On Friday, May 29th, we had the privilege of watching our students present at the University of California, Riverside's 2026 Senior Design Showcase, hosted by the Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering (BCOE). Each year, the showcase gives undergraduate engineering students the chance to present their capstone projects to the public, showing their ingenuity, dedication, and ability to tackle real-world engineering problems. These students work throughout the school year designing, building, and testing their prototypes and it is always one of our favorite events of the year. 

This year, our lab sponsored a team: Norman Seder, Nina Phatak, Yasmin Eltwafsha, Colin Daily, Tiffany Ian, and Taha Khan who presented on Enabling In Vitro Tricuspid Valve Evaluation via the Right Heart Simulator. The Right Heart Simulator is designed to replicate the mechanical conditions of the right side of the heart, allowing for in vitro testing of tricuspid valve function. Watching this team present what they built over the past several months was a proud moment for all of us. They put in a lot of hard work and it showed.

We also had several of our own lab seniors presenting with their respective teams, and it was genuinely exciting to see the range of projects they took on. Gillian Sebald and Phiphi Dinh worked on a Passive Urine Collection System. Shubhra Singhal's team designed a Multimode Bioprinter for BIPORES Scaffolds. Andrea Bowling's team built an Automatic High-Throughput Scratch Assay Device for In Vitro Cell Culture. Katrina Cating and Bill Pham took on the Redevelopment of a Modernized Control and Monitoring System for the End-of-Life BioFlo 110 Bioreactor. Katelyn Kuba's team designed an Industrial-Scale Production Assembly for BIJEL-Based Hydrogel Fibers. And Carly Yen's team presented a Counterfeit and Substandard Medicine Identifier.

We also want to give a special shoutout to Rishika Ghandhi, whose team won the award for Best Professionalism and Presentation for their project, BRAVIL: The Automated Well Plate Filler, at this year's showcase. It's a recognition that reflects not just the quality of the work but how well the team was able to communicate it.

These students put in a tremendous amount of work this year, and seeing it all come together at the showcase was a reminder of just how much they've grown. Congratulations to all of our seniors! We are incredibly proud of each of you and excited to see where you go from here.