Offered last Fall, the “Pre-Capstone Innovation Experience” (PCIE) course prepared and mentored undergraduate student engineers through their capstone and senior design projects. As they were exposed to design thinking and customer discovery processes, the NYU Tandon students practiced with multidisciplinary engineering prototyping tools ranging from biological engineering to circuit design. Taught by Professors Jin Montclare, David Lefer, Mike Knox and Vittoria Flamini, the course enabled students in their junior and sophomore years to innovatively collaborate, model, and prototype.
The participating student engineers, representing engineering departments across NYU Tandon, were grouped into three, multidisciplinary teams for the duration of their projects. On December 13, 2017, the three teams, “Master of Disaster”, “Salubrity”, and “Comdice”, presented their culminating pre-capstone projects. Sponsored by the Convergence of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) Institute and funded by VentureWell, the PCIE course provided a substantive and unparalleled opportunity for student engineers to hone their skills, identify important, real-world problems, assess crucial customer needs, and, design a multidisciplinary engineering tool for the social good.
For their final presentations, each team had the opportunity to pitch their prototypes to a panel of expert judges for evaluation and critique.
Above: Pre-Capstone Participants and the panel of judges
The first team, Master of Disaster, created an app that will guide users on creating an effective emergency operations plans. The team members Micheal Niamehr, George Galanis, Richard Vo, and Meredith Torrey focused on designing an emergency guidance system for evacuation during a disaster strike. As an accessible tool, the product will help in designing guidance system aimed at various natural disasters striking in a particular area. The key features of their app expectedly will increase awareness and preparedness for the younger generation.
Above: L-R: Micheal Niamehr, George Galanis, Richard Vo, Meredith Torrey presenting, Master of Disaster
The next team, Salubrity, focused on promoting healthy eating apps, but with a twist! Unlike other apps on the market, the Salubrity app sets up a customizable platform for the user. Orion Doscher, Tina Chen, Junwoo Shin andKyle Ong created a prototype app that can update the health quotient of various food items across restaurants in New York City. Users can provide their personal photos of food and food suggestions. Salubrity will help generate a personalized health score along with rigorous health metrics. The app is a promising standout against various health apps currently on the market.
Above: Orion Doscher, Tina Chen, Junwoo Shin, Kyle Ong, presenting Salubrity
The third team, Comdice, carefully analyzed the importance of a stable communications network when disaster strikes. The status quo suggests that communication is entirely dependent on infrastructure, which, in itself, is not too reliable. Louise Chen, Malak Eihab Aly, Daisy Li, and Rashid Aziz devloped a portable communication device enabling communication when internet and/or reliable cellular network are unavailable. Inspired by the recent communication troubles faced in Puerto Rico during and after Hurricane Maria, this product serves to be a revolutionary solution for disaster management.
Above: Louise Chen, Malak Eihab Aly, Daisy Li, Rashid Aziz, ComDice
The PCIE course was met with an overwhelming positive response. “Great class for beginner introduction to design thinking. Come with an open mind and an ability to work in teams. Don’t be dead-set on a project/idea, be ready to execute fast. That means pivoting or scrapping things, so don’t be attached to one particular”, said the students who prototyped the Master of Disaster app. The team, Salubrity agreed with them, “You’ll like this class if you like group work, innovation, and spontaneity. It’s a nice break from the usual strict, structured classes. If you are seeking an opportunity to open a start-up, starting from taking this class!”
For current freshman and sophomores interested in participating in next Fall 2018 PCIE course cohort, we are accepting applications! Applications are open with a deadline of Monday March 19, 2018 at 5:00 P.M. To apply, please go to: https://goo.gl/UtMhY9. For further questions about the PCIE program, visit here or please contact CIE@nyu.edu.