Sandia National Labs NM Partnerships Collaboration Report 2021-2022

Senior bonanza highlights exceptional student designs

The mechanical engineering Senior Design Bonanza team from UT Austin showcases their project “AM Optical Alignment Structure,” along with two UT Austin students who participated in Sandia’s Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies Summer Research Program in 2021.

Seventy seniors from nine universities participated in Sandia’s annual Senior Design Bonanza throughout the fall of 2021 and spring of 2022. The student design teams were all mentored by Sandia technical staff and challenged to create an additively manufactured system for a space application. The participating universities include the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder), Fort Lewis College, Howard University, Missouri S&T, Morgan State University, Rochester Tech, UT Austin, Illinois, and NC A&T. A total of eight awards were given, and five were won by four SUPN academic partners.

• CU Boulder received an award for best experimental design with modeling and simulation validation and another for the most thorough engineering cost analysis award. • Illinois received an award for exceptional project management and execution . • UT Austin received the exceptional use of optical modeling and simulation award. • NC A&T received an award for best engineering analysis for the overall lens system.

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2021-2022 Collaboration Report