COURTESY BRENT BAILEY
se effort gives senior a
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Group projects like theirs were dependent
on being in close proximity and working
together, something that was no longer possible
during coronavirus safety measures.
“My first reaction was that I was really
bummed,” said Bailey. “I kind of moped
around for a few days. I was pretty disappointed.”
A week after the senior design project
was canceled, a new project surfaced.
While surfing through announcements for
his artificial intelligence class, Bailey happened
across a post about a project from Al
Wicks, associate professor in the Department
of Mechanical Engineering. Partnering
with Assistant Professor Joseph Meadows,
Wicks was inviting students to work
on a project that brought together multiple
departments to create a way to adapt sleep
apnea machines into ventilators, addressing
the worldwide shortage of critical devices
to assist with breathing.