2022 Capstone Design Symposium

Capstone Team holding their solar cell

Capstone Design Projects are done in fourth year and provide an opportunity for students to amalgamate all they have learned in their undergraduate degree and apply it to design a project that interests and inspires them.

Entrepreneurial opportunities

Students own the ideas and devices they create for the design competition and there are several pitch competitions that follow the Capstone Design Event where students can compete for funding to commercialize their devices. The creation of these projects often turns into an opportunity to create start-up companies. The Nanotechnology Engineering Program has historically had a high number of start-up companies stemming from their students' Capstone Design Projects. Some of these start-up companies include Suncayr, Voltera,and Scope Photonics.

This year two Nanotechnology Engineering teams won $10,000 each in the Norman Esch Pitch Competition using biomedical applications.

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1st Place Winner: Moonlight Haptics

The team designed a wearable device capable of mimicking vision through touch.
"We managed to win not only one but two pitch competitions (Norman Esch Entrepreneurship Award for Capstone Design and Concept $5k Finals) in one day. That was probably the most exciting day and to really know that all of our work has paid off, made it the most rewarding experience I have ever felt. I think specifically for Nanotechnology Engineering at UW, the most beneficial aspect is the hands-on experience that we get. From general wet labs to simulation work, to electrical circuit labs, and of course access to the cleanroom, this wide variety of equipment and experience has really helped shape us to be ready for any kind of field that we want to pursue, which I think is very unique," says team member Alex Wei

2nd Place Winners: CortiSolve

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3rd Place Winners

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About Capstone Design 

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