Montana Tech Techxpo Winners Announced

Montana Tech held its annual Techxpo Design Showcase on Thursday, April 26, 2018 in the HPER. Techxpo is a premier event where students display their impressive research and design projects. This campus-wide event exhibits the innovative teamwork of Montana Tech students who have applied theoretically and academically acquired knowledge to solve many of the world's challenges. Exhibits and poster displays include senior design projects and undergraduate research projects from a variety of disciplines, including engineering, science, and mathematics. There were 115 projects on display at this year’s event. Thanks to all those who judged and thank you to our sponsors: Newmont, NorthWestern Energy, WET, and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold.

WINNERS FOR 2018

Biological Sciences
Booth: Three-Dimensional Physiological Model for In-vitro Biomaterials Research (Sowmya Sudhakar)
Poster: Phage Discovery and Bioinformatics (Riley Hellinger, Hannah Sparks)

Business & Information Technology
Poster: Transition from SAP Legacy Systems (Erik Mason)

Chemistry/Geochemistry
Booth: Laboratory Exploring Geobiochemical Engineering and Natural Dynamics (LEGEND) (Isaiah Robertson, Shanna Law, Jordan Foster, Johnathan Feldman, James Foltz, Cynthia Cree, Mallory Nelson)
Poster: Modeling Water-Rock Interactions: Towards Deciphering Microbial Influences in Hot Springs (Shanna Law)

Civil Engineering
Poster: Heavy Civil Team (Kendra Jackson, Mike Williams, Nic Amestoy, Ashley Johnson, Andy Anderson, Jason Vesco)

Computer Science/Software Engineering
Booth: Food, Resources, Expenses, & Distribution (FRED) (Kodi Neumiller, Omar Alenezi)

Electrical Engineering
Poster: Underground Mine Education Center (UMEC) Distribution System Project (Jonathan Parisi, Dmitry Trubachenkov, William Lyden)
Booth: Nucor PLC Trainer Senior Design Project (Dan Morris, Jacob Eisenbarth)

Environmental Engineering
Booth: Digger Denitrification (Brett Jonson, Emma Rott, Nels Thorsrud, Tylar Holden)
Poster: Fabrication of Anti-biofouling Membranes using Food-safe Biopolymers (Augustina Kwesie-Osabutey)

General Engineering
Booth: Hybrid Coaxial Electrospinning for Drug Delivery Applications (Emily Kooistra-Manning, Lane Huston)
Poster: Optimization of Backyard Systems for Highly Mobile Land Rigs (Cole Carpenter)

Geological Engineering
Poster: An Evaluation of the Frictional Behavior of Seismically Loaded Fractured Rock (Brent Sordo, Sara Magallon)

Geophysical Engineering
Poster: Mapping of Bedrock Topography and the Continental Fault located at Wagner Nursery & Landscape Co. in Butte, Montana, using Geophysical Methods (Christopher Smith, Scott Schmitt)
Booth: Off-the-shelf Data Acquisition (Brianna Clark, Jacob Clarke, Richard Lee, Shane Namie, Joe Natale, Kabree Nichols, Scott Schmitt, Andrew Wilson, Ngoc Ha)

Geosciences - MS
Poster: Experimental Investigation of Low Temperature Hydrothermal Copper, Nickel, and Cobalt Arsenide and Sulfide Ore Formation (Nicholas Allin)

HIGHLANDS COLLEGE
Psychology/Sociology
Poster: Prosocial Behavior: Analysis of Ted Talk Viewers' Learning - Empathy in the College Classroom (Robert Shelton

Education
Poster: Higher Education (Audra Steinhauer)

Carpentry Technology
Booth: Modular Flag Stands (Dan Milmine, Jase Galt, Kade Woodhall, Tim Kitchel, Nate Korb)

Industrial Hygiene
Poster: Noise Exposures and Hearing Protector Use at Modern Logging Operations (Shawn McLain)

Materials Science PhD
Poster: Hollow Electrospun Mn2O3 Nanofibers for Supercapacitor Applications (Molly Brockway)
Booth: Hybrid Perovskite Quantum Dots for Optoelectronic Applications (John Murphy)

Mathematical Sciences
Poster: Efficient Searches for Primes in Cryptography (Payson Lippert)

Mechanical Engineering
Poster: Large Composite Curing Oven (Sean Sullivan, Marshall Metcalf, Brianna Clark)
Booth: Custom Ski Design and Manufacture (Andrew Epperson)

Metallurgical & Materials Engineering
Booth: Thiosulfate Leaching of Refractory Gold Ore (Noah Davis, Zach Hellegaard, John Carlson, Bret Stewart)
Poster: Measurement of the Effect of Pressure on Froth Flotation using Electrical Resistance Tomography (Luke McCulloch, Jake Bentley)

Mining Engineering
Poster: Block Model Validation and Ore Reconciliation through the Mine Value Chain (Bryan Nielson)

Occupational Safety & Health
Poster: Ambient and Indoor PM2.5 Air Quality during Wildfire Season (James Hollopeter)

Petroleum Engineering
Poster: Eagle Ford Development Strategy (Tyler Onstott, Sean Sayers, Ryan McCartney, David Hernandez, Dan Milavec)

Professional & Technical Communication
Poster: Using Visual Rhetoric and Semiotics Theory to Create a Branding Package (Alexandra Doty-Terry)
Booth: Applying User Centered Design Principles to Deliver Surface Water Data to Diverse Audiences (Luke Buckley)

Best in Show (from General Engineering)
Additive Manufacturing with Recycled Polymer Materials (Emily Kooistra-Manning)