Current Project Opportunities

The following are a list of the projects currently available for students. The list is constantly updating as we grow the program and community partner needs shift. 

Do you have a project in mind? Have an organization you want to work with to make a project happen?

Let us know! We can help you make this happen. (Additional examples of what is possible can be see at the well-established Purdue EPICS Teams page.)

What to see what projects our students have engaged in in the past? Check out our page dedicated to that information HERE.

Fall 2023 Projects

• The Aerospace Corporation -  Low-Cost, Energy Efficient, and Portable Cooling Stations for the Homeless:
  • Type of Organization: Federally funded research and development centers (FFRDC). 
  • Mission: Mission Assurance.
  • Population Served: Homeless
  • The project helps to reduce or prevent heat exposure related illnesses on vulnerable populations, like the homeless. The work can be existed to rural areas of New Mexico who may not have readily available access to state services.
  • Potential Projects: While homelessness is as old poverty, recent data has shown the number of unsheltered homeless has increased in Albuquerque and has doubled within the last 5 years. The causes are complex and usually interwoven with the rising cost of housing, education, and medical care; falling wages; mental health and addiction problems; and a lack of family or institutional support, as can happen to teens who age out of the foster-care system. One major issue is during the summer months in Albuquerque the homeless do not use shelters or transitional facilities. With increasing temperatures from climate change the hotter summer months make the homeless population vulnerable to dehydration, exposure related illnesses, and hygiene dangers. Providing cooling low-cost, energy efficient, and portable cooling stations for the homeless can potentially reduce impacts on emergency services. Design a low-cost, energy efficient, and portable cooling stations for the homeless to reduce or prevent heat exposure related illnesses and reduce impacts on emergency services. .
  • Project work location: UNM & Remote if a virtual engagement is needed
  • "How do you see this (these) project(s) fulfilling the 'help address human, community, and environmental needs' aspect of EPCIS @ UNM?": ABQ BioPark is a key resource for Albuquerque residents to learn about conservation and connect with nature. Our duck feeders generate thousands of dollars annually which feed into conservation projects, but our resident ducks also generate large amounts of waste on our sidewalks. This project will allow us to more rapidly deal with these waste issues freeing up staff time for animal care and conservation projects. It will also provide a cleaner and safer space for visitors to Tingley Beach and the ABQ BioPark Zoo.
• BioPark Society -  Two projects - 1) Waterfowl Waste Management and 2) Mapping Tools to Streamline Species Conservation:
  • Type of Organization: Not-for-profit. 
  • Mission: NMBPS is dedicated to the development of, procurement for and capital improvement of the ABQ BioPark and to providing a quality facility through the support of related conservation, education and recreation programs.
  • This project most closely aligns with Mechanical Engineering.
  • Potential Projects
    • 1: The duck feeders at the ABQ BioPark generate thousands of dollars each year to support our conservation efforts for imperiled species in New Mexico, and around the world. But that isn't all they generate. Each morning staff at the BioPark clean our walkways of duck waste. This is a time consuming and painstaking process which we hope to streamline. Our facility has tried numerous methods to clean walkways and we're seeking a better way to ensure a safe and hygienic environment for our patrons and for the animals which call our facility home. We're seeking engineering students to help us produce a ride-on duck waste removal system to make this process more efficient, so our staff can get back to caring for the animals in our care and providing the best possible experience for our visitors.
    • 2: Global conservation initiatives rely on spatial data to inform where threatened species occur and what areas need protections. Currently, the tools needed to develop this data, though relatively simple, rely on proprietary and expensive software packages. Students will design and build (using python) a set of tools allowing researchers to quickly perform spatial analysis and calculation in a QGIS plugin. This plugin will allow researchers to rapidly calculate basic spatial statistics, create spatial data files with a standardized format, populate data tables, and refine species distribution maps based on existing habitat data. Though no familiarity with QGIS is required, intermediate knowledge of the python programming language is necessary for this project.
  • Project work location: students will primarily work remotely
  • "How do you see this (these) project(s) fulfilling the 'help address human, community, and environmental needs' aspect of EPCIS @ UNM?": ABQ BioPark is a key resource for Albuquerque residents to learn about conservation and connect with nature. Our duck feeders generate thousands of dollars annually which feed into conservation projects, but our resident ducks also generate large amounts of waste on our sidewalks. This project will allow us to more rapidly deal with these waste issues freeing up staff time for animal care and conservation projects. It will also provide a cleaner and safer space for visitors to Tingley Beach and the ABQ BioPark Zoo.
• City of Albuquerque, Energy and Sustainability Division- Energy and Sustainability:
  • When: Spring 2021, Fall 2023
  • Type of Organization:  Government Agency
  • Mission: Reducing Energy and carbon
  • Population Served: All Albuquerque city residents
  • This project most closely aligns with Civil Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Construction Engineering, Construction Management, and Electrical Engineering.
  • Potential Project: Energy Efficiency Proposal for UNM EPICS Program
    1. Building energy management systems (BEMS) can reduce the electrical energy bill in the short term.
    2. BEMS can produce data and even provide distributed computation resources to estimate short term forecast of power and energy demand (for example, up to 24 hours).
    3. Understanding Utility Billing PNM, Gas, and water.
    4. Develop a full Energy efficiency scope of work Project starting with
         • Selecting a project and Provide a full Building envelope Energy Analysis.
         • Develop a full Project data analysis, including all existing Building systems. And start finding solutions with new methods that will help to reduce the building energy.
         • Evaluate all data and start developing a complete turn-key project.
    5. We will be developing Building code knowledge for the student, Including all International building codes, National Electrical Code.
    
  • "How do you see this (these) project(s) fulfilling the 'help address human, community, and environmental needs' aspect of EPCIS @ UNM?": This project will assist reducing carbon and emission with have a significant impact to the environment.

• Explora - Science Center and Children's Museum - Science Outreach: Developing and facilitating real-world engineering and other STEM-based activities for families at Title I schools in Albuquerque
  • When: Spring 2023, Fall 2023
  • Type of Organization: Not-for-profit
  • Mission: Explora's mission is to create opportunities for inspirational discovery and the joy of lifelong learning through interactive experiences in science, technology, and art.
  • Population Served: Rural, urban, preK-adult with a focus on minority groups, open to the public
  • This project most closely aligns with
    • Spring 2023. Computer Science, as well as Computer, Construction, and Mechanical Engineering.
    • Fall 2023. Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering
  • Potential Project: Students will identify needs or improvements for hands-on STEM activities used during family science events. Students will design, prototype, and reiterate their activity(ies) using observation and feedback from families during the events.  
  • Project work location: Albuquerque and surrounding areas
  •  "How do you see this (these) project(s) fulfilling the 'help address human, community, and environmental needs' aspect of EPCIS @ UNM?" The project will help families and students see how STEM applies to their everyday lives, inspire curiosity to learn more about STEM careers, and see themselves as STEMists.
  • "Is there any additional information you'd like to share with us to help narrow down which potential students we connect you with?" Students should be interesting in communicating STEM concepts and research to the public.

• Food Is Free Albuquerque (FIFABQ) - Optimizing Harvest Logistics
  • When: Fall 2023
  • Type of Organization: Not-for-profit
  • Mission: Social Empowerment through the growing and sharing of fresh food.
  • Population Served: Food Insecure, Unhoused
  • This project most closely aligns with Computer Engineering and Computer Science
  • Potential Project: This proposed project is for the UNM EPICS Program that aims to streamline the Mindful Distribution of
    harvests, an initiative by Food is Free Albuquerque (FIFABQ). Mindful Distribution works with over 90
    community partners and seeks to distribute harvested produce to those in need efficiently. Currently, the process relies on a spreadsheet that our leads navigate to determine distribution schedules, pounds
    receivable, and detailed locations. We believe that implementing a digital solution could revolutionize this process, enhance our efficiency, and reduce produce damage due to heat or transport.
    
    Our project aims to develop an intuitive application or platform that enables our Lead Harvesters to easily manage and update harvest distributions, while also allowing community organizations to sign up and be added, updated, or contacted in real time. This digital solution would centralize all relevant data, simplifying the process for both our organization and our community partners.
    
    We believe that the successful implementation of this project will significantly reduce the time and effort
    required for our leads to manage and distribute our harvests, while also providing a user-friendly platform for our community partners to sign up and stay informed.  
  • Project work location: Albuquerque
  •  "How do you see this (these) project(s) fulfilling the 'help address human, community, and environmental needs' aspect of EPCIS @ UNM?" By implementing a streamlined digital solution, we envision empowering our community and team leaders to efficiently distribute our harvests and nurture more robust relationships with community partners. Mindful Distribution aims to reduce food waste, promote community engagement, and ensure access to fresh produce for those struggling with food insecurity. This project aligns with the EPICS Program's mission of using technology to address real-world challenges, and we believe it has the potential to make a significant impact on our operations and the local community.

•  The New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator - Forensic Anthropology Database:
  • When: Fall 2023
  • Type of Organization: Government Agency
  • Mission: To create a centralized, searchable location storing forensic anthropological casework. The database will facilitate research using forensic anthropological cases. Furthermore, the database will act as an up to date account of the OMI DOE's within our system.
  • This project most closely aligns with: Computer Science
  • Potential Project: The Forensic Anthropology division within the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator (OMI) is a specialized unit whose expertise lies in the analysis of human skeletal remains. Forensic anthropologists work within the medicolegal system and are called upon to apply skeletal analysis methodologies and techniques to modern, forensic contexts. The field aids law enforcement and medical examiners by recovering human remains, estimating identity of unidentified remains, interpreting trauma, and estimating time since death. At the OMI, the forensic anthropology division handles about 60 cases a year, and have been working cases since the 1970's. Our team needs a searchable database to safely store all our case information in one centralized location. In addition to storage, this application will make research using cases feasible. We are seeking computer science students to assist us in finishing building our database in order to increase productivity and efficiency within the OMI, with the potential of bringing this database to other agencies and forensic anthropologists around the country.
  • Project work location: students will primarily work remotely
  • "How do you see this (these) project(s) fulfilling the 'help address human, community, and environmental needs' aspect of EPCIS @ UNM?": This project is serving first and foremost, the entire New Mexican community. The OMI is responsible for investigating all sudden, violent, untimely, and unexpected deaths, and cases with unknown causes of deaths that occur within New Mexico. This database will allow our team to improve internal efficiency in identifying descendants. Additionally, the database will enhance our understanding of the environmental contexts throughout New Mexico and how that impacts identification.