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Students: Abigail Ganze, Natasia Ehlers, Zoe Atherton, Monserratt Ramirez

Howler Technology is a wearable, noninvasive monitoring system designed to detect early signs of heat stress in working dogs operating in high-risk environments such as military, law enforcement, search and rescue, and agricultural settings. Working dogs face extreme temperatures and intense physical demands that can quickly lead to heat exhaustion, organ damage, or fatality. Our system integrates continuous skin temperature monitoring, heart rate sensing, microcontroller-based signal processing, and Bluetooth communication to provide real-time physiological data to a mobile application. When predefined safety thresholds are exceeded, the system generates escalating alerts to notify handlers immediately. Lightweight, waterproof, and harness-mounted, the device is built for field durability while maintaining comfort and mobility for the dog. By enabling proactive monitoring rather than reactive intervention, Howler Technology aims to improve animal welfare, reduce preventable injuries, protect valuable operational assets, and enhance mission flexibility in demanding environments.

Students: Grant Peterson, Dominic Layco, Sulman Sajid, Vinh Nguyen

Our proposed Elevated Rail Transit (ERT) Station is an innovative and transformative alternative mobility solution aimed at alleviating the persistent traffic congestion along I-80 between Reno/Sparks and USA Parkway. This project would be particularly significant since the corridor between Sparks and USA Parkway is considered one of the most heavily congested commuter routes in the region. The proposed Elevated Rail Transit Station will be strategically located near the I-80/Greg Street interchange and will act as a high-capacity transit station connecting residential areas to large-scale industrial and commercial employment centers. This station addresses passenger comfort and safety needs through climate-resilient sheltering, real-time digital scheduling, accessible elevators and stairways, clean restroom facilities, filtered drinking water stations, and well-lit monitored transit platforms. The Transit Station is also designed for universal accessibility and desert-smart solutions. This will provide a safe, efficient, and comfortable travel experience for commuters to reach their destinations without the need to travel in automobiles. The proposed Elevated Rail Transit (ERT) Station is not only aimed at relieving traffic congestion in the region but also ensures the long-term economic vitality of the region through alternative regional connectivity solutions. 

Students: Alexis Corona, Zachary Dube, Georgia Petroff, Charlotte Skorlich
Advisors: Eric Rademacher (Linchpin Structural Engineering) and Megan Berry (Wood Rodgers, Inc.)

Nova Engineering presents the design for the Las Vegas Station, as part of the Brightline West high-speed rail project connecting Southern California and Las Vegas, Nevada. The project will detail a railway station and accompanying mixed-use facility, encompassing 166,000 square feet of the 120-acre property located south of the iconic Las Vegas Strip. The station will feature space for two train bays, ticketing areas, and passenger waiting areas. The two-story mixed-use building will include commercial amenities and entertainment on the first floor and suite-style hotel rooms on the second floor. Collectively, these two structures serve to support transit, multimodality, and economic growth in Las Vegas. Nova Engineering selected four CEE subdisciplines to provide a thorough design deliverables package for the project. The team will perform geotechnical calculations for foundations, structural calculations for the buildings' framing, transportation calculations for the entrance intersection, and water resources calculations for the site's drainage.

Students: Sara Pettay, Anisa Ali, Lili Pakko, David Wagner
Advisors: Chuck Reno (DOWL) and Joesph Toth (Ausenco)

The Spanish Springs Recreational Center Project addresses the shortage of recreational and social facilities in the Spanish Springs area by proposing a two-story, 120,000 square-foot complex on a 15-acre site designed to promote health, learning, and community connection. The facility will include indoor sports courts, fitness areas, multipurpose classrooms, and outdoor recreational spaces, creating an inclusive environment for residents of all ages. Environmentally conscious features such as photovoltaic panels, water-saving fixtures, greywater reuse, and optimized irrigation systems further reduce environmental impact. The design also considers local climate conditions, sustainability objectives, and community input. The SLAD Designs team is responsible for structural, environmental, and geotechnical design. This includes the steel framing system, detailing, specifications, and structural analysis. Additionally, the environmental scope includes designing the grey water piping, irrigation, and greywater reuse system. While the geotechnical design includes soil property characterization, foundation design, and seismic site classification. Overall, the proposed project delivers a sustainable community-focused recreational facility that integrates structural, environmental, and geotechnical design elements. 

Students: Peter Ghelfi, Jackson Schlink, Diego Hernandez de la Luz, Mark Moyle II

The proposed project involves an improvement of pedestrian safety and traffic flow on the south end of the Â鶹´«Ã½AV's campus with a comprehensive redesign at the corner of E Ninth St. and Evans Ave. Rapid increase of student population and outdated infrastructure have resulted in the intersection seeing significant pedestrian and vehicle conflicts, jeopardizing safety of the entire campus community.  To address the demand in traffic, the project incorporates various main improvements including a roundabout, replacing the existing unsignalized intersection and eliminating traffic standstills completely. The removal of the current crosswalks will be replaced with two pedestrian bridges, rerouting foot traffic above the roads and complementing the rerouting of traffic circulation, mitigating pedestrian and vehicle interaction.   Railings will be installed along the edge of sidewalks, bordering the intersection, to prevent pedestrians from crossing the street and encouraging the use of the pedestrian bridge. Three ramps will be installed at the ends of the bridges providing access to each side of the streets. One ramp will end in front of the HERE Reno apartment building, another in Evans Park, and the third ending at the parking lot between Fleischmann Agriculture and Sarah H. Fleischmann Building.

Students: McKenna Johnson, Casey Valdez Walker, Tito Guerra Carrera, Alexis Rincon
Advisors: Hilton Atherton, PE: Monte Vista Consulting ; Russ Wallace, PE: RW Engineering

TMAC proposes a multi-span concrete bridge designed to reduce congestion at the heavily traveled intersection of Pyramid Way, Highland Ranch Parkway, and Sparks Boulevard in Sparks, Nevada. This corridor currently experiences high daily traffic volumes, long queue lengths, and increased crash risk during peak hours. To provide a long-term solution, our team is implementing Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) techniques to minimize construction time and reduce disruption to the surrounding community. ABC methods allow major bridge components to be prefabricated off-site and installed efficiently, significantly limiting traffic delays during construction. An innovative aspect of our design is the use of CSA (Calcium Sulfoaluminate) concrete, a material not currently utilized in Nevada but successfully implemented in other states. CSA concrete gains strength more rapidly than traditional Portland cement concrete, allowing for faster construction timelines while maintaining durability and long-term performance. By combining innovative materials with efficient construction practices, our project delivers a safe, sustainable, and resilient infrastructure solution that will accommodate future traffic growth while improving mobility and safety for the Spanish Springs and North Sparks communities.

Students: Hayley LaCost, Ethan Lopez-Laing, Braden Crawford, Sophie Dawson
Advisors: Nolan Erickson

Anhydrous Lithium hydroxide - the dehydrated form of Lithium hydroxide monohydrate - is used in CO2 scrubbing for submarines, ship hulls, and in aeronautical spaces. We have been tasked both to update and optimize the current production process at Albemarle's Silver Peak facility and to design a new process from scratch. This project requires extensive knowledge in reactor design, reaction kinetics, process design, and industrial processing techniques; skills all used in chemical engineering.

Students: Daniel Morales, Travis Rothgeb, Spencer Fellenz, Daniela Vega-Rinne
Advisors: Ed McNew Mountain Pass Materials

Design of the process to produce water soluble rare earth chlorides from a rare earth concentrate derived from bastnasite mineral. The "one-step" process is carbochlorination of the rare earth carbonate fluorides in a fluidized bed. Introducing rare earth carbonate fluorides into a chlorine rich environment with carbon reduces the rare earths into rare earth chlorides. These rare earth chlorides are soluble in water, which allows for the separation of the rare earth chlorides into their constituents. These rare earth constituents are lanthanum, cerium, neodymium, and praseodymium. Separation of the rare earth constituents allows for further production of rare earth based materials, such as permanent magnets for use in electric motors.

Students: Jared Baze, Alex Zorzella, Alyssa Workman, Chanel Koh
Advisors: Richie White (CSE), Lucas Lac

The purpose of this project is to apply reinforcement learning techniques to train AI agents capable of playing a 2D fighting game. The primary goals are to implement reinforcement learning in a fighting game environment, compare the fighting style and performance between multiple models, and evaluate how these AI agents perform against human players. Analyzing AI-human interaction can also help assess which models are best in promoting player growth and satisfaction, a key consideration for game players and developers alike. The intended audience of this project are game studios and developers seeking cost-effective, time-efficient ways to train new characters and update current ones. By focusing on generalization and flexibility, this project aims to produce models that can adapt to new characters and updates with minimal retraining, making the models easier for our audience to use.

Students: Divisha Naharas, Wiem Boubaker, Brendan  Capello
Advisors: James McDuffie and Dr. Benjamin Teitelbaum

Our project is an AI-powered ENT Patient Support Chatbot that helps users determine the severity of their ear, nose, or throat symptoms before considering where to get assistance. The chatbot conducts a brief, guided discussion, gathers crucial facts (duration, severity, and whether symptoms are getting worse), and then assigns an urgency level: emergency, semi-urgent, or routine. It is not a diagnostic tool; rather, it is intended to facilitate safer and quicker decision-making. For clinicians, the system will provide a concise case narrative and highlight symptom-matched reference images, making evaluation faster and more consistent. The idea is to decrease unnecessary emergency visits and enable individuals at greater risk to get medical attention sooner, all through a user-friendly web experience.

Students: Isaiah McLain, Yovan Hirales, Jairo Cadena-Mendez, Elena Chau

AGROS WHORL-E is a fully autonomous drone capable of precisely applying gametocides to Sorghum Whorls. WHORL-E takes a flight mission plan, then automatically detects sorghum whorls it finds in it's flight through computer vision and through controls and visual servoing, positions itself towards the whorl to apply the gametocide before continuing on it's flight mission applying gameotcides to each whorl it passes. Effective gametocide application is critical to induce male sterility by producing hybrid seeds to prevent plants from reproducing with themselves. As a result, this application eliminates manual labor required to apply gametocides when the sorghum is growing, which can be tedious, harmful, and costly.  Accurate gametocide application has an effect on crop yield as well as the survivability of plants by allowing selective breeding to increase resistance to heat, disease, etc.

Students: Cory Bateman, Bohdi Norvell, Tim Hand
Advisors: Austin Martin, Truckee Meadows Water Reclamation Facility

The project's focus is creating a platform for process engineers to use predictive modeling for several tasks. Our web application allows for predictive models to uploaded and used either independently to make predictions or as soft sensors to monitor the integrity of critical sensors throughout the plant. By providing accurate models of critical sensors, changes in data integrity can be caught earlier leading to better plant efficiency. The application keeps track of the model analytics and allows for reports to be generated. We have also built an API that lets authorized users access the prediction infrastructure from outside the application. This allows the systems administrator at the plant to tie the predictions into any current distributed control systems. We are currently working with Truckee Meadows Water Reclamation Facility and have modeled the total influent flow, as well as the North and South manhole level sensors. 

Students: Abby Battaglia, Max Dunlay, Alex Fiore, Hannah Minucci

The WatchLi-Ion is a battery protection system intended for consumer electronics which utilize Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) batteries for power storage. Under certain conditions these batteries can enter what is called thermal runaway, where they can become superheated, release flammable gas, and ultimately combust causing damage and presenting hazards to users. In order to remedy this significant issue, our team has developed a system called the WatchLi-Ion. This system can be attached to Li-Ion batteries and provide monitoring of the battery's operational conditions. In the event that hazardous conditions are detected, the WatchLi-Ion will disconnect the battery from the rest of the circuit and alert the user that there is an issue with the battery, effectively preventing thermal runaway before it happens. The WatchLi-Ion utilizes a microcontroller and sensors that monitor heat, current, pressure, and the release of flammable gas. With this system our team hopes to provide a solution to a glaring issue impacting Li-Ion batteries and provide peace of mind to the consumer.

Students: Nikhil Anil, Kailani  Alarcon , Jerard Cabeguin, Jose De Jesus Soto

Maintaining continuous fluid delivery is critical in high-stakes clinical settings, yet IV occlusions often go unnoticed until complications arise. This innovative detection system bridges the gap between patient safety and operational efficiency. Designed specifically for the fast-paced environment of modern healthcare, it provides an instant, sterile solution for identifying line blockages before they compromise patient care.

Students: Cade Ball, Kieran Kentley, Calvin Lu, Conner  Mcdonald

Offlink is a portable, battery-powered private network designed for emergency situations where internet and cellular systems fail. It enables first responders to securely collect, store, and transfer patient information in real time during disasters, blackouts, or remote operations. By creating a self-contained encrypted communication system, Offlink removes dependence on external infrastructure and reduces delays in triage coordination. The platform improves situational awareness, protects sensitive data, and supports faster decision-making in high-stress environments. While designed for emergency response, it can also be adapted for secure asset tracking and off-grid operations in other industries.

Students: Brett Hopkins, Khoa Minh Do, Ibrahim Khondoker, Ian Goff, Luke Bowler

The Open Radio Interferometry project aims to solve the complexities of radio astronomy by providing an affordable, open-source, plug-and-play solution. Traditionally, radio interferometers cost upwards of $20,000, are highly difficult to operate, and are gatekept by proprietary agreements. This creates an unsustainable barrier to entry for students, educators, and smaller research groups. Our project democratizes access to astrophysical exploration utilizing off-the-shelf components. The system features a central processing engine based on a Xilinx Zynq SoC and an FMCOMMS5 transceiver, supporting four radio telescope receivers. To eliminate deep technical overhead, users are supported by a Python-based software workflow that automatically handles multi-channel receiving, FX correlation, calibration, and CLEAN image synthesis. With a user-friendly GUI and astronomy-standard FITS file formatting, per-channel spectrograms and synthesized celestial images are easily generated. By streamlining both hardware deployment and data processing, this platform enables hands-on observation of phenomena like 1.4 GHz galactic hydrogen line emissions without having to overcome the technical complexities of radio interferometry. 

Students: Bobbie VanSant, Renae Maxson, Taylor Jensen, Kevin Meyers, Ian Davis

We are creating a gearshift system that can attach and detach from a wheelchair. The goal of this is to make it easier for a wheelchair user to traverse inclines. Currently, using a manual wheelchair daily, especially on inclines, causes significant upper extremity strain. With a gearshift installed, the user would be able to select different gear ratios to ease travel. Additionally, having a system that utilizes a user's existing wheelchair makes the device cheaper for the user and to produce.

Students: Matthew Davidson, James Dornhoefer, Blake Latos, Milo Lawley, Trevor Marlin
Advisors: Blake Muzinich, Advanced Material and Devices (AMAD)

Our team is partnering with Advanced Materials and Devices (AMAD) to redesign their overpressure simulation system used for blast sensor testing. The current setup produces a Friedlander‑type overpressure wave but lacks the control, repeatability, and integrated safety features needed for reliable long‑term research. Our project focuses on developing an improved system architecture that enhances operational safety, enables controlled gas‑mixture handling, and supports consistent, repeatable overpressure wave generation without disclosing or relying on AMAD's proprietary methods or equipment designs. By strengthening system reliability and experimental repeatability, this work supports more accurate sensor evaluation and contributes to ongoing research aimed at understanding and mitigating blast‑related injury risks. The redesigned system will provide a safer, more controlled platform for future overpressure studies while remaining within the engineered scope defined for this capstone effort.

Students: Colton Hope, Pedro  Lechuga Gomez, Terrence  Silva, Tyler  Swanson, Jonathan  Stoll

The concept of a fully automated luggage cart is very relevant in the local area of Reno, given there is a major focus on the hotel and casino industry that has thousands of customers moving through it every day along with their luggage. This luggage has to get from point A to B once it enters the hotel. Our project aims to reduce the cost, improve security, and improve efficiency of the process. The BellBot will act as an autonomous safe box for luggage whilst also delivering the luggage in lieu of a bellhop. There's a level of inherent increase in the feeling of safety with the customers as they wouldn't have to worry about one more person having access to their luggage. In terms of economic welfare, it is cheaper in the long run for a hotel to have a singular purchase that handles luggage transport rather than a set of employees who are moving it themselves. Automating this process allows us to potentially reduce the amount of lost or damaged luggage during this crucial step of moving them over. 

Students: Nate Bornilla, Logan Gould, Tyler Hughes, Mitchell Jones, Ryan Emoto

The goal of our project is to provide an efficient method of keeping food warm during online food deliveries on bicycle. To accomplish this, an insulated box with low-power heating elements and a compact battery were used. To extend operating time and reduce the need for frequent charging, the system utilizes a small tire-driven generator. This results in a lightweight, practical, and user friendly warming system that supports food quality and customer satisfaction.