Surgical repair of spinal cord injury after traumatic or complete spinal cord injury can be significantly improved by hypothermia of the the spinal cord.
Lowering temperature slows metabolism, decreases cellular stress and inflammation and prevents edema. Typically the temperature is lowered to 33 degrees C for 5-6 hours for a modest hypothermia.

This project shall design a device capable of reducing spinal cord temperature by 6 degrees C for 5-6 hours for a moderate hypothermia.
After successful treatment, the device shall progressively rewarm the cord to 37C at 1 degree C per hour.
The engineering team shall design a physical thermodynamic model simulating human body and spinal cord to resemble physiologic temperature and flow conditions.
The team shall create thermal load and fluid dynamic analyses to determine the required flow of the cooling of the spinal fluid.
The team shall investigate existing catheterization and hypothermia equipment and design a system to achieve the required temperature and temperature gradients.
In additional to cooling and warming of spinal fluid, the system shall measure temperature in situ.

Luis A. Robles MD, John Hurlbert. MD, Pilitsis Julie MD , University of Arizona Spine Program, Division of Neurosurgery. Banner University Medical Center, Tucson Arizona

Design, construct, and test an aircraft that has been outfitted to perform with appropriate handling and stability in a variety of situations:
Modular wings
Variable sweep angle
Variable tail position
Movable landing gear
Movable engines

Secondary goals:
Outfit the plane with a variety of cargo/sensor/instrumentation packages
Operate a functional autopilot system

1. The student is required to participate in selected meetings during the course of the project.
2. The student must be able to commute to the site; therefore, a valid driver’s license is required.
3. The student must be willing to take our site-specific safety training as well as the MSHA training.

Ridgetop Group is actively seeking innovative solutions to integrate a vibration-based energy harvesting system into an ultra-low power IoT sensor and gateway design. This advanced design will feature cellular, GPS, BLE, and WiFi connectivity as part of the Sentinel Motion product line. Sentinel Motion is an IoT-based sensor system designed to monitor mission-critical equipment by tracking a combination of temperature, linear, rotary, or vibrational forces. Originally developed in collaboration with NASA for helicopter gearbox systems, this technology has been successfully adapted for the railroad industry. Sentinel Motion provides railroad operators with a comprehensive toolbox to detect and monitor faults and anomalies in tracks, wheels, and bearings. The system includes a wireless network of RotoSense™ smart sensors, the Sentinel Gateway communications device, and the Sentinel MotionView software package for data acquisition, analysis, and sensor-gateway management. Further details on this technology can be found on the Ridgetop Group website here:
https://www.ridgetopgroup.com/applications/transportation/safety-reliability-monitoring-rail-cars-tracks

Project Goal: A portable diagnostic system able to both estimate and directly measure potassium and phosphorus content of food and fluid will be designed and built. This system can save lives!

Project Background/Scope: Kidneys are vital organs involved in the balance of fluids and electrolytes (ions) in the body. On a daily basis, through consumption of food and liquids, as well as via internal metabolism, the body is subjected to a constant barrage of electrolytes including potassium, sodium, chloride, bicarbonate and phosphates. Of these potassium (K) and phosphates (PO4) have very narrow windows of appropriate levels in the blood. Low potassium levels lead to significant muscle and cardiac dysfunction, where high levels of potassium induce significant heart rhythm abnormalities and frankly can kill you! Similarly, low phosphate levels can lead to significant muscle and respiratory dysfunction, whereas elevated levels can lead to vascular calcification and stroke. For patients with Kidney disease and compromised Kidney function determining the intake of potassium and phosphates is vital. Sadly, today this is only guessed at by understanding food content from charts and other references. A means of rapidly and accurately estimating potassium and phosphate content from food and fluid, as well as a device to rapidly directly measure potassium and phosphate will be of great value for chronic kidney disease patients enhancing quality of life and ensuring their safety!

Important Facts: Chronic kidney disease or CKD, causes more deaths than breast cancer or prostate cancer in the U.S. It is the under-recognized public health crisis. Kidney disease affects an estimated 37 million people in the U.S. (15% of the adult population; more than 1 in 7 adults). Approximately 90% of those with kidney disease don't know they have it! 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. (approximately 80 million) is at risk for kidney disease. Kidney disease is more common in women (14%) than men (12%). But for every 2 women who develop end-stage kidney disease (ESKD), 3 men's kidneys fail. Kidney disease is a leading cause of death in the U.S. and sadly is on the rise. A healthy adult should aim to consume 3,500–4,700 mg or potassium daily from foods. People with moderate to severe chronic kidney disease, defined as kidney function (i.e., glomerular filtration rate, or "GFR") below 45 mL/min (normal is 100 to 120 mL/min), should eat less than 3000 mg of potassium per day. A healthy adult can safely consume up to 4,000 mg/day of phosphorus though practically should aim to consume between 800 mg and 1,200 mg of phosphorus daily. People with moderate to severe chronic kidney disease should consume < 800 mg of phosphorus per day.

Requirements: 1. Develop a system to capture images of common food and fluid and estimate both Potassium and Phosphate content based on food volume or weight. 2. Develop a lookup table - i.e. a smart evolving reference engine of potassium and phosphate content based on active learning from the web. 3. In parallel design and build a probe system that can be directly placed into food or fluid to measure potassium and phosphate content (in mg. or meq/unit weight). 4. Develop a graphic user interface to have easy readout of both estimated K and PO4 content as well as measured content. Will also keep a log of total K and PO4 intake per day and have readout. 5. Will be able to telemeter info to health providers.