WHO ARE WE?
The World Care Project was created by a group of students led by Dr. Lawrence Kulinsky at the University of California, Irvine. Each team member brings different skills and experiences that combine nicely and diversify our approaches to designing and manufacturing an Automated Bioassay. Our educational major variations are: Biomedical, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. We plan to continue developing our current prototype and making it available for the world to use. Together we can help make a positive impact on humanity.
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MEET OUR TEAM
Team members and bios
Alex Huynh will be graduating from UCI in the spring of 2021, majoring in chemical and mechanical engineering with a minor in biology. He has previous experience working on biological assays from his research as an undergraduate with Professor Andrej Luptak. Outside of this project, he is currently working on electrolyzer research, including developing a novel cement manufacturing method using electrolyzer technology under Professor Iryna Zenyuk.
ARMANDO VICTORIA
My name is Armando Victoria and I am a Mechanical Engineering student in my final year here at the University of California, Irvine. I am in the design team for our research and help out in other areas as well. I am pursuing this research because I am passionate about the relationship between engineering and human health. I strongly believe that engineering can be used to create novel solutions in the field of medicine and medical testing. This research provides a unique crossroads between engineering and medicine which cannot be found elsewhere at UCI. I have recently been involved with the Racecar engineering team at UCI, which challenged my knowledge as an engineer in being able to put together many smaller components to reach a larger goal. This World Health Research challenges me in novel ways. It challenges how we can create a test that can be readily accessible and used by the average person in third world countries and rural areas without having to sacrifice any of its utility. An important part of engineering that often gets overlooked in student research is being able to engineer a product that can feasibly be used by the common consumer. This research is important because it requires that we always think of the end design and user at all steps of the engineering process. I have taken MAE 52, Computer-Aided Design, which has taught me how to engineer while always
considering the logistics of the manufacturing of the part, price, and lifetime. MAE 52 has helped me be able to successfully design a test that we can produce for a low cost, be very user friendly, and have a lifetime with multiple uses. I have also taken MAE 156, Mechanical Behavior and Design Principles, which focuses on the importance of the material in any design. With my knowledge from this course we were able to optimize our design with the best material that will be most cost effective and durable. This research should receive funding, because it is providing the participants with important real world experience, allowing us to demonstrate what we have learned in a meaningful way, and helping us find a solution to an important real world problem at the same time.
ALEXANDER ACOSTA
My name is Alexander Acosta. I am currently a junior double majoring in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. With respect to your group project, I am responsible for the project design and logistics of our website.
While attending Bakersfield College, I was involved in many projects such as a solar powered car, and creating a solar powered oven to name a few. In my time at UCI I have been involved in Eng 7A & 7B. These courses allowed me the opportunity to assist in designing a fully controllable quadcopter from scratch. We used preselected hardware and allowed it to detect colors to deliver a payload. Other relevant courses I have taken include the physics series at UCI. This allowed me to analyze and apply the correct amount of forces on components. The solid works course taught me to design in a Computer Aided Design (CAD) workspace and analyze physical objects.
I have always been attracted to engineering designs that seek to help the general well being of the world. For that reason I would like to focus on green engineering and helping fellow humans for my career goals.
ALEXANDER HUYNH
CHRISTOPHER VILLASENOR
I've always known that I wanted to be part of something bigger; something that has never been done. I have learned that if you want to make a difference in the world, you need to work together with those who have a common goal. This is what led me choose engineering as a career. I plan to finish my B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Irvine and continue my education in a graduate program.
Outside of the university, I participated in two separate projects that were funded and organized by L’SPACE (Lucy Student Pipeline Accelerator and Competency Enabler) and NASA (National Aeronautics Space Association). The programs were called NPWEE (NASA Proposal Writing Evaluation Experience) and MCA (Mission Concept Academy). For MCA, our goal was to work with a team to deliver a Preliminary Design Review document that describes exactly how our mission would be carried out. My role as Chief Engineer was guide our design sub-team to design a prototype model of a lunar lander to deliver and perform a series of scientific experiments on the south pole of the lunar surface. While working in the NPWEE project, I learned NASA mission procedures and protocols from industry professionals. Our main goal was to work with a team of undergrad students and working professionals from Marshall Space Flight Center to deliver a concept proposal to NASA.
MICHAEL THORNE
I am currently a fourth year undergraduate student majoring in Mechanical Engineering and minoring in Biomedical Engineering. I originally began my studies in the department of Engineering with the idea of using science to advance and solve problems in a wide array of industries ranging from the renewable energy sector as well as the medical device industry. Although my career goals weren’t completely known, my main motivation was to develop the skills necessary to improve the lives of the people around me. As a result, I decided to join the Automatic Colorimetric Bioassay Project as a Design Engineer with 5 other motivated undergraduate students to start my path of interconnecting engineering with the field of medicine.
I was always skeptical if engineering was the correct career path for me until I took an introductory Computer Aided Design course where I got to work with another group of engineering students on the design and fabrication of a low cost therapy arm brace project. It was really the first time I had the opportunity to apply what I learned in class into a project that could potentially help those who would need it. It was the push I needed to continue with the degree program I had entered and continue developing my skills through classes in manufacturing, engineering theory, and class projects. As of this summer, I took some time to volunteer for the UCI BioRobotics Lab where I was able to research the role of proprioception in motor control. I learned various data analysis techniques through MATLAB that monitored a patient’s data in various experiments that monitored their ability to match the movement of their ankles together.
Moving into my fourth year, I will be a part of this project with the end goal of allowing people to test for infectious diseases at low cost.
Outside the classroom, I have also made time to get involved with my fellow students and partook in leadership roles through UCI Housing and Student Success Initiatives where I have been able to guide students in their transition to college as well as act as a mentor so that they could also have opportunities to succeed in their interests. Making a positive impact in my community is always what strives me to do my best in all lines of work and seeing them pay that mentorship forward to others helped me realize how much mentorship and resourcefulness matters in today’s world. It is something I hope to continue doing in my life.
I plan to continue my endeavors in the medical device industry where I can be able to help improve the lives of millions of people and build meaningful relationships with people from various backgrounds. I hope to be able to prove myself in the industry by getting involved with this excellent team in designing the Automatic Colorimetric Bioassay which has the potential to save lives and improve quality healthcare which we hope can receive funding through the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program.
