Curiosity, innovation fuel engineering students at project symposium
East Carolina University student Michaela Weber experienced the true engineering experience while working on her senior capstone project.
“I just love the iterative process of testing and design, figuring out what’s wrong with it, and going back and fixing it,” Weber said. “I guess that’s the life of an engineer.”
Weber worked with three fellow engineering students in the creation of the Buggy Buddy, which is designed to improve the shopping process for those in wheelchairs and their caregivers. It was one of 20 projects highlighted during the Department of Engineering Capstone Symposium in the Life Sciences and Biotechnology Building.
The symposium wraps up the academic semester and provides students an opportunity to showcase a year’s worth of work. Projects covered a range of fields — manufacturing, healthcare, recreation, automation, environment and aviation to name a few.
Engineering students explain their “Buggy Buddy,” which is designed to help shoppers in wheel chairs, during the Engineering Capstone Symposium.
Buggy Buddy
The Buggy Buddy would allow a shopping cart and wheelchair to function as a unified device, easing the way in which items can be pulled from a shelf and stored in the cart until the shopper pays for the items.
Weber, Alexis Highley, Bryan Mendoza and Nicholas Willer received the project from Dr. David Loy, a professor of recreation sciences and sport management in the College of Health and Human Performance. Dr. Brian Sylcott, associate professor of engineering, served as the faculty advisor.
“I feel like there is a lot of need for this project,” Weber said.
She said part of the project involved surveys of potential users.
“We asked how they would like this product done, how they would find it most useful, and we actually got a lot of feedback from that. That’s how we ended up with the design we have now,” she said. “It’s nice knowing that it would actually be used in the real world and that there’s an actual need for it.”
Weber said she gained valuable insight into communicating with customers and tailoring solutions to their needs — skills she believes will support her transition into a career in the medical device industry.
“I think that my team and I worked really hard on figuring out the solution, and I hope that wheelchair users and those people with disabilities that use wheelchairs can enjoy it,” Weber said.
Hammock Happiness
The idea of a lazy day in a hammock appeals to many, but for manufacturer Cloud Hammock and project sponsor Anna Dixon, the company can’t afford to relax on its design.
Engineering students, from left, Tyler Wright and Nathaniel Rainey, explain their project for an improved hammock spreader bar that is easier to ship and assemble to the bed material during the Engineering Capstone Symposium.
Engineering students Nathaniel Rainey, Tyler Wright, Jay Ahmed and Evan Walsh — with engineering instructor Bernardo Saucedo Leyva as faculty advisor — worked on a redesign of the company’s spreader bar, with the goal to achieve improved portability and cost efficiency without sacrificing quality.
The company’s current spreader bar — the device at the end of the hammock that keeps the fabric and attached rope taut — added to the company’s shipping costs because of its size and weight. The team developed a two-piece aluminum bar that when screwed together could support 1,000 pounds. The bar reduced shipping costs by roughly $4 per unit and decreased labor costs as well.
Beyond the engineering, Rainey said the work had special meaning for him.
“I think I took a lot of interest on this specific project just because I go backpacking and I like hammocking,” he said.
Rainey said he learned that no project is too small, especially as it relates to the passion of a business owner to meet the needs of customers while improving a company’s bottom line.
“When we originally got this project, we overlooked it. I mean, it’s a hammock spreader bar. It’s not something very intricate,” he said. “And then we got into the technical side of it, and it was very detailed.
“Something I’ll take away from this is to not overlook the little things just because of how simple they seem. One small project could be someone else’s life work, and that’s what I see here. This is her life work.”
Remote Healthcare
Isiah Cooper, Nehemiah Maynor, Zachary Willer and Jacob Wood took on a project aimed at improving rural healthcare.
The wearable cardiopulmonary monitoring vest for remote telehealth diagnostics is designed to capture heart and lung audio that can be transmitted instantly to a doctor at a different location.
“I feel like this is the next big thing within remote healthcare,” Maynor said. “Seeing that the population is only getting older right now and many more people are traveling less and more virtual care options are being offered, I feel like this could revolutionize remote healthcare.”
As someone with asthma, Wood took a personal interest in the project, seeing how such a device could help people in his situation.
“There have been plenty of times where when I was younger, it would be to the point where the only thing you can do is sit down and just breathe through it,” he said. “For cases like that, if you’re able to get somewhere and just get a diagnostic, maybe you can get a breathing treatment or something a lot quicker.”
Dr. Diane Alexandru, a pulmonology specialist for ECU Health in Wilson, sponsored the project with Dr. Sunghan Kim, professor in the Department of Engineering, serving as faculty advisor.
Maynor said multiple failures served to inspire everyone on the team, something they’ll take with them to their careers after graduation.
“Learning what failure actually is within a project is something massive,” he said. “Engineering coursework sets you up a little bit for that with a few different projects, but the capstone itself, we failed more times than I can count. Then we actually learned and had to reach out to multiple different people and learn how to talk with others, communicate with others, take others’ inspiration and turn it into our own — utilizing our resources might be a better way to say it.”
Outstanding Seniors
The symposium included a short ceremony in which the Department of Engineering honored its spring 2026 outstanding seniors for each concentration. Those recognized include Makenna Allatt, Sophie Arruza, Ellisa Fisher, Kyle Kirwin, Molly Lasure, James Watkins, Michaela Weber and Joshua Williams.
Engineering outstanding seniors, front row from left, Sophie Arruza, Makenna Allatt and Molly Lasure, and back row from left, Joshua Williams, Kyle Kirwin, Ellisa Fisher, James Watkins and Michaela Weber during the Engineering Capstone Symposium on Wednesday, April 22, 2026, in the Life Sciences and Biotechnology Building. (ECU photo by Ken Buday)