: Jay Schramm, Jimmy Ewin, Yussef Ait-Bella, John Fiorini, & Pradyuman Mehta
Middle Row Left to Right: Araceli Cabrera-Ortuno, Azam Shoaib, Lauren Chuderewicz, Lifan Ren, Tran Thanh, & Devangini Talwar
Front Row Left to Right: Ronuk Mohapatra, Jhonny Velasquez, & Juan Suquilanda

Best Project in Track #1

Personal Locator Beacon Team

group photo

Left to Right: Brenden Duffy, Michael Policarpio, Samantha Frietchen, Brandon Battista, Yuxiang (Jerry) Dong

Best Project in Track #2

OT Device Software Asset Extractor

group photo

Left to Right: Keaton Boodlal, Anthony Lee, Jack Benning, Samuel Stewart, Henry Trochlil, & Simple Gomez

Best Project in Track #3

Organic Electrodes for Flexible Electronic Devices

group photo

Left to Right: Calvin Hong,  Anshu Madwesh,  Sheena Deivasigamani, & Aaron DiFilippo

Best Project in Track #4

Lester Labs Automated Grading Service: Lincoln Head Cent

group photo

Left to Right:  Seth Cooper, Anthony LaConte, Mason Zeo, David Peterson, & Nicholas Mason

Best Project in Track #5

Planar High-Power Density Transformers: Analysis and Fabrication

group photo

Left to Right: Tyler Cook,  Fasil Gebreab, Anthony Buchman, & Sam Brown

Best Project in Track #6

Project Hermes — Wireless Mesh Network for Herd Tracking

group photo

Left to Right: John Phung, Robbie Platt, Jack Greer, Noah Sweilem, Spencer Beery, & Cole Roof

Best Project in Track #7

Sustainable Optimization for Agrivoltaic Power

group photo

Left to Right: Evin Varghese,  Siraj Syed, Alejandro Garcia, Gavin Rosenberger, & Spencer Smith

Best Overall

Swing Stabilization for MEDEVAC Rescues
 

Left to Right: Ryan Gurney, Sachin Dhiman, Mario Termine, Hoan Pham, and Hayden King

Left to Right: Ryan Gurney, Sachin Dhiman, Mario Termine, Hoan Pham, and Hayden King

Best by Popular Vote

L-Band Satellite Tracking and Characterization System

Left to Right: Luke Lester, Ethan Duval, Samuel Taliaferro, Charles Van Horn, Justin Daigle, Jared Jamison

Left to Right: Luke Lester, Ethan Duval, Samuel Taliaferro, Charles Van Horn, Justin Daigle, Jared Jamison

Best Project in Track #1

Next Gen DC/DC Converter for CubeSats

Left to Right: Joseph Karstetter, Brian Kwiatowski, Jiaqiang Ling, Zhenting Xu

Left to Right: Joseph Karstetter, Brian Kwiatowski, Jiaqiang Ling, Zhenting Xu

Best Project in Track #2

L-Band Satellite Tracking and Characterization System

Left to Right: Luke Lester, Ethan Duval, Samuel Taliaferro, Charles Van Horn, Justin Daigle, Jared Jamison

Left to Right: Luke Lester, Ethan Duval, Samuel Taliaferro, Charles Van Horn, Justin Daigle, Jared Jamison

Best Project in Track #3

Measurement and Test Automation using Low Cost Instruments

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Left to Right: Luke Lester, Nolan Donovan, Barkin Keskinturk, Jospeh Ha, Tahj Caines, Heesang Han

Best Overall

A Germanium Laser for Future Quantum Technologies: Design and Implementation

Left to Right: Ben Westcott, Rebecca Rainhart, Purv Bavishi, Luke Lester, Zibing He, Joshua Seplak

Left to Right: Ben Westcott, Rebecca Rainhart, Purv Bavishi, Luke Lester, Zibing He, Joshua Seplak

Best By Popular Vote

Image Recognition AUTOmation

Left to Right: Dan Nguyen, Arya Naren, Luke Lester, Ramya Aluri, Andy Lee, Alex Nguyen

Left to Right: Dan Nguyen, Arya Naren, Luke Lester, Ramya Aluri, Andy Lee, Alex Nguyen

Best in Track #1

AR Headset Object Identification

Left to Right: Tad DiDio, Samuel Park, Luke Lester, Andrew Salzmann, Varin Nakka, Liam Bushway

Left to Right: Tad DiDio, Samuel Park, Luke Lester, Andrew Salzmann, Varin Nakka, Liam Bushway

Best in Track #2

Bamboo Canes: Omnidirectional Imaging and 3D Reconstruction

Left to Right: Regan Meana, Luke Lester, Jack Timmins, Jonathan Hurley

Left to Right: Regan Meana, Luke Lester, Jack Timmins, Jonathan Hurley

Best in Track #3

B.U.R.S. : Balloon Ultraviolet Radiation Sensor

Left to Right: Aaron Johnson, Shabir Hossain, Luke Lester, Zachary Schmidt, Gabe Mills

Left to Right: Aaron Johnson, Shabir Hossain, Luke Lester, Zachary Schmidt, Gabe Mills

Best in Track #4

Counteracting Doppler Using OTFS Zak Transform

Left to Right: Ethan Costello, Nathan Scoller, Luke Lester, Danielle Felder, Andrew Hermansen

Left to Right: Ethan Costello, Nathan Scoller, Luke Lester, Danielle Felder, Andrew Hermansen

Best in Track #5

Mobile Digital High Frequency Ionosonde

Left to Right: John Larus III, Nicolas Hoang, Luke Lester, Tommy Trinh, Ehite Anteneh, Smail El Oumari

Left to Right: John Larus III, Nicolas Hoang, Luke Lester, Tommy Trinh, Ehite Anteneh, Smail El Oumari

Best in Track #6

Cyberchase Tabletop Board Game

Left to Right: Matthew Vandeveire, Alex Saura, Kojo Poku, Luke Lester, Jiawen Bao, Matt Zarnowsky

Left to Right: Matthew Vandeveire, Alex Saura, Kojo Poku, Luke Lester, Jiawen Bao, Matt Zarnowsky

Best in Track #7

Early Failure Detection of Lithium-Ion Batteries Using Gas Sensing

Left to Right: Jenny Li, Siddhu Gogineni, Rachael Sherbo, Luke Lester, Sai Mukkollu, Triston Seaford

Left to Right: Jenny Li, Siddhu Gogineni, Rachael Sherbo, Luke Lester, Sai Mukkollu, Triston Seaford

Fall 2024 MDE Expo

Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024
@ The Inn at Virginia Tech

Spring 2025 MDE Expo

Wednesday, Apr. 23, 2025
@ The Inn at Virginia Tech
Ready to sponsor a team?
Fill out the MDE Project Request Form.
View the MDE Sponsor Handbook.