Students across the Tickle College of Engineering (TCE) were selected for recognition at this year’s Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement (EURēCA), an annual event that showcases research and creative activities by currently enrolled undergraduate students in collaboration with a faculty mentor.

Eleven projects won awards ranging from first place to awards of merit at this year’s EURēCA.

This year’s event was held April 25 in the Student Union Ballroom. Submissions were judged by a panel of UT faculty members and industry partners. Special thanks to the college’s judges: Daniel Yoder, Toby Boulet, Mary Kocak, Scott Emrich, Doug Aaron, David Donovan, Ahmedullah Aziz, Betsy Chesnutt, David Keffer, Mark Denavit, Claudia Rawn, Maik Lang, Bryan Good, Lawrence Heilbronn, Seungha Shin, Andrew Dickerson, Colleen Crouch, Martin Grossbeck, Killian Samuels, Stephen Young, Michael Pagan, and Daniel Mountain.

TCE Research Awards

Award Name	Student(s)	Project Title
First Place	Matthew Valderrama, Christopher Webb, Mackenzie Camp, Charlotte Buchanan Faculty Mentor: David Keffer	Materials Analysis and Reproduction of Rubber Cloth and Other Materials Necessary for Preserving the Musical Organ Manufacturing and Repair Industry
Second Place	Madeline Loveday Faculty Mentor: Mariya Zhuravleva	Phase formation of High-Entropy Rare-Earth Monoclinic Aluminates
Third Place	Jonathan Shell Faculty Mentor: Nicholas Wierschem	Passive Structural Control Achieved with a Mass Lever Inerter
Award of Merit	Nathaniel Blalock Faculty Mentor: Cong Trinh	High Throughput Enzyme Screening for Ester Quantification
Award of Merit	Michael Broud Faculty Mentor: David Keffer	Investigation of Preferential CO2 Binding And Lignin-derived Carbon Quantum Dots Through Molecular Dynamics Simulations
Award of Merit	Jordan Huff Faculty Mentor: Anahita Khojandi	An Analysis of Applying LSTM Neural Networks to Predict Future Watershed Reservoir Depth
Award of Merit	Nicole Nguyen Faculty Mentor: Paul Dalhaimer	Soft poly-ethylene-glycol (PEG) micelles and lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) resolve autophagy and reduce pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion in RAW264.7 mouse macrophages
Award of Merit	Neel Reeves Faculty Mentor: Courtney Faber	Measuring Pre-Service, K-12 Teachers’ Self-Efficacy in Teaching Engineering and Their Perceptions of Engineering as a Career
Award of Merit	McKayla Torbett Faculty Mentor: Stephen Sarles	Bioprinting osmotically actuated tissue-like materials

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TCE Design Awards

Award Name	Student(s)	Project Title
First Place	Madeline Ginsberg, Bryce Miller, Ella Knight, Jaimie Armitage Faculty Mentor: Andrea Ludwig	Engineered Media Amendment Selection and Testing Procedure
Second Place	Patricia Abernathy, Keely Sage, Sean Moran Faculty Mentor: Jiajia Chen	Bioreactor for Cultured Meat Research