Nanotechnology engineering teams take top design awards at Canadian Engineering Competition | Nanotechnology Engineering

Nanotechnology team at Canadian Engineering Competition

A marker that indicates when sunscreen is to be reapplied and innovative propulsion technology for microsatellites captured first and second place in the innovative design category at the 2015 Canadian Engineering Competition. Over 170 students from across the country attended the competition held March 5 to 8 at Memorial University in St. John's.

The Suncayr team of fourth-year nanotechnology engineering students Derek Jouppi, Andrew Martinko, Rachel Paulter and Chad Sweeting won top prize for its colour changing ink that tells that user when sunscreen is no longer effective. Suncayr forms a thin film that is non-toxic, waterproof and stays on skin all day.

The fourth-year nanotechnology engineering team of Kristopher Bicanic, Richard Garner, Matthew Mulvale and Adam Svatos took second prize and an additional award of technical excellence for its microfabricated ion thruster design. The design is being included in WATSAT-2, the microsatellite developed by the University of Waterloo Satellite Team for the Canadian Satellite Design Challenge. The winning team in the national challenge will have its satellite launched into orbit.

Both winning projects will be showcased at the Nanotechnology Engineering Capstone Design Symposium taking place on Friday, March 20 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Davis Centre.