Project Description:

Water treatment and water use for vertical farms in urban areas and isolated communities has gotten much attention as humanity seeks to tackle food scarcity and food insecurity issues in these areas. Pulse Flow Reverse Osmosis (PFRO) is a novel method for improving and recycling water used by vertical farms using less energy and possibly preventing water fouling. This project seeks to pilot a small scale version of a vertical farm and its water circulation system using the PFRO method for water purification

Requirements:

GPA higher than 3.6, Science, Technology and Engineering majors, Must be a tinkerer with aptitude for micro-controllers, sensors data acquisition and fluid systems.

Project Description:

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is defined as the intelligence of machines or software, and aims to develop, and study, intelligent machines. The majority of today’s AI systems, such ChatGPT or Siri, are software / programs implemented (executed) on computers with conventional (von Neumann) hardware. One of their main drawbacks is that they are (physically) large and consume lots of power, making them impractical for some applications, such as mobile vehicles / robots, portable health care electronics (e.g. Apple iWatch), etc. Neuromorphic circuits and systems are hardware counterparts of software AI, and are typically used in mobile, low-power applications (self-driving cars, smart watches, edge computing, etc).

The goal of this project is to design, implement and test a miniaturized neuromorphic control of a mobile robot – think of a super simple self-driving Tesla. The minimalistic neuromorphic circuit will be based on a network of spiking neurons (SNN) (few neurons instead of tens or hundreds of thousands), implemented on FPGA, inorganic (commercial), and eventually organic (fabricated in our lab) electronics – think of a swarm of super simple, but also cheap autonomous “artificial bugs / insects”.

Project range from (analog) circuit design, implementation and testing, on FPGA, breadboarded, PCB, and custom-made organic electronic components. SNN training algorithm (to obtain necessary neural / synaptic connection weights) will also be developed / modified, and tested, as well as analysis of the performance of the EV. Student will gain experience Spiking Neural Networks / Neuromorphic Circuits and Systems, neuromorphic training algorithms, analog circuit design and analysis, neuromorphic robotic control, and troubleshooting skills.

Requirements:

Experience should include at least one of the following:
- Spiking Neural Networks / Neuromorphic Circuits and Systems
- Neuromorphic algorithms
- Neuromorphic control
- Programming (e.g. Python, VHDL, AHDL, etc.)
- Circuit design, building, and testing
- Troubleshooting skills
Experience in (soft) robotics is a plus.

Project Description:

Have you ever thought about all of the electronics you can find inside your Apple iWatch? How do you control all of the sensors (temperature, acceleration, pressure, etc.), but also process, store, and retrieve all of that sensory data? Each sensor requires different, custom-designed circuit to control (power, input, out, etc.), process (e.g. convert charge to voltage, amplify, filter, digitize), and store that data. A microprocessor is required to coordinate all of those circuits, store and retrieve that data, as well as voltage regulation of all of the different components. And, of course, voltage regulation and power management are paramount for such miniature / portable electronics.

The goal of this project is to design and test a miniaturized printed circuit board (PCB) that controls custom-based pressure/force piezoelectric sensors for portable healthcare monitoring of various biopotential signals. Field-testing of the system (PCB + sensor(s)) will also be conducted.

Project range from PCB design and testing, circuit and (force/pressure) sensor design and testing, sensory data processing, data storage, power management etc. Student will gain experience in PCB design, microcontroller, power management, low-power circuit design, and general troubleshooting skills.

Requirements:

Experience should include at least one of the following:
- PCB design
- Microcontroller
- Power management
- Low-power circuit design
- Troubleshooting skills
Experience in sensor design, fabrication and characterization is a plus.

Project Description:

This research project seeks to develop electronic devices that can be worn by people as jewelry. These wearable devices will be equipped with sensors and a display to collect data throughout the day and alert the user of their activity levels or exposure to UV rays.

Requirements:

Experience designing electronic circuits (printed circuit boards), programming computers and micro-controllers. Knowledge of FPGAs and solar energy harvesting would be a plus. Experience troubleshooting electronic circuits.

Project Description:

Purdue-LanzaTech-Pacific Northwestern National Laboratory team’s work targets the understanding of current and new cycloalkanes for use as a jet fuel. Through catalyst development, this project will provide a route to control the cycloalkane/n-alkane/iso alkane content of a next-generation fuel with minimal or no aromatic content.

Requirements:

-Strong chemistry knowledge
-Experience in analytical chemistry such as mass spectrometry and gas chromatography
-chemical engineering or chemistry students will be preferred