Rice engineers sweep at NASA showcase

FROM RICE NEWS STAFF REPORTS

Two teams of Rice University senior engineering students won every major award at the Texas Space Grants Consortium (TSGC) end-of-year showcase at NASA’s Johnson Space Center April 18.

Capstone projects by the Electric Owl and CardiOwls teams, both representing Rice’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, shared the grand prize in the NASA-funded event, the Top Design Team award.

The Electric Owl team of Anthony Austin, Robert Brockman, Jeff Bridge and Peter Hokanson built an unmanned, autopilot-controlled aerial vehicle for Mars exploration. The team took first-place honors for Best Poster or Model Demonstration, Best Video Documentation, Best Next-Generation NASA Project, Best Internet Presence for a Project and Best Statement of Work. Electric Owl took second in the Best Oral Presentation category.

The CardiOwls team of Brian Viel, Tara Hong, Stephen Jong and Steven Kruzick
 created a wireless, 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) system for space habitation health monitoring. For the first time in the competition’s history, TSGC funded competing projects at Rice and Texas A&M and gave the nod to the CardiOwls on points.

Jong gave the CardiOwls’ presentation, walking and talking while wearing the ECG, which sent data that was projected in real time.

The CardiOwls won for Best Oral Presentation, Showcase Attendees’ Favorite, Best Mid-Semester Meeting Presentation, Best Higher-Education Extra-Project Outreach and Best Achievement of Secondary Objectives. The team was second to Electric Owl for Best Poster or Model Demonstration.