STEM projects are showcased at YSU

April 23, 2012 at 12:01a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Leonardo Da Vinci may have had a penchant for writing backward, but Samantha Rovnak definitely is planning to move forward.

Rovnak, a junior mechanical- engineering major at Youngs-town State University, was one of 12 students who assembled a 20-foot-long concrete canoe that was an outdoor attraction during YSU’s annual Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics showcase event Sunday at Moser Hall.

The 3-hour gathering gave people a first-hand look at students’ work as well as their capstone and undergraduate research projects that relied heavily on hypotheses, research and conclusions.

An estimated 30 projects, many of which the students worked on last semester, were displayed, noted Dr. Martin Abraham, dean of the College of STEM.

The canoe, nicknamed “Leonardo Da Vinci,” featured sketches team members made that depicted those of the famous artist, including the Mona Lisa. Another unusual feature were two Da Vinci quotes on the boat’s underbelly written backward but easily readable with the help of two mirrors under the vessel.

Last month, however, the canoe did a lot more than float philosophical sayings. It was used in a regional competition sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers in which Rovnak and the others won first place against seven other schools in four of five races, she said. As a result, the team will compete in a national tournament in June in Reno, Nev.

Competition requirements included aesthetics, an oral presentation and a technical paper, she noted.

Another team member was Joe Reedy, who’s also majoring in mechanical engineering. Certain design sacrifices were made to allow for greater speed, the YSU junior explained.

“We began the process in September,” Rovnak added. “We [also] picked the design and graphics that were done a few weeks ago.”

In addition to the canoe, many people admired works that included a moon buggy as well as a steel bridge with a 12-inch deep girder truss designed by six students, including Reedy, to minimize deflection. Other attendees learned more about how the shape and inclination of windshields on a snow- mobile can influence its drag, which is an aerodynamic force exerted on a body that tends to decrease its forward motion.

Others interested in drag were drawn to Amanda Cox’s project, which examined how velocity and geometric principles affect a vehicle’s fuel efficiency.

Cox and six others used a 2005 Chevrolet Corvette and a wind tunnel to measure drag, she explained, adding that the faster the car travels, the more fuel it burns.

“In layman’s terms, we compared geometry and velocity to see how they affect drag coefficiency and how that affects fuel efficiency,” said Cox, adding that her career choice is uncertain but that she’s considering internships.

Anyone interested in passive-adaptive hydrodynamic finger seals didn’t have to look further than Aubrey Garland.

Garland, a mechanical-engineering major, looked at how the seals are used for, and are supposed to maintain distance from, rotors and compressors. Her project’s primary purpose was to analyze how the devices respond to pressure differences and how each of the seven parts of the seal react to pressure fluctuations.

Dr. Hazel Marie, Garland’s adviser and a YSU professor of thermodynamics, assisted Garland, who said she hopes to work in the natural-gas and oil industries.

Another group of students built a small wooden trebuchet, a device with a long arm and sling used during medieval times to hurl boulders and other missiles at walls and to seize weapons.

Trebuchets also are valuable for teaching and illustrating certain laws of physics, noted John H. George, an assistant professor in the School of STEM.

Other projects dealt with wind turbines, hydraulic transmission systems, solar power, energy conservation, hydraulic fracturing, energy-efficient and wireless technologies, construction of solar panels, metal oxides and hydroponics, which is cultivating plants by placing the roots in liquid solutions instead of in soil.

“This is an opportunity to see what students have been doing and show off their accomplishments,” Abraham said of Sunday’s event. “It also was to bring prospective students here.”