3/25/2021 Huan Song
For over 100 years, Engineering Open House has been a hallmark event at the University of Illinois. Bioengineering student teams always showcase exciting activities to engage event attendees.
Written by Huan Song
For over 100 years, Engineering Open House has been a hallmark event at the University of Illinois. Bioengineering student teams always showcase exciting activities to engage event attendees. This year's virtual event (March 26-27, 2021) features 90+ exhibits that show off all the amazing possibilities engineering has to offer. In this blog, we are meeting two bioengineering teams that are participating. Make sure to check out their virtual exhibits here: https://eohillinois.org/
Team Seeing CRISPR Clear
What is your project about?
Our project “Seeing CRISPR Clear” consists of 2 parts: an interchangeable DNA base pair circuit model and an interactive app downloadable from the APP store, “Exploring CRISPR.” We want to share with others the impacts of CRISPR and explain the future potential of gene editing.
What are you most looking forward to when releasing your project?
Being able to see everyone’s reactions to the project that we’ve been working on for many hours will be extremely fulfilling. Especially regarding the downloadable game, it will be so great to release it to the world on the app store. Hopefully, even students and people outside of EOH 2021 who are curious about CRISPR gene editing will use our app to learn more about it and maybe be inspired to pursue bioengineering or a career in STEM!
Who is on your team?
2020-2021:
Co-lead: Joy Chen, 4th year in Bioengineering
Co-lead: Mia Ko, 4th year in Bioengineering
Adam Dama, Software Engineer: “Exploring CRISPR” app developer, 2019 Bioengineering Graduate
Aidan Rogers, 1st year in bioengineering
Minh Nguyen, 2nd year in Bioengineering
Reggie Pagala, 4th year in Electrical and Computer Engineering
2019-2020:
Denzel Cruz, 2020 Bioengineering Graduate
Hayden Moore, 2nd year in Bioengineering
Team Affordable Prosthetics
What is your project about?
This exhibit models an affordable prosthetic robotic hand that mimics human motion. This hand demonstrates how engineers can be inspired by human anatomy and inspire future generations of engineers with a similar project for kids at home.
Why did you choose to do EOH/this project?
We wanted to get involved and explore the opportunities UIUC has to offer. We wanted to do a hands-on activity especially now when most classes are virtual.
What have you enjoyed the most about your project so far?
We have enjoyed working together and getting to know some other awesome bioengineers. The physical assembly and seeing our project come together was very interesting and fulfilling.
What are you most looking forward to when releasing your project?
To see if we encouraged any kids to make their own paper “robotic” hand at home and become more interested in the STEM field.
Team members
Kaitlin O'Reilley, 1st year in bioengineering
Victoria Kindratenko, 2nd year in bioengineering
Amanda Hoika, 1st year in bioengineering
Isabella Palm, 1st year in bioengineering
Walker Rickord,1st year in bioengineering
Maddie Szkwarek, 1st year in bioengineering