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The University of New Mexico

Past Projects

The following are a list of the projects that were previously available for students. 

 

  • ABQ BioPark.
    • When: Fall 2020.
    • Potential Project: Enrichment devices (veterinary needs, play, behavior specific, goal based, husbandry, many aspects!), portable hot/cold rock for temperature sensitive animals, Pond/Lawn drainage and habitat maintenance, touch screen app development for enrichment with great apes/elephants, painting boxes. Environmental enrichment including in atypical settings like cold temperatures (penguins) and salt water (aquarium & penguins), lots of options beyond these and open to creativity!
  • Affordable Solar Installations, Inc. - Photovoltaic system performance testing and data analysis
    • When: Fall 2020 & Spring 2022
    • Type of Organization: Private
    • Mission: Solar EPC and Operations 
    • This project most closely aligns with Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.
    • Potential Project:
      • Fall 2020. Monitoring and alerting operational PV systems is a potentially high value (for ASI) project. This potentially includes the opportunity to scope a PV monitoring project, target a do-able subset of that need, then execute (program in the Wonderware -or Ignition- environment to automate the intended monitoring functions (setting up more “intelligent” monitoring alerts that can detect problems without requiring a human to see them) would fit the EPICS program criteria. Another option could be to test-migrate part of the monitored portfolio over to Ignition from Wonderware and build in additional functionality. There is the potential to expand this towards a more AI approach to monitoring PV systems (having the machine “learn” how to detect problems). Our portfolio of monitored projects is a data bonanza. Students could also design around a historical data set until it’s determined that they are capable of building worthwhile features.
      • Spring 2022. Data harvesting from actual PV power plant SQL databases with analytics performed in a Python script based environment. The ideal candidate will have experience in Anaconda/Python/Jupyter Notebooks. 
    • "How do you see this (these) project(s) fulfilling the 'help address human, community, and environmental needs' aspect of EPCIS @ UNM?": Engaging in the greater effort to decarbonize energy production in a movement towards sustainability in renewable energy.
  • BioPark Society (looking for students with experience with R):
    • When: Spring 2021. Fall 2021.
    • 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.
    • Potential Project: Our IUCN Conservation team is dedicated to producing the highest quality assessments of species extinction risks in a broad array of geographic contexts. As the needs for assessments far outstrip our capacity, we are seeking new and innovative ways to increase the pace at which assessments can be generated. 
      • Spring 2021. One method we are exploring is through automation of data gathering and interpretation. For many species, the necessary data exists in a wide array of databases which can be scraped using automated means and interpreted using methods of varying complexity. At the moment, we are using very basic systems to do this, but these could be greatly improved through software development and improved informatics systems which expand our base of collected data. We would also like to explore new methods for interpreting these data.
      • Fall 2021. With the assistance of EPICS students, we've developed software to automate assessments of plants in North America which has greatly improved our capacity to engage in conservation efforts, but our current system requires some technical knowledge from users. A web-based interface written in the R programming language will help us to share this tool with other institutions and magnify our conservation impact. Interested students should be familiar with the R programming language, as it will be a crucial component of future developments.
  • City of Albuquerque, Energy and Sustainability Division- Energy and Sustainability:
    • When: Spring 2021
    • 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.
  • City of Albuquerque, Dept. of Family & Community Services (Homeless Services) - Public Safety District Data Compilation & Enhance Online Platform for "Fast Track to Housing" Program for Unhoused Families:
    • When: Fall 2021 - Fall 2022
    • Type of Organization: Government Agency
    • Mission: The City has recently acquired the Gibson Medical Center, which already serves as a health hub with existing tenants providing services. Plans to create a Gateway Center as part of this health hub will add additional health resources for the community as well as centrally located shelter beds accompanied by supports to connect people with treatments they need and housing.
    • This project most closely aligns with Computer Science, Data Analytics, System Design, System Engineering.
    • Potential Project:
      • Fall 2021. Create the background database assets for use by case managers and operations staff at a non-congregate shelter for families experiencing homelessness. Students would learn the Caspio platform through the many online videos. Responsibilities will include enhancing existing data tables, enhance data integration, Set up data pages and tables that enable simple user inputs on a web-based platform and improve the website as needed to keep it user friendly. The student needs to be able to set up data relationships, reports and dashboards for internal quality control as well as for evaluation and reporting results to the public.
        Tasks can be accomplished in 10-20 hrs/week for students who can work independently and fulfill tasks as directed by the Senior Policy Director at the City Department of Family and Community Services.
      • Spring & Fall 2022. Support City staff on project to assemble database information with the purpose of integrating and analyzing multiple datasets into a schema that informs a new public safety district to track data trends and set up a response system. Support data mapping. Help integrate and geocode data. Set up analytical tools such as heatmaps, layering, data compilation, data visualization, and reporting tools to provide summary analysis of multiple datasets from multiple City departments regarding crime, behavioral health crises, and other quality of life issues.
    • "How do you see this (these) project(s) fulfilling the 'help address human, community, and environmental needs' aspect of EPCIS @ UNM?": This project is providing support to a real-time innovation for data-informed response to improve community conditions in a portion of the SE quadrant of the City.
  • Crossroads for Women.
    • When: Spring 2021
    • Potential Project: Design a new data base to track volunteer engagement
  • *CSolPower, LLC - GTES (Gigawatt-hour Thermal Energy Storage):
    • When: Fall 2021 & Spring 2022.
    • Type of Organization: Private
    • Mission: Energy Security and Sustainability
    • This project most closely aligns with Civil, Construction, Environmental, & Mechanical Engineering.
    • Potential Project: Students will assist in the design and analysis of a novel large-scale, long-duration thermal energy storage system. Large-scale, long-duration energy storage systems will be needed as greater penetrations of intermittent renewables penetrate the electrical grid to ensure stability and reliability. This work addresses a critical need to enable 100% carbon-free electricity production by 2045 as mandated by NM's Energy Transition Act.
    • "How do you see this (these) project(s) fulfilling the 'help address human, community, and environmental needs' aspect of EPCIS @ UNM?": This work addresses a critical need to enable 100% carbon-free electricity production by 2045 as mandated by NM's Energy Transition Act.
  • Explora - X Studio - Re:Design:
    • When: Fall 2022
    • Type of Organization: Not-for-profit
    • Mission: X Studio is a teen workforce development center that creates bridges to career pathways in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math.
    • Population Served: Pre-k to early college
    • This project most closely aligns with Computer Science, as well as Computer, Construction, and Mechanical Engineering.
    • Potential Project: Re:Design will be a program that will look at design for a variety of "everyday" objects and see if their function can be modified to better serve our community. Through engineering practices, design thinking, and making concepts teens will be tasked to create the most comfortable mug and the most useful pair of medical scrubs as a few examples. Community members will be brought in to give feedback on their Re:Designed items and to learn more about the teens' processes and inspiration. The goal is to create fully functioning objects that can serve the purpose they are intended to serve, but also do their job better.
    • "How do you see this (these) project(s) fulfilling the 'help address human, community, and environmental needs' aspect of EPCIS @ UNM?": Re:Design will focus on design that serves a variety of parties and the diverse communities teens will find themselves in as they progress into the workforce. Re:Design will have empathy and sustainablity at its core as items are recreated. We will do our best to limit waste and create items that retain their function and serve a purpose.
  • Explora - Engineering and Tech Program Development at X Studio:
    • When: Fall 2021.
    • Type of Organization: Not-for-profit. 
    • Mission: Creating opportunities for inspirational discovery and the joy of lifelong learning through interactive experiences in science, technology engineering, arts, and math.
    • Potential Project: X Studio is Explora's new teen workforce development center, scheduled to open Spring 2022. X Studio is a place for teens to learn, develop their skills, and become leaders. Here, teens have: a space that they can call their own; access to meaningful, creative learning experiences; access to work opportunities at Explora and beyond; a network of connections to role models and mentors; experiences that expand their ideas of what a career pathway could look like.

      As such the X Studio team is currently developing the programs and activities that will happen at X Studio that meet the above objectives. This project will focus on developing cool and engaging engineering and technology based in the X Studio makerspace and tech labs. This might include:
      *fabrication with tools like 3D printers, a laser cutter, sewing machines, woodworking tools, etc
      *coding in a digital environment (ie video game development, web development, etc)
      *physical computing with arduino, raspberry pi, microbit, etc
      *hackathons, app contests, game jams

      Throughout this project students will be supported to experiment and test activity ideas using Explora equipment, materials, spaces, and staff. In addition, students will help develop curriculum and instructions for any topics that are generated through this project. Finally, students will support Explora staff through the development of X Studio programs as time and interest allows.
  • 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
    • 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 ofharvests, an initiative by Food is Free Albuquerque (FIFABQ). Mindful Distribution works with over 90community 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, poundsreceivable, 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 effortrequired 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.
  • Locker# 505: Students Clothing Bank - Appointment Application
    • When: Spring 2021. Fall 2021.
    • Type of Organization: Not-for-profit
    • Mission: To clothe students in need from Kindergarten through 12th grade throughout Bernalillo County so they can attend school in comfort and with confidence.
    • This project most closely aligns with Computer Science.
    • Potential Project: 
      • Spring 2021: Potential projects include, working on an application or program that allows referring individuals and parents to give us feedback on our services, another application to allow parents to check-in when they get here to pick up their clothing and would not have to call us, possibly even to schedule or cancel appointments, having someone evaluate our use of space and develop more efficient ways of storing and distributing clothing, and they note they are always open to ideas of how to make our operation run more smoothly if anyone has suggestions.
      • Fall 2021: We would like to be able to make appointments through an app of some kind, however, we have looked any many applications but none have been found that meet our many needs. We have many needs such as an area to make notations to parents, one that parents can change their appointment, having a form attached for the parent to complete, and several more fields we need available.
  • Management Sciences, Inc. in collaboration with Sandia National Labs - Cybersecure processing and sensor fusion
    • When: Fall 2021
    • Type of Organization:  Private and Government collaboration
    • Mission: To improve the state of the art in sensor fusion at the edge of the network.
    • This project most closely aligns with Electrical & Computer, and Computer Science.
    • Potential Project: The state of the art in sensors, processing platforms, and algorithms continue to evolve at a rapid pace. New, low-cost sensors are emerging, embedded systems are becoming smaller and more capable, and open source software for analytics continues to grow. Many state of the art security systems using open source software and low-cost sensors have limited cybersecurity capabilities, resulting in a large cyber attack surface that can be exploited by hackers and adversaries. In this project, students will have the opportunity to explore sensors, embedded computing, and sensor fusion technologies to support new opportunities to fuse low-cost sensors at the edge of the network.
    • "How do you see this (these) project(s) fulfilling the 'help address human, community, and environmental needs' aspect of EPCIS @ UNM?": Inexpensive sensors provide only a rudimentary capability to protect public and private spaces. High-end sensors are prohibitively expensive for most applications. Sensor fusion offers the opportunity to make low-cost sensors practical for physical security in public and private spaces.
  •  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.
  • Roadrunner Food Bank
    • When: Spring 2024
    • Type of Organization: non-profit. 
    • Mission: To provide nourishing food to New Mexicans through vibrant community partnerships and passionate public and private support
    • Population Served: Food insecure individuals and families in NM
    • Potential Projects:
      • Data visualization of Link2Feed and partner reporting that we can use in advocacy, communications, and development.
      • Partner webpage development assistance (This could help with Network Services as well)
      • Measurement and evaluation or programs assistance and open to ideas that the student has in mind too. It could be something we never thought of😊 that could help us operationalize our data into action
      • Explainer video design
    • Skillsets preferred:
      • Tableau, Microsoft Excel, good written and verbal communication skills
      • Statistics
      • Graphic design, video, marketing
      • Public health, nutrition, social determinants of health a plus
  • Sandia National Labs - Thermographic phosphoros as temperature sensors
    • When: Fall 2020 via ECE 419 Senior Design with Dr. Kathryn Hoffmeister & Dr. Caroline Winters.
    • Potential Project: The project would be a signal processing project where the students setup simple lab experiments (with LEDs, an oscilloscope, a photodiode, a signal generator, etc) and try to remove the signal from background/noise using advanced signal processing concepts.
  • Second Judicial District Attorney’s Office- Government Procurement Efficiency Tool
    • When: Fall 2022
    • Type of Organization: Government Agency
    • Mission: The Bernalillo County District Attorney's Office is responsible for prosecuting cases within the county and other surrounding areas. Our office handles felony cases as well as DWIs and Domestic Violence offenses.
    • This project most closely aligns with: This project most closely aligns with Computer Science, Data Analytics, System Design, System Engineering.
    • Potential Project: Develop an application to streamline the procurement and requisition process for our office and other state government agencies. Every state governmental agency has to follow procurement laws and regulations while meeting governmental accounting requirements. This means that for every procurement, there are specific processes that must be followed and documented. This is often accomplished through a mixture of printed paper and emails. which makes the process difficult to track and creates avoidable inefficiencies. Our project would be an application to submit requisitions, document procurement methods, track and record requisition approvals, and visualize the data in the system via an interactive dashboard. .
    • "How do you see this (these) project(s) fulfilling the 'help address human, community, and environmental needs' aspect of EPCIS @ UNM?": This project would create administrative efficiencies for our office and has the potential of doing the same across New Mexico. Not only would thousands of limited staff hours be saved, this project would also reduce our agency’s environmental footprint by switching from a paper process
       to a digital one.
  • *Thuvia Systems - The development of an interoperable, patient-centered smart inhaler
    • When: Fall 2021.
    • Type of Organization: Private
    • Mission: Thuvia aims to improve the health of communities, train the next generation of leaders, and challenge boundaries through smart technology.
    • This project most closely aligns with Mechanical & Electrical/Computer Engineering and servs individuals with asthma.
    • Potential Project: This project is to develop a smart medical device, using a traditional inhaler and spacer setup, that can integrate with smart phones to collect data on when, where, and how well the patient uses the device. The project will re-imagine and re-design a crude prototype of the inhaler that we developed over the past year into a smart inhaler that we can put into the hands of regular people. The project will supply state-of-the-art embedded computer development boards, debugging systems, sensors, and 3D printing materials for students to use up and turn into products. The effort will integrate with a parallel ECE Senior Design project. In short, we would like to incorporate NOx sensors and digital pressure sensors to capture patient data that interfaces with BLE. The device should prevent exhalation into the smart inhaler, which may foul the flow sensor used to measure inspiratory flow rate. By integrating a function that allows for varied device operation through an inhalation (default) and exhalation (specific action) modes we can protect the flow sensing device while still being able to monitor NOx levels. Also reducing the possibility of damaging the flow sensing device components. In the case that the flow sensor does become fouled from regular and/or incorrect usage, the flow sensing device should be easily replaceable. In addition, the device should give positive visual/audio feedback to the user for proper device operation. Finally, the students will develop a power management system. Overall, the device should collect inspiratory flow and NOx data, store it, then transfer it to a collection system through wireless interfacing. In the end, students will have learned how to make real products smart.
  • United States Space Force via AFRL (US Citizenship Preferred)
    • When: Spring 2021. Fall 2021.
    • Type of Organization: Government Agency
    • Mission: Leading the discovery, development, and integration of warfighting technologies for our air, space and cyberspace forces.
    • Potential Project:
      • Spring 2021. Designing, developing, and testing of trusted secured software platforms for space application. This project can inform the space defense community on cyber technologies for awareness, defense, and resilience.
      • Fall 2021. Designing, developing, and testing of trusted secured software platforms for space application. This project can inform the space defense community on cyber technologies for awareness, defense, and resilience.
    • Additional comments: US Citizenship Preferred
  • UNM Basic Needs Project - Food Recovery App
    • When: Fall 2021.
    • Type of Organization: Educational
    • Mission: To measure and relieve food and housing insecurity at UNM.
    • This project most closely aligns with Computer Science. 
    • Potential Project: The Basic Needs Project would like to design a food recovery program at UNM. The goal is to connect students to free food that might otherwise go to waste. For example, if there is left over food from an event it could be distributed to students or students who have signed on to an app. An Honors College class will provide a team of students to help design the program in general (research where in the US it is already being done, connect with the necessary offices on campus, etc) but we need a CS student or two to design a mobile app as part of the food recovery program.
    • (This project is now an app - LoboEats to help address food insecurity at UNM!)
  • UNM Department of Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation 
    • When: Fall 2020 via ECE 419 Senior Design.
    • Potential Project: Low-cost, marker-less knee kinematic evaluation system (with Dr. Salas). In the Dept. of Orthopaedics we frequently conduct research on the human knee – assessing things like knee kinematics and comparing knee stability between pre-operative vs. post-operative surgical treatments. Traditionally, we have done so using infrared cameras and motion capture software. We will place markers or marker triads on the bone surfaces and use high resolution IR cameras to track their positions while applying various loads to the knee. We often do so on human cadaver knees that are uninjured, then repeat after inducing some simulated injury like a torn ACL, then repeat again after repairing the ACL to determine whether we are able to regain the same level of knee stability as we had when the specimen was uninjured. Motion capture systems like ours (Optitrack) allow us to capture data then analyze position information post-experimentation using various computer codes (typically Matlab). What we are asking for this senior design project is to develop a marker-less registration system (hardware) that uses a probe for identifying specified points on the bones. Once these points are identified, their locations will help map out the knee geometry to develop a knee coordinate system that can be used for marker-less knee tracking (software). Ideally, the software would work in conjunction with the Motive:Body software we already use for marker tracking and would be scripted using Matlab (but we are open to other user-friendly options). The global coordinate system could be defined using the ground plane system supplied by Optitrack. The hardware probe would use the Optitrack IR cameras for position registration. The system would be validated using the same IR camera system, but with physical markers on the bone surface.

 

Unpartnered 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.
    • This project most closely aligns with Mechanical Engineering and Aerospace Engineering.
    • Potential Project: 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.
    • "How do you see this (these) project(s) fulfilling the 'help address human, community, and environmental needs' aspect of EPCIS @ UNM?" 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.
  • 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, Dept. of Family & Community Services (Youth Services) - City of Albuquerque Community Centers Evaluation
    • Type of Organization: Government Agency
    • Mission: The Department of Family and Community Services provides quality health and social services, housing, recreation and education to improve the quality of life for the entire Albuquerque Community.
    • This project most closely aligns with Civil Engineering.
    • Potential Project: If you are interested in social-impact and research this project was designed for you. In fall of 2021, Harvard Graduate School of Education worked in tandem with the City of Albuquerque to use the participatory evaluation method to provide a road map of potential evaluation methods to explore key components of our model. The Community Centers of Albuquerque have an 85-year history of serving the people of Albuquerque. Some of the earliest centers were built in the late 1930s, growing over the 20th century into the 22 community center facilities that exist today. A powerful part of the afterschool and summer programming is that it is staffed almost entirely by youth from the same community as the students it serves. These part-time workers receive summer professional development training before the school year begins and are expected to take on additional responsibilities throughout the year as they build skills that can help them in any future professional endeavor. This cycle of youth developing the skills and motivation to reinvest in the youth of their own community is a central facet of the Community Centers of Albuquerque mission, and this evaluation is a step towards evaluating the strength of the cycle and its long-term impact. 
      This evaluation has two possible routes by exploring:
      1. How do the students in the after school and summer
      school programs perceive their connection to the adults they interact with at
      the community center? OR
      2. To what extent, if at all, are part-time employees gaining
      professional skills, career guidance, and connection to their community through
      participating in the Part Time Work program? How do these and other factors
      impact retention for part-time employees?
    • "How do you see this (these) project(s) fulfilling the 'help address human, community, and environmental needs' aspect of EPCIS @ UNM?": In a geographical analysis, we found children who live in the City of Albuquerque experience varying levels of access to out-of-school time programs. One way the city would like to address this gap is by improving the quality of our programs city-wide. One way to improve programs is by engaging stakeholders in evaluative conversations, and then implementing recommendations based on community needs. Please visit, https://www.cabq.gov/one-Albuquerque-kids-cabinet and review "Mapping Educational Outcomes.
  • Sandia National Labs. (Dr. Scott Levy; Center for Computing Research). We work extensively with an open-source simulator of bulk synchronous parallel applications. Our research depends on our ability to add new functionality and improve the existing functionality of this simulator. Our idea is to work with a team to identify, design, and implement one new feature for this simulator.
  • STEM Boomerang. 1. Data scrape social media sites to obtain contact information for New Mexico graduates that fit the criteria: graduated in New Mexico, degree in STEM-related fields; 2. Design and built SQL database of STEM professionals. Help set up queries. 3. Develop an API that posts job openings onto local and state job boards. 
  • Warehouse 508 by NMX Sports - Solar powered indoor gardens/ Solar powered patio shading structures:
    • Type of Organization: Not-for-profit
    • Mission: Bringing youth to non-traditional life-long sports and creative arts.
    • Population Served: Youth ages 13-20
    • This project most closely aligns with Construction Engineering and Environmental Engineering.
    • Potential Project: For twelve years now Warehouse 508 by NMX Sports has organized a variety of youth programming, community events, and fundraising efforts out of our current location. Although we are grateful for what this space has been able to provide for us, it has become evident that a new location is needed in order to reach more youth in the Albuquerque community. This year it looks like this goal can be reached. We are preparing to move to a new building that will provide the means to not only increase our student capacities, but to also make additions to our programming that where not previously possible.
      • One of the areas that some of our youth have expressed interest in learning more about is agriculture. We would love to be able to implement an indoor garden area in the building the the students could interact with and learn from.
      • The other potential project would involve planning and designing shading structures (perhaps also solar powered) for the patio area of the new building.
      • There may be potential for other projects. We are just unable to know what they could be this early in the moving/renovation process.
    • "How do you see this (these) project(s) fulfilling the 'help address human, community, and environmental needs' aspect of EPCIS @ UNM?": Our priority is providing a safe space in which youth in our community can build life-long transferable skills. We believe these projects can cater to these values in a significant way, and act as mediums in which young people can learn about the building blocks of healthy practices both in terms of individual development and environmental consciousness.