Our Students' Work

Our Students' work is a clear example of the process from start to finish of what the students will work on over the summer. Each student runs their own research and will present their final work at the end to their colleagues, professors, and family either at Gavilan Community College, San Jose City College, or both. 

Andre Manzo & Samuel Vo - Ben Reed

Andre Manzo & Samuel Vo were part of a seven person team creating a research Mastodon server over the summer. Mastodon is a publicly available distributed social network that is functionally equivalent to Twitter. Unfortunately, Mastodon servers are implemented in Ruby and our students that go through our program do not learn Ruby, so we wanted a research implementation in Java that we can use for further research. Andre and Sam learned used Spring Boot, MongoDB, JSON, and Java to get an initial implementation that works with publicly available Mastodon clients. We will continue to build upon their work as we add functionally and begin experimental projects with Mastodon.

Anthony Garcia, Bryce Mankovsky, Shawn Sanchez, & Evelyn Saucedo - David Parent & Smita Duroah

Ashton Rosso & Brian Delgado - John Lee 

Brian Delgado (San Jose City College) and Ashton Russo (Gavilan College) studied fluid dynamics in a closed-loop perfusion system that provides continual flow through small channels in a microfluidic chip. The perfusion system is mounted on a multi-axis random positioning machine, which continually reorients itself to simulate microgravity conditions that humans might experience during space travel. Using a piezoelectric micropump and a thermal microflow sensor, Delgado and Russo quantified how flow characteristics depend on actuation voltage, excitation frequency, fluid pressurization, and insertion of an inline flow damper. The students exercised skills in sensor interfacing, automated data acquisition, and data analysis (using both spreadsheets and Python). They also applied skills in computer-aided design and prototyping (e.g., resin-based 3-D printing, laser cutting, soldering) to make hardware enhancements such as chip centering and rapid component mounting with snap-in retainers. Their work contributed to a broader NASA-sponsored research study (80NSSC21K0272) that uses the closed-loop perfusion system to study the effects of microgravity on vascular endothelial cells. Under the guidance of Prof. John Lee, the students worked in collaboration with SJSU teammates Charmaine Lui (mechanical engineering undergraduate) and Joshua Tran (biomedical engineering graduate student).

Cameron Reynolds - Lin Jiang

Hector Rocha & Matthew Nowbar - Ali Mehran

Josiah Kligmann & Maxim Arshinov - Mojtaba Sharifi 

Josiah Kligmann and Maxim Arshinov (Gavilan Community College) contributed to the sensors measurement and control systems for assistive exoskeletons. Josiah worked on the circuit design and computer programming for a sensorized insole to measure ground reaction forces and pressures during walking. This pressure insole system consisting of a silicone-based pressure mold, pressure force sensors, and a microcontroller was developed to map foot pressure. The pressure insole sensors were tested in standing and step motions to measure foot pressure at 5 different points. This insole is going to be used for the purpose of real-time recognition of the stance and swing phases of gait with applications to controlling lower limb exoskeletons and enhancing the user’s postural stability. Maxim (Max) worked on hardware and software improvements for an upper limb exoskeleton for the shoulder and elbow joints. He enhanced a software program to be more robust in real-time communication with the DC motors. Max also improved the mechatronics system of this exoskeleton to have a more permanent and robust circuit. Josiah and Max have conducted these research projects under the supervision of Dr.Mojtaba Sharifi at the Department of Mechanical Engineering. They have also collaborated with graduate and undergraduate students in Dr.Sharifi’s team.

Vanessa Birrueta-Hernandez - Armin Moghadam