Roya Maboudian (Advisor)

Young children trapped in a car without adult supervision may suffer life-threatening complications such as hyperthermia and heat stroke from extreme temperatures—which may rise to 130 °F in some cases. Our research aims to ascertain child presence within two to three minutes of unsupervised activity by probing increases in the levels of carbon dioxide emitted during human exhalation. Non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) sensors are employed to measure car carbon dioxide concentrations every two seconds. Specific numerical metrics are then derived from the data, and the presence of a child can...

With the rapid development of modern digital technology, micro-supercapacitors show tremendous potential to complement or replace conventional electrolytic capacitors and batteries due to their small dimension, high power density, high electrochemical efficiency and long cyclic life. In particular, porous silicon nanowires (PSiNWs) and their derivatives have attracted great attention owing to their high surface areas and ease of integration with the microfabrication methodology. In this project, we are developing a novel metal oxide-coated carbonized PSiNWs electrodes for micro-...

Concrete is the most widely used engineered material in the world and finds use in nearly every aspect of civil infrastructure. Safety concerns posed by the aging of infrastructure combined with the prevalence of concrete in these systems highlights the demand for a concrete-composite capable of structural health monitoring (SHM) while being low-cost and easily implementable. Embedment of electrically conductive forms of carbon such as graphitic fibers and nanotubes allow for concrete and other cementitious composites to act as self-sensors capable of SHM through a...