Fulton Engineering in the news
Posted June 14, 2013
ASU engineering student Christopher Miranda (third from left) joined fellow students Rachel Bone, Peter Georgiou and Andrew Lai to design a new type of wheelchair.
Recent ASU biomedical engineering graduate Christopher Miranda is part of team developing a new type of wheelchair. It features a seat that can be elevated up to 10 inches, using pneumatic gas springs similar to those used for office chairs.
The project originated through the team members’ work in ASU’s InnovationSpace program, a joint venture partnering the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts, the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and W. P. Carey School of Business.
As part of the research behind the design of the team’s product prototype, Miranda and others spent a day getting around ASU’s Tempe campus in a wheelchair.
The project made news in Miranda’s hometown newspaper, the Nogales International. Read the article.
Read more about it on the ASU News website.
Miranda, who studied physics as a minor in earning his undergraduate engineering degree, will begin graduate studies in biomedical engineering in the fall semester.
A solar technology development venture established by professor Joseph Hui recently won an Excellence in Innovation award from the Arizona Manufacturers Council.
Hui is a professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering.
The award was presented during the council’s Manufacturer of the Year Summit and Awards Luncheon presented in partnership with the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Read more about the awards event.
His company, Monarch Power, is focusing on design and development of portable solar-energy devices. The award was given for his Lotus Mobile device for using solar energy to power an automobile. Read more about the venture.
ASU engineering graduate Oscar Vasquez and his wife.
Oscar Vasquez grew up in Arizona, graduating from Carl Hayden Community High School in Phoenix and later from ASU in 2009 with a degree in mechanical engineering.
But his status as an undocumented immigrant caused him to return to Mexico after his undergraduate years.
He immediately began pursuing avenues to put him on the path to becoming a naturalized United States citizen.
Vasquez is now serving in the U.S. Army. His story is featured in the current issue of ASU magazine. Read the article.
An article on treehugger.com about efforts around the world to bring attention to the problem of food waste points to the FlashFood project as one example.
FlashFood is an entrepreneurial endeavor that emerged in part from work done by a group of students in ASU’s Engineering Projects In Community Service (EPICS) program several years ago.
Since then, six of the seven FlashFood founders have earned their undergraduate degrees and some have gone on to graduate studies. But the team is continuing to develop a mobile phone application that is the linchpin of communications for a food recovery and distribution network.
Read the treehugger.com article, which links to an earlier article the website published about FlashFood.
ASU engineering alumnus Tom Prescott
Tom Prescott, who graduated from ASU in 1980 with a degree in civil engineering, has gone on to lead two successful health care technology companies after a first job in factory automation with a major international high-tech conglomerate.
The story of how his first start-up venture failed but provided a valuable lesson that boosted his career is detailed in the current issue of ASU magazine. Read the article.
Neuroscientist Jeffrey Kleim, an associate professor in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, was recently in Istanbul, Turkey, to attend the international Continuing Medical Education Conference on Multiple Sclerosis.
At the time, the political unrest in Turkey that led to major clashes between protestors and government forces began to erupt near the hotel where Kleim was staying.
Video footage he captured with his iPhone was posted on the CNN News iReport website and reported on by Channel 3 news in Phoenix.
