by Stephanie L. Graham
Photos by Kevin Mapp

Research is strongly woven into the fabric of Harvey Mudd College, remarked Robert Keller, director of the Computer Science Clinic, at the opening session for Projects Day in May. Specifically, he said, it fulfills key aspects of the mission here, including experience in leadership, communication and social awareness. Students participating this spring in both Projects Day and Presentation Days spent the better part of the school year on projects that required them to utilize their skills in each of these areas.

The annual celebration of student projects held in early May involved nearly 300 students who presented individual research, a class assignment, a directed-study project or a Clinic Program team project. In all instances, individual ingenuity and team cooperation factored heavily in the results.

Students in the Human Physiology and Disease class debated the use of genetic screening and testing for disease and presented a poster session outlining the main issues of the debate. Mina Youssef ’08, poster presenter, said the class discussion was a great way to learn about the societal impacts of disease and biomedical technology. Lizards were the subject of several biological studies related to locomotor performance, perch locations and foraging behaviors. Recent fires and their effect on serotinous and non-serotinous pine trees was the focus of Lorraine Thomas ’05, who was able to determine the fire frequency intervals for which serotiny would be the superior strategy.

Teams of students in the Gender and Computer Games class displayed and demonstrated their game creations to the delight of  Presentation Days attendees. Devising a game that can be fun and educational was the task of another group of students, who created a computer game to teach protein synthesis to college students. “In the process, we had to rethink and add to the available repertoire of models for educational games,” they reported.

Students-turned-teachers Katherine Perdue ’05 and Paul Scott ’05 taught a half course entitled “Identity Studies: History and Analysis,” which explored academic programs in such fields as  women’s studies, black studies and queer studies. The two said their course was, in part, a reaction to discriminatory incidents that occurred at The Claremont Colleges last year. They found the course to be “a safe way for people to talk about these topics.”

Participants of the Science and Citizenship class presented their research on dense instrumentation of structures, the disposal of high-level nuclear waste, privatization of manned space flight and genetically modified crops. Even the sport utility vehicle was under scrutiny, dubbed by presenter Marguerite Leeds ’06, “a less responsible choice for the majority of consumers.”

Students in Introduction to Engineering Design (E-4) worked on the challenge of HMC’s cramped parking facilities, specifically the Parsons Engineering parking lot. Theresa Potter, assistant vice president of facilities and emergency preparedness, charged the four teams of E-4 students with creating a preliminary design to expand the lot. Teams had to consider consistency with the college’s overall traffic plans and public permit requirements. One of the plans that expanded the lot to the west was a good option, said Potter, and may be considered when funding for the project becomes available.

The Clinic Challenge

Twenty-seven private and government organizations participating in the Clinic Program entrusted HMC students with tasks to improve new or existing products and applications. Juniors and seniors who had been challenged with these projects for most of the school year, shared results for 33 separate projects ranging from software optimization to an optical tumor location device to analyzing and correcting printer drift to optical characterization of coated soot aerosols.

A sampling of Clinic Projects follows.

The Clinic team for Sierra Wireless America, Inc., a new Clinic sponsor this year, developed an ethernet-to-USB bridge. Jean Philippe Kielsznia ’90, liaison for Sierra Wireless, which provides laptop cards for high-speed Internet access over a carrier's cellular network, asked team members to create a small form factor bridge to connect any personal computer with Ethernet to the carrier's wireless network. The team designed, built and demonstrated a “bridge” that requires no special drivers. Pictured: Max Yi ’05 and Daniel Chan ’05 explain the device created for Sierra Wireless America, Inc.

FAA Clinic

The Federal Aviation Administration and liaison Calvin Miles ’87, sought more advice from Mudders on how to improve the HMC-designed LED airport approach lighting system. The project, first assigned to a team of Clinic students in 2002, requires the development of a highly efficient LED airport approach lighting

system to replace presently-used incandescent lamps. The team’s improved system uses photodiodes and temperature sensors in a closed-loop system to compensate light levels for snow, rain, dirt and LED aging. The team designed an innovative LED configuration and computer-controlled strobe sequences to improve airport visibility, and evaluated fuel cells as backup power. Their presentation also included a detailed economic analysis of the LED system. Pictured: FAA Clinic team Ko Ihara ’05, Nicholas Carbone ’05 and Karen Hsin ’05 describe their work on the LED airport approach lighting system.

Safe, reliable sanitation and water conservation were the key components of the Fluidmaster, Inc. project, overseen by liaison Chris Coppock. Six students sought a cost-effective flushing system that used a consistent low volume of water regardless of variations in supply water pressure and toilet resistance. Team leader Joe Laubach ’05 said considerations included manufacturer specifications, ease of use for consumers and practicality. “We wanted to make it simple for consumers to use and plumbers to install.” The result: two patents pending, one for a “tipping bucket” design, and the other for a “dual plug” design, the latter being the more cost- effective solution. Pictured: Joe Laubach ’05 describes to mathematics professor Andrew Bernoff the cost-effective flushing system his Clinic team created.

Interviewing injured U.S. servicemen who had returned from Iraq was one of the tasks of the Clinic team who took on the project for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The interviews at Walter Reed Army Medical Center helped team members devise a proprioceptive feedback system for lower limb amputees. Team leader Lisa Jacobs ’05 said those interviewed expressed a desire to feel the pressure of a prosthetic limb on different surfaces. The prototype device designed by the team mimics proprioceptor functions and provides the wearer a sensory feedback regarding location of the prosthetic in time and space. Project liaisons were trustee William Wiesmann, Adrian Urias ’99/00 and Geoffrey Ling. Pictured: John Livingston, Clinic Advisory Board member, and faculty advisor Zee Durón ’81 discuss project results with DARPA team members Lisa Jacobs ’05 and Karen Shi ’05.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory NASA Clinic team traveled to the Paris Observatory in Meudon, France, in May to present the way in which an interferometer could be transported to Antarctica safely.

Advised by J. Stanley and Mary Wig Johnson Associate Professor of Engineering Management Patrick Little, the team shared with members of the French astronomy community the results of their project. Students tested and designed a system to safely package and ship the Antarctic Plateau Interferometer (API) from JPL headquarters in California to Dome C in Antarctica, where it will be set up to take advantage of the site’s clear view into space. Dome C, managed jointly by France and Italy, is one of a number of Antarctic plateaus used for scientific research and is one of the best places on Earth for infrared interferometry.

The team studied the types of shocks and vibrations that would be encountered during the shipping voyage, then generated a set of requirements for protecting the interferometer. They built a device to measure shocks encountered by containers on icebreakers and slow sledges that make the 900-mile trip across the Antarctic ice. “We were able to find data on the shocks and vibrations you find in conventional shipping,” said Little, director of the Engineering Clinic Program. “Devices to measure this are available for around $8,000,” Little said, “but our team built its own for one-tenth of the cost.”

Little said the French scientists were amazed at the quality of the students’ work. Instructions for operating the monitoring device were written in French and English because the team relied on the French transportation crews along the route to keep it working. The team’s briefing at Meudon was also delivered in both languages, the French handled deftly by exchange student Michel Guillon ’05 of Fontenay Sous Bois, France.

An experimental camera system, originally designed in 2001 by students on the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute Clinic team, was used to discover a new deep-sea six-foot “mystery” squid last August. The discovery led to a  $500,000 investment by the  National Science Foundation in March. Now the device is being refined so it can be connected to a mooring 3,000 feet deep in Monterey Bay, Calif.

The device—called the Eye-in-the-Sea video system—can sit on the ocean bottom for up to 24 hours and includes a bioluminescence detector, a data logging and compression system, and subject illumination source.

Lori Bassman, assistant professor of engineering, was advisor of the 2001 Clinic team of John Staroba ’01, Jane Mi ’01, Nicholas Depail (ESIEE, France), David Levitt ’02 and Christine Paulson ’02.