(Nashua, NH) - Daniel Webster College (DWC) undergraduate students are lowering the average age of paper presenters at professional conferences around the country.

Most recently, aero aeronautical engineering undergraduates Priti Bhatnagar, Sonja Crowder, and Christopher McInnis presented "Integration of a Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate (CDIO) Experience in a Sophomore-Level Aerodynamics Course" at the Engineering Design Graphics Division of the American Society for Engineering Education's midyear meeting in San Diego. Every other presenter at this conference was either a professor or PhD student.

The paper explained the impact that CDIO is having on the development of DWC's engineering programs. The CDIO Initiative is a partnership started by MIT's Aero/Astro Department for improving engineering education through a multidisciplinary hands-on curriculum, real-world applications, and communication skills. DWC students presented an aerodynamics CDIO project that enhanced their understanding of the effect of planform shape (the shape and layout of an airplane's wing)

Of particular interest was an airfoil that was modeled after a humpback whale flipper and has leading edge bumps called tubercles.

 "Daniel Webster students delivered a presentation that was among the best," said Engineering, Mathematics and Science Chair Nick Bertozzi.  "They received a great deal of positive feedback and encouragement from the other attendees, and they received the "SolidWorks Student EDGD Award."

Another group of DWC students will be traveling to Long Beach, CA, in this month to the Medicine Meets Virtual Reality annual conference.

Jennifer McDonald, Nicholas Trapasso, and Brian Tompkins will present their paper, "Ultrasound-Guided, Automated Cannulation of Central Veins: Mating medical imaging, machine vision and haptic robotics."

This presentation focuses on a project students are working on in collaboration with medical doctors Michael D'Ambra, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School who practices at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, and David Kaplan, a retired cardiothoracic surgeon.

In this project, medical ultrasound images  are analyzed using machine-vision fusion methodology. The ultrasound image is over-layed with real-time, automated target acquisition data of central veins, such as the jugular. This procedure is used in conjunction with a haptic robotic arm to guide catheter insertion. 

The operator manipulates the Ultrasound Probe until the target vein is "locked on" by the vision system. Once "lock on" occurs, the position of the haptic robotic arm becomes controlled by the computer to fix the position of the cannulation cassette in space. 

The short-term goal is for this system to be used to facilitate image-guided central venous access in extremely difficult clinical situations such as in obese patients. The long term goal is complete automation of central vein cannulation in the "Trauma Pod" OR of the future.

Daniel Webster College offers baccalaureate degrees in aeronautical and mechanical engineering. With faculty dedicated to student success, the vision of the engineering program at DWC is for students to have an educational experience that is intense, personal, and exciting and that firmly grounds them in theory and design and makes them both competent and confident to take on the challenges they will confront as practicing engineers. For more information, visit www.dwc.edu.