While the fourth-year Capstone Design project is often regarded as the culmination of the knowledge and experience gained over the course of an undergrad degree, some students think of it as a new beginning rather than an end. Consider, for example, fourth-year chemical engineering students Kien Tran, Jack Anderson, Skylar Bone and Olsi Goxhaj, aka Green Sorbs. They have taken their Capstone Design project, an environmentally responsible, non-mechanical method of oil spill recovery, beyond the 2018 Capstone Design Symposium to a series of competitions. And their efforts have been recognized and applauded.Green Sorbs is focused on creating a sorbent boom that is more environmentally responsible than those in use now. Their design looks to re-use landfill waste, allowing for complex environmental clean-ups to be handled using an environmentally responsible product.
They have pitched their innovative design to many groups, with great success. They won the Velocity 5k award in November 2017, Engineer of the Future Trust in January 2018, and GM Capstone Award in March 2018. The group also represented Waterloo in the Ontario Engineering Competition, where they placed first. After attending the Canadian Engineering Competition, the group was ranked second in the innovative design category. Most recently, the group pitched to the Esch Foundation, and was one of six groups granted the Norman Esch Capstone Award.
We look forward to seeing Green Sorbs use their chemical engineering expertise to make the world a cleaner place.