{"57780":{"#nid":"57780","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Senior Design Finalists Compete for First Prize","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EISyE\u0027s Senior Design course wrapped up fall semester with very impressive results.  Out of the twenty student groups who competed, three were selected as finalists to present their projects to faculty, students, and industry sponsors on December 12, 2007.  \u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAssociate Professor \u003Cstrong\u003ESteven Hackman\u003C\/strong\u003E, the faculty coordinator for Senior Design stated \u0022Although we had several strong projects completed this semester, these three really stand out in terms of technical challenges as well as the potential value they bring to the sponsor.\u0022  Finalists engaged in projects sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Office Depot, and Whirlpool Corporation.  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EOf the three finalists, the winning team included \u003Cstrong\u003EAllan Garcia\u003C\/strong\u003E, \u003Cstrong\u003EJason Hoff\u003C\/strong\u003E, \u003Cstrong\u003EMary Beth LaHatte\u003C\/strong\u003E, \u003Cstrong\u003EAlejandro Leyva\u003C\/strong\u003E, \u003Cstrong\u003EJohn Shea\u003C\/strong\u003E, and \u003Cstrong\u003EAshley Thompson \u003C\/strong\u003Ewho worked with the CDC on a project entitled \u0022Developing an Effective Production and Distribution Method to Eradicate Mosquitoes in Sudan, Africa.\u0022  Based on the technical expertise involved in this project and the resulting impact to the client, these students were awarded first prize in the overall competition.  The sponsor contact was Dr. Mark Benedict with Professor \u003Cstrong\u003ECraig Tovey \u003C\/strong\u003Eserving as faculty advisor.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe CDC has proposed the use of the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) to reduce the Anopheline mosquito populations in Sudan, Africa.  SIT is a method of biological control that involves the mass rearing of insects in a production facility and the sterilization of males by exposing them to low doses of radiation, or to chemosterilants.  Malaria is transmitted exclusively by female mosquitoes.  SIT effectively breaks the chain of reproduction when a female mates with sterile males, as female mosquitoes mate once in a lifetime.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe purpose of this project was to establish and provide a set of guidelines and recommendations that will aid in the implementation of SIT to\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nreduce the Anopheline mosquito populations in Sudan.  Team members began by estimating the population densities of adult mosquitoes at the designated release sites in Merowe and determining a location for the production facility.  They not only designed the production process, but provided tools for decision making, and performed an analysis of the most significant costs involved in implementation.  Their research showed that the most effective means to implement SIT depends on the conditions in Merowe, such as time of year and the river level.  As a result of this finding, the group developed a software tool that finds the best strategy based on a set of factors input by a user.  This software tool can be used to determine the best SIT strategy in other parts of the world affected by malaria.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ERunners-up in the competition included team members \u003Cstrong\u003EAhmed Bajwa\u003C\/strong\u003E, \u003Cstrong\u003EAlison Kao\u003C\/strong\u003E, \u003Cstrong\u003EStephanie Lake\u003C\/strong\u003E, \u003Cstrong\u003EEmil Loewy\u003C\/strong\u003E, \u003Cstrong\u003ESantiago Quintero\u003C\/strong\u003E, and \u003Cstrong\u003EVivian Hernandez\u003C\/strong\u003E.  These individuals worked with Office Depot on a project entitled \u0022Depot Materials Handling Model.\u0022  The sponsor contact was Scott King and the faculty advisor was Associate Professor \u003Cstrong\u003ESeong-Hee Kim\u003C\/strong\u003E. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EOffice Depot has a 550,000 square foot warehouse in Atlanta that services 156 retail stores in the Southeast.  One of the problems Office Depot faces in this facility is that they are unable to determine the optimal number of material handling devices and batteries necessary to maneuver pallets and pick material.  Further, it is difficult for the company to determine how many of these devices they should purchase verses how many they should rent.  To address the problem, team members developed and implemented simulation and optimization models to 1) minimize the total number of machines required, 2) create an equipment schedule, 3) determine the best number of machines and batteries to purchase and rent, and 4) provide a standardized equipment usage model.  As a result, students showed Office Depot a potential savings of more than 33% from current costs, which equates to approximately $550K annually.  In addition, the students\u0027 model can be applied to other Office Depot facilities with a total potential savings of more than $9M annually.  \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022This is the third group I have sponsored since participating in the program myself as a student, and I have a fourth group slated for next semester,\u0022 said \u003Cstrong\u003EScott D. King\u003C\/strong\u003E, BS IE 2004, project engineer, Office Depot. \u0022It is truly amazing what a group of young minds are able to accomplish in such a short time. It\u0027s a testament to the education and training they receive at the institute. Many of my colleagues agree that the particular discipline of engineering a student pursues is not as essential as learning the skills of analytical problem solving (or as we refer to it \u0022thinking like an engineer\u0022). These design project present the students with real-world problems, and are the perfect opportunity to put this into practice.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe third finalist team to present included \u003Cstrong\u003EBrandon Tubandt\u003C\/strong\u003E, \u003Cstrong\u003EJacob Robinson\u003C\/strong\u003E, \u003Cstrong\u003EJessie Spencer\u003C\/strong\u003E, \u003Cstrong\u003EKathryn Oliver\u003C\/strong\u003E, and \u003Cstrong\u003ETimothy Dennis \u003C\/strong\u003Ewho worked with Whirlpool Corporation on a project entitled \u0022Quality Express Routing.\u0022  The sponsor contact was Hisham Khaki and Associate Professor \u003Cstrong\u003EShabbir Ahmed \u003C\/strong\u003Eserved as the team\u0027s faculty advisor.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhirlpool supplies the Atlanta region with more than 1700 different appliance types, all from a distribution center located in Ellenwood, Georgia.  The distribution center receives orders from multiple sources on a daily basis and routes trucks to make the deliveries.  The routes produced by the current process are inefficient, resulting in high transportation costs.  To address Whirlpool\u0027s routing problem, team members developed a software tool, Quality Express Routing, which takes input from Whirlpool\u0027s database and mapping software and uses optimization techniques to determine improved routes while reducing overall mileage.  Further, the output is in a standardized format, making it easy to understand.  Based on comparisons between the current routes and the routes produced by Quality Express Routing, implementation of the tool will reduce transportation costs by more than 22%, resulting in close to $600,000 in annual savings.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAll senior students in ISyE culminate their undergraduate educational experience with the Senior Design course in order to provide firsthand experience at solving real world problems in a team environment.  Students typically work in teams of five to six individuals with 15-25 Senior Design groups running each semester.  Each group is advised by an ISyE faculty member, and the faculty coordinator manages the overall course.  Companies interested in submitting a project for consideration can either contact the Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies, Dr. \u003Cstrong\u003EChen Zhou \u003C\/strong\u003Eat 404 894-2326, or they can post a project through the ISyE webpage at \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.isye.gatech.edu\/seniordesign\u0022\u003Ewww.isye.gatech.edu\/seniordesign\u003C\/a\u003E.  Senior design teams look for projects before the start of the fall and spring semesters. \n\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThree student teams working with the CDC, Office Depot, and Whirlpool Corporation competed to win first prize in ISyE\u0027s Senior Design competition at the end of fall semester, 2007.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Senior Design Finalists Compete for First Prize"}],"uid":"27216","created_gmt":"2007-12-20 01:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:06:39","author":"Ruth Gregory","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2007-12-20T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2007-12-20T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"57781":{"id":"57781","type":"image","title":"CDC project team","body":null,"created":"1449176051","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:54:11","changed":"1475894506","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:41:46","alt":"CDC project team","file":{"fid":"190658","name":"trg69439.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/trg69439.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/trg69439.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":29356,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/trg69439.jpg?itok=lCOuGaHx"}},"57782":{"id":"57782","type":"image","title":"Office Depot project team","body":null,"created":"1449176051","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:54:11","changed":"1475894506","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:41:46","alt":"Office Depot project team","file":{"fid":"190659","name":"tzl68990.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tzl68990.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tzl68990.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":39526,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/tzl68990.jpg?itok=MMmi-WyS"}},"57783":{"id":"57783","type":"image","title":"Whirlpool project team","body":null,"created":"1449176051","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:54:11","changed":"1475894506","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:41:46","alt":"Whirlpool project team","file":{"fid":"190660","name":"tcx68990.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tcx68990.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tcx68990.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":28509,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/tcx68990.jpg?itok=XTlskBBP"}}},"media_ids":["57781","57782","57783"],"groups":[{"id":"1242","name":"School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE)"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"123","name":"CDC"},{"id":"2227","name":"Craig Tovey"},{"id":"8005","name":"Hackman"},{"id":"8004","name":"Office Depot"},{"id":"167319","name":"senior design"},{"id":"169602","name":"Seong-Hee Kim"},{"id":"169661","name":"Shabbir Ahmed"},{"id":"170903","name":"Stewar School"},{"id":"8003","name":"Whirpool"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBarbara Christopher\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIndustrial and Systems Engineering\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=bt3\u0022\u003EContact Barbara Christopher\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404.385.3102\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["bchristopher@isye.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}