Class: ID 6105 | Instructor: Courtney Garvin

This project is a brand guidelines book for Georgia Tech Cheerleading. Oftentimes, cheerleaders are simply regarded as a pretty face with a pom-pom and never as athletes. Even at Georgia Tech, we are not given the same resources and amenities that other sports are awarded. The purpose of this project is to redefine the perception of Georgia Tech Cheer: my goal is to show the world that cheerleaders are athletes cheering athletes. Beneath the facade of make-up and hair spray is sweat, grit, and the heart of a champion and this sport is anything but effeminate.

This project expanded my experience with the Adobe Creative Suite and I was very pleased with the outcome.

Class: ID 6102 | Instructor: Wendell Wilson

According to my professor, “the aim of this project is to familiarize students with the principles of bio-inspired design and sustainability. By identifying a biological example of a form/mechanism/structure that can be successfully interpreted into the design of a manufactured product, students will develop both appreciation and understanding of how nature can provide inspiration for creative design solutions. In fabricating a working prototype of proposed designs, students will gain a basic understanding of simple circuits and prototyping electronic devices.”

I chose to address the nighttime campus safety issue, specifically students walking back from a late night of studying. I began by researching organisms that use light for various purposes and those who employ defense mechanisms. I decided that I wanted to create a backpack or a system that could attach to an user’s existing backpack. Much like the King snake mimics the Coral snake, the backpack uses light and sound to mimic the police if the wearer were approached by a thief. Triggered by a shake, the LEDs light up in flashing blue and red and a siren wails. Heard over the siren is police chatter, “All units, we have a robbery in progress. Converge on this location.” If the attacker is not intimidated, another shake of the backpack will produce a blinding white strobe light from the LEDs, similar to how the tubeshoulder fish shoots goo from its shoulders that blinds its predators. A Circuit Playground Express programmed in Java controls the LEDs.
 

Group Members:  Chandler Barre, Shanzeh Farooqui, Keagan Long, Niara Simpson, Allison Moczynski

Through the Grand Challenges program, my team and I developed an app to give Georgia Tech students an awareness of their mental health. What follows is an excerpt from the brochure given to participants in our pilot study which was conducted at the Georgia Tech Counseling Center.

“With a rigorous course load and extracurricular activities, Georgia Tech students can have a hard time finding a good balance between their academic life and health. We hope that by giving students easy access to see how their behaviors and actions influence mental health, they will feel more in control of their mental health. Fulcrum, our solution to a student’s unbalanced lifestyle, is a data collecting application that bridges the gap between physiological and psychological aspects of health. The Jawbone collects sleep and physical activity automatically, while psychological factors are recorded during the daily survey. The daily survey is completed every evening to gather information. The application is a supplement to regular counselor meetings, so please be sure to attend your weekly appointments. There is a note feature on the Jawbone as well. Feel free to journal any of your thoughts or record any extraneous events that you feel may have influenced your mental health score (change in your Facebook relationship status, illness, etc.).”