Events held by EECScon and Masterworks spotlight the insights and innovation of student-led research

In the heart of MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), a unique event unfolded in 2014. The combined force of EECScon and Masterworks brought together a vibrant community of students, faculty, and industry guests, creating an atmosphere ripe for the sharing of groundbreaking research.

Launched in 2013, EECScon aimed to provide undergraduates with a professional-level research conference experience. Fast forward to 2014, and the event saw its most significant turnout yet, with over 400 attendees interacting with the 38 presenters.

Rob Gilmore, director of engineering at Qualcomm, was among the impressed guests. He was particularly impressed by the number of Masterworks students who used prototypes to support their design decisions and to quantify various performance metrics.

EECScon served as a professional setting for undergraduate students to present their research. The conference featured oral and poster presentations, with two sessions dedicated to poster presentations. Among the oral presentations, Ishwarya Ananthabhotla won the first-place award for her presentation titled "Curved-crease Self-folding for Externally Manipulated Miniature Robots." Nitya Subramanian's poster was awarded as the "crowd favourite."

The Masterworks event, held concurrently, showcased the best of undergraduate research. Many presenters brought demos to explain and highlight their work. Rui Jin, an MEng student in EECS, demonstrated his wireless charging system at Masterworks. For his exceptional thesis presentation, Rui Jin and Valentina Shin were selected for the 2014 Morris Joseph Levin Award.

The quality of work at EECScon and Masterworks did not go unnoticed by industry guests. Heather McCulloh, a unit process development manager at MaineFab, expressed her admiration for the research displayed. Steve Londrigan, senior business development manager for EBO USA, appreciated the opportunity to engage directly with the students, learn about new technology, and explore new opportunities.

Another industry guest noted that both EECScon and Masterworks provided an excellent research-topic-sharing opportunity. Abubakar Abid, an EECS senior, was one of six oral presenters at EECScon 2014. His presentation focused on neural probes for brain-computer interfaces.

Tomas Palacios and Seth Teller, the Masterworks faculty co-chairs, were pleased with the level of research presentations. They noted that the events provided a valuable platform for undergraduates to showcase their work and network with industry professionals.

Sarah Guthrie, a student at MIT, won the first-place poster award at EECScon 2014 for her poster titled "Investigating Mechanisms to Prevent Antibiotic Resistance Using QM/MM Modeling." Her work was a testament to the calibre of research being conducted by undergraduates at MIT.

In conclusion, EECScon and Masterworks 2014 proved to be a resounding success, providing a platform for undergraduate researchers to showcase their work and network with industry professionals. The events continue to serve as a testament to the innovative spirit of MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Events held by EECScon and Masterworks spotlight the insights and innovation of student-led research