The Armour R&D program provides Illinois Tech undergraduate engineering students research and development opportunities to apply their engineering skills to areas of high relevance and global impact.
This year-round program offers Armour undergraduates the chance to work alongside an engineering faculty member on projects that tackle real-world problems including water desalination methods, detection of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and cancer using magnetic resonance and molecular imaging techniques, designing biomaterials for therapeutic delivery and tissue regeneration, and developing open-source GPS, while gaining skills that are highly valued in the engineering profession.
Armour R&D participants receive a stipend to work with a faculty member in their research laboratory, allowing them to gain valuable research and development experience and professional mentorship. Participants selected for this competitive program conduct their project over the course of 10 weeks during the semester and showcase their work at the Annual Armour R&D Expo.
Below are a list of possible research opportunities but students are not limited to the below projects, they may work with a faculty mentor to apply with a project of their own:
Faculty Mentor | Project Title | Description |
Mohammad Asadi (ChBE) | CO2 electectrocatalysis | We seek to develop advanced catalysts as well as design on of a kind electrolyzer for effective conversion of Carbon Dioxide to value added chemicals. |
Mohammad Asadi (ChBE) | Beyond Li-ion battery technologies | We seek to develop a new advanced materials materials and devices for beyond Li-ion batteries with potentially higher energy density to replace conventional batteries. |
Boyoung Jeong (CAEE) | Characterization of biopolymer soil mixture | This research will study the basic soil characteristics of biopolymer enhanced granular materials. Sodium alginate and xanthan will be used for biopolymer sources. Shear strength of biopolymer-treated soils will be accessed using direct shear test. The tests will be conducted in varying biopolymer concentrations, vertical loading, shear rates, and water content. |
Esma Karagoz (MMAE) | Multidisciplinary Design Representation in a Systems Engineering Environment | The goal of this project is to build a descriptive multidisciplinary design workflow for aircraft design in SysML (Systems Modeling Language). You’ll be learning how to model in SysML and create a descriptive model for a commercial aircraft. Then, we will connect this system model with a physics-based engineering tool, enabling interoperability. (Opportunity to publish) |
Esma Karagoz (MMAE) | Multidisciplinary Design and Optimization (MDO) Framework for Future Aircraft Design |
The main objective is to build a multifidelity MDO framework for future aircraft design. You’ll be conducting a literature review on current MDO frameworks for aircraft design and the available tools for disciplinary analyses. Then, you’ll be creating a tool that would identify the interactions between the disciplines based on given requirements. (Opportunity to publish) |
Ken Tichauer | Early detection of diabetic retinopathy by mapping vascular permeability in the retina |
More than 80% of individuals with diabetes will suffer vision impairment (diabetic retinopathy) within their lifetimes. We are working on developing a method to detect the onset of retinopathy at the earliest stages when intervention and treatment can be most effective.The student project will center on programming and data analysis to fit mathematical models to movies of fluorescein dynamics imaged in the retinas of patients. |
Ken Tichauer (BME) | Detection of insufficient surgical margins in patients with head and neck cancer |
Complete surgical removal of tumors in the head and neck is complicated by complex anatomy and an aim to minimize damage to otherwise healthy tissue. We are working with a surgical group at the University Medical Center of Groningen to develop a fluorescence depth mapping imaging device to help the surgeons better identify areas of the surgical bed where tumor tissue may remain. The project may include hardware and/or software development. |
Ken Tichauer (BME) | Rapid cancer detection in surgical excised tumor draining lymph nodes is patients with head and neck cancer |
In patients with head and neck cancer that has begun to spread to local lymph nodes, surgical removal of the lymph nodes in the entire neck region can significantly improve long term survival. However, owing to the high morbidity associated with complete neck dissection, we are developing a method to rapidly test the first lymph node draining the tumor to assess the need for more complete dissection while the patient is still on the operating table. The student project will include hardware and software development. |
Francisco Ruiz (MMAE) | Understanding the Physics of Whistling | This project consists of an experiment where the acoustic characteristics of models representing human lips are measured in order to determine what causes the sound when a person whistles. The models are to be made using 3D printing, varying geometric parameters over a carefully designed grid. The experimental setup is yet to be designed, so the first task is to make a list of components. |
Mohammad Heidarinejad (CAEE) | Modeling and deployment of analog circuits | The student will implement linear-phase, FIR filters using various windowing techniques, such as Kaiser and Hanning, on a DSP (Digital Signal Processor). Analog filter design (e.g. Sallen-Key, Butterworth, Chebychev, Elliptical, etc.) and operational amplification may be used. Basic understanding of Python, MATLAB, LTSpice, digital signal processing, and test equipment operation (i.e. oscilloscope, DC power supply, multimeter, and waveform generator) will be beneficial for the project. |
Mohammad Heidarinejad (CAEE) | Explore impacts of air cleaners on indoor air quality and health outcomes | This research will study the basic soil characteristics of biopolymer enhanced granular materials. Sodium alginate and xanthan will be used for biopolymer sources. Shear strength of biopolymer-treated soils will be accessed using direct shear test. The tests will be conducted in varying biopolymer concentrations, vertical loading, shear rates, and water content. |
Mohammad Heidarinejad (CAEE) | Application of embedded systems and microcontrollers in buildings | This project will focus on leveraging recent developments in low-cost sensors and microcontrollers to develop and deploy smart building sensing and controls solutions, especially for our steam systems (i.e., low-cost steam traps and radiator valve controls solutions). Students with a background in coding (e.g., in C/C++, Rust for embedded systems and microcontrollers, Python), prototyping (e.g., assembly and fabrication using 3D printers), or building test circuits on breadboards (e.g., design to a printed circuit board) will work together with the current undergraduate and graduate students. |
Mohammad Heidarinejad (CAEE) | Building Systems Semantic Models | This project will focus on developing and understanding building systems semantic models that integrate best practices in computer science, such as knowledge representation, and reasoning with other engineering models (electrical, mechanical, architectural). The student(s) will work closely with the professor and those with experience in semantic modeling. Knowledge of working with object-oriented programming languages (e.g., Python) and understanding semantic web technologies (e.g., RDF, SHACL, SPARQL) would be beneficial. |
Mohammad Heidarinejad (CAEE) | Design of the Control System for An Environmental Test Chamber | This project will focus on design, installation, and testing of control components for a teaching and research environmental chamber that is being constructed in the CAEE department. The student will work with the faculty to prepare drawings for the installation sensors, actuators, controllers and work on the communication protocol.Knowledge of building systems, controls, and instrumentation would be beneficial. |
Mohammad Heidarinejad (CAEE) | Design of the Control System for An Environmental Test Chamber | This project will focus on the application of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in buildings. The student will work with a faculty to perform indoor and outdoor CFD simulations for a variety of building applications. The aim is to visualize the results in Oculus headsets and create digital twins of the CFD inputs and results. Knowledge of modeling and understanding of CFD and digital twins would be beneficial. |
Mohammad Heidarinejad (CAEE) | Understanding wildfire air quality and mitigation measures | This project will assess impacts of developing filtration strategies for homes that are cooled with rooftop evaporative (“swamp”) coolers which is common in hot and dry climates. The project characterizes performance of common evaporative coolers, proposes novel filtration solutions, and analyzes the particulate matter during the study. A combination of lab work and data analysis are part of this project or depending on the interest one aspect is more significant than the others. |
Mohammad Heidarinejad (CAEE) | Cyber-Physical Systems in the Built Environment | This topic will look at emerging technologies such as using Oculus headsets for visualization of results or developing games for building systems, developing building related phone apps, utilizing ChatGPT to program Arduino or Pi, enabling efficient integration of simulation tools, or developing digital twins of building systems.The student will coordinate with the faculty member to pick one or two of the related topics for the semester. |
Mohammad Heidarinejad (CAEE) | Building a vapor compression cycle system teaching | This project is a hands-on project to create a prototype of a teaching vapor compression system to measure, pressure, enthalpy, temperature, flow rate of the refrigerant in order to teach thermodynamic cycles. The student will work with the faculty and the lab managers in this prototype development. |
Mohammad Heidarinejad (CAEE) | Decarbonization of buildings using innovative solutions | Decarbonization of building energy and energy systems have gained popularity in recent years. This project will focus on developing decarbonization and electrification strategies for the electric grid and the building energy systems. For example, the project will include characterization of air source heat pumps, especially their COP and backup heat performance for different scenarios. |
Experience Information
- Sponsor
- Armour College of Engineering
- Start Date
- Sep 18, 2023
- End Date
- Nov 24, 2023
- Apply By
- Aug 18, 2023