ME, United States of America

A Computer Model for Efficient Offshore Wind Farm Siting in the North Atlantic

Energy: Sustainable Materials and Design

This project is a computer program designed to model the siting of offshore wind farms in the North Atlantic Ocean, providing the user with the knowledge to optimally locate them for maximum…

A Data-Driven Exploration of Albumin-Creatinine Ratio as a Biomarker for Myocardial Infarction Risk: A Multivariate Analysis

Computational Biology and Bioinformatics

Myocardial infarction, the leading cause of death in America, can be prevented by detecting risk factors early. I investigated the relationship between urine albumin-creatinine ratio (uACR)…

Improving the Effectivity of Nitrate Removal in Biosand Filters Using N. oculata

Microbiology

Biosand filters are an effective way for rural or less-developed communities to purify water from local water sources. However, limited research has been done on how the addition of microorg…

Exploration of Bio-Textiles for a Sustainable Fashion Industry

Materials Science

The fast fashion industry devastates the environment and garment workers in the Global South. Each year, 92 million tonnes of textile waste is deposited in landfills, equivalent to dumping a…

Healthy Hydroponics: Creating a Plant Health Monitoring System in Hydroponics Using Photogrammetry and a Convoluntional Neural Network

Plant Sciences

Hydroponics aims to reduce water consumption and facilitate optimal nutrient absorption while increasing crop cultivation. However, pests and harmful bacteria can enter these hydroponic stru…

Influence of Phage Transduction on Antimicrobial Resistance Properties of ESKAPEE Bacteria

Microbiology

The weakening pipeline of the discovery of novel antibiotics and the excessive use of antibiotics have contributed to the recent emergence of antimicrobial resistance. In response to this em…

An Antimicrobial-Bacterial Cellulose-Manuka Honey Loaded Dressing for the Active Treatment and Monitoring of Wounds

Microbiology Fourth Award

Chronic wounds are a significant healthcare threat worldwide, affecting an estimated 6.5 million people in the U.S. and costing the healthcare system an estimated $25 billion annually (10).…

The Effects of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi and Mushroom Substrate on the Plant Growth and Soil Characteristics for PE Microplastics-Contaminated Soil

Plant Sciences

Microplastics (MPs) are a pervasive environmental contaminant that pose a threat to both terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Specifically, agricultural soils are widely exposed to MPs that ca…

The STEM Gap: What Is the Cause of the Disparity Between Males and Females in the STEM Fields?

Behavioral and Social Sciences

For decades, the representation of females in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) has remained low compared to males. Possible factors include gender discrimination, lack of ro…

A Non-Invasive Approach to the Treatment of Equine White Line Disease Using Poly-Wrap and Manuka Honey Topical

Animal Sciences Second Award

White line disease (WLD) is a significant pathological condition that commonly affects horses globally, leading to hoof deformity, wall fissures, pedal osteitis and chronic lameness. Lamenes…

A Novel Approach for Early Detection of Alzheimer's Disease: Developing an AlexNet Convolutional Neural Network Enhanced by Class Activation Mapping

Translational Medical Science

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a chronic, neurodegenerative illness characterized by forgetfulness, cognitive impairment, and the progressive loss of a variety of other brain functions as well…

Creating a Low-Cost Non-Invasive Blood Glucose Monitoring and Automatic Insulin Injection System With an Artificial Neural Network and Raspberry Pi

Biomedical Engineering

Diabetes mellitus is the ninth leading cause of death worldwide, affecting millions worldwide and likely more due to inefficient testing, and is growing worse every year. The system presente…

Applications of Carbon Nanotube Based Sorbents for Removal of Arsenic from Polluted Well Water

Environmental Engineering

There is a growing need for a cost-effective arsenic treatment. Historical and current industrial use of arsenic have resulted in soil and groundwater contamination, leading to polluted well…

How Animals Talk: Understanding Silk Moth Communication Through Detection of Pheromones with an Electronic Nose

Animal Sciences

Pheromones are chemicals released by individuals of a species that act as external hormones upon conspecifics. This study focused on bombykol, a volatile sex pheromone released by the female…

Readily Implementable Fall Detection System for the Elderly using Thermal Image Segmentation and Convolutional Neural Networks

Embedded Systems

Over a quarter of older adults in the US fall each year and falls are the second leading cause of injury deaths worldwide, with 80% of deaths in low- and middle-income countries. Quick assis…

Precision and Relative Accuracy of Striped Bass Age, Proportional Growth, and Origin Estimates from Both Scales and Sagittal Otoliths of Maine Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis)

Animal Sciences

Striped bass, of great recreational and commercial importance, are currently overfished and their population is in decline. Understanding the current state of Maine striped bass populations…

Real-time Fall Detection System for the Elderly Using Deep Learning and Thermal Imaging

Embedded Systems

Falls are the leading cause of fatal injury among older adults with over 12 million falls in the United States annually. For elderly people living alone, quick assistance after a fall is cri…

Developing Three-Dimensional Spatial Cognition for the Visually Impaired Using Computational Depth Mapping and Vibro-Tactile Display

Embedded Systems Third Award

Blindness affects nearly 40 million people worldwide—a value expected to double before 2050. The modern world is incredibly dense with visual information, and incidentally, a Blind Visually…

eTouch Project: An Affordable Braille e-Reader with the Cloud-Based Digital Library for the Blind

Engineering Mechanics Third Award

According to the World Health Organization, over 285 million people are visually impaired, and high rates of illiteracy among them are mainly a result of an unaffordable technology for readi…

Testing the Effectiveness of Mycorrhizae in the Phytoremediation of Heavy Metals from Stormwater

Plant Sciences

Heavy metals found in stormwater runoff are a pervasive environmental issue. Heavy metal contamination in places like Flint Michigan have brought a new awareness to the problem. These pollut…

Developing a Tactile Depth Map for the Blind

Embedded Systems Third Award

Blindness affects nearly 40 million people, a value expected to double before 2050. With a world incredibly dense with visual information, surviving and thriving can be hard, as a Visually I…

Investigating the Relationship Between Polling Building Type and Voting Results: A Study in Priming

Behavioral and Social Sciences

Voting is a quintessential part of Democratic beliefs: the right to have a say in the government and who runs the country has been an important part of our country since its founding. Equall…

Reliability and Efficiency of 3D Printed Microfluidic Devices when Used in Ocean Acidification Testing

Environmental Engineering

Microfluidics is a technology that operates with fluids in sets of miniature channels. Using small samples allows for reduced cost, harmful waste, reaction time, and analysis time. Microflui…

Developing an Alternative Treatment to Luminal B Breast Cancer by Targeting DNA Repair Mechanisms

Translational Medical Science

Worldwide, more than 1,300,000 people are diagnosed with and more than 450,000 die of breast cancer every year. There are several ways breast cancer can be subclassified, one of which is imm…

Smart Road Signs: The Bluetooth LE-Based Safety System for Pedestrians

Embedded Systems

Every year, more than 270,000 pedestrians lose their lives worldwide and the number of pedestrian fatalities in the U.S has increased by 25% from 2010 to 2015. The major factor contributing…

The Future of Prosthesis: The Design and Production of a Neural Prosthetic Comprised of Ionic Polymer-Metal Composites

Biomedical Engineering

In the United States alone, there is an amputee population of over two million people. Despite this, prosthetics are immensely expensive, costing up to seventy thousand dollars for the most…

Bioengineering Functional Kidney Tissue from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells: A Promising New Treatment for Kidney Disease

First Award

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a significant global health problem that affects 10% of the world’s population and costs over $200 billion to treat every year. A new treatment for CKD is des…

Developing Inexpensive Calcium Alginate Based Scaffolds for Phosphate Sorption in Stormwater

First Award

Less than 0.01% of all of earth’s water is in rivers and lakes, and it is in jeopardy. Excessive concentrations of phosphorous can trigger Harmful Algal Blooms which self-perpetuate and dest…

The Design and Analysis of an Artificial Muscle Comprised of Ionic-Polymer Metal Composites

Artificial muscles are identified by their ability to contract or expand in response to a given stimuli. Typically, artificial muscles are composed of carbon nanotubes, pneumatic bladders, m…

Calculating Horizons with Perspective Projection

Building off the past few years of research in robotic search and rescue, this year, we write an algorithm that calculates the visible horizon and peaks of hills from any location and direct…