My Capstone project revolves around creating a comprehensive website dedicated to Engineering Majors. The primary objective of this website is to offer in-depth information about different engineering Majors. The process of my project was very straightforward but I encountered minor problems like picking the main platform to make my website which took me to try four different platforms to find the one that suits my style of writing and represents my skills. My motivation for making this website was to help upcoming engineering SLA students, The website aims to provide valuable resources and insights that will aid students in selecting the right engineering school for their academic pursuits. Also, Driven by my own experiences as a student with a keen interest in pursuing engineering in college, I embarked on the creation of this website as a valuable learning resource for myself. I wanted to make my capstone that could personally benefit me in my journey, and I wanted to learn something new and impactful. The key component in making my capstone is a lot of research about each Engineering major, but I also added things like interviewing both my uncles that are Engineers and asking them about their experience in the industry and both of them had two completely different answers. Also, I conducted interviews with a group of ten students consisting of five sophomores and five juniors, all of whom expressed unwavering certainty regarding their choice of Engineering major for college.

My Website: https://sites.google.com/scienceleadership.org/rami-boubekri/chapter-1

Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FRX3NVDIXi-GfXPidJCentrJHU15Owt9QJie88SBh1k/edit

For my capstone, I did a soccer ball for the Blind. Throughout this project, I’ve had a couple of roadblocks that have made me reflect on if I should be doing the project. Luckily I stuck through it and enjoy making my project. Next, the process of my project was very unique. Throughout the whole project, I was at first coding a buzzer. When coding the buzzer everything was going according to plan. Until all of a sudden, my code starts having issues. It wasn’t detecting what I was trying to do. Kept having error problems with the code. Once I figured out the code another problem started which was the circuit. The code was being verified by the coding of the website so I thought I was good but no the buzzer started to act up. The buzzer was acting up to the point that it wasn’t being recognized and everything was set up perfectly even with its voltages in the correct spot. So when it was time to overcome these obstacles I quickly started to think of other options that could work. That’s when the idea of a speaker since it’s Bluetooth won’t need any wires. To overcome this I got a mini speaker and just put it inside the ball just to see how loud it would be. As I did that it was perfect. The next step was now how to make the soccer ball kickable. I finally ended up painting it and polishing it. Through all, I learned to never get stuck on one idea and essentially there can always be other solutions to your project or anything in general.

My capstone project involved shadowing a mechanic to gain insights into the craft and acquire practical skills relevant to their engineering pursuits. By combining my interests in cars and engineering, I embarked on a journey to understand the mechanics’ profession and explore its connection to the core values of research, inquiry, collaboration, and presentation. The research phase involved shadowing a mechanic and consulting external resources to gather information. Genuine curiosity fueled my inquiry into the life of a mechanic, while collaboration with field experts enriched my learning experience. To address the core values, I created two websites: one highlighting DIY car maintenance tips and the other providing comprehensive information on becoming a mechanic. The project involved a systematic approach, including extensive research on automotive repair and maintenance, hands-on experience working with a professional mechanic, and the development of knowledge-sharing platforms. My proficiency in various mechanical tasks improved as I acquired skills in engine diagnostics, electrical systems, and advanced repair techniques. The journey culminated in the creation of websites that served as resources for car owners and aspiring mechanics. Overall, this capstone project expanded my understanding of automotive repair, strengthened my problem-solving skills, fostered collaboration within the automotive community, and instilled confidence in my engineering abilities for the future.

For my capstone, I made a modular pinball machine that allows the user to move the obstacles around to create any kind of playing board they want. The point was to do something innovative with the classic pinball design and to add my mark to the pinball world. The first thing I did was I first constructed the flippers using a design that I saw on YouTube and have used before in cardboard pinball designs. I made the frame out of thin 1/8th inch baltic birch and plywood so that it is sturdy yet still light and portable. I also wanted the board to be removable so that in case anything breaks or goes wrong it is easier to fix. I created a ball chute for putting the ball in play using a chopstick, a spring, and some thin baltic birch wood. The positioning of the magnets was the hardest part of my capstone. I went through many different magnet patterns with different spacing for all of them before I came up with the one that is actually in use. If you look at the back of the board, you can still see where I had plans to install the magnets on the other designs. After I super glued the magnets in place, I still had to make the obstacles. I started with some basic ones like some basic curves and some circles, although I would still like to expand on my capstone by making some more complex obstacles like ramps, rails, and some moving parts like a multiball function or something like that.

Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TewAN7A2YcahWalgnl-c5SuRyTGK8eBf0vOmGcggvSs/edit?usp=sharing

For my senior project, I came up with the idea of building a website that acts as an inventory search kit for the engineering room. With this invention, students can pull the website out on any device and search for a tool in the room they are looking for. An example would be a certain size nail they need, so by typing in the name of the nail and size the program would give the student information on what part of the room, the shelf it’s in, and the drawler it would be found. Before I was able to start this project I had to teach myself the computer language of HTML and CSS for the front-end design of the project and then also learn javascript for more of the backend design. I used websites such as BSD, Khan Academy, youtube, and GitHub to understand how to code this program. After feeling like I got a hand in the language I then used Node.js and visual studios code to acutely build my website. I planned my coding and setups for the code on GitHub. After Finishing my code I then went around the engineering room taking note of where each item would be. I broke the room down into three parts and put a name for each shelf/cabinet, and then put the drawers into columns so then everything can be more organized to find in the room.

Finally website: https://herc-productions.github.io/capstone-inventory-search/

Full code shown here on github:
https://github.com/Herc-Productions

Bibliography https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ACJVsico0GRC79v7RRD_cRjB30Sxijdo3ApJF9Ads9w/edit

My capstone was based on learning and developing ways humans will grow food on mars. I took 2 different approaches with this project. First i developed a system where I made a mock mars soil using sand dirt and clay. Using this mock soil i created a process of watering and heating the soil to wash out the perchlorates that will be in martian soil. I then used this improved martian soil and placed them in 3 gallon buckets and planted and fertilized potatoes I was able to grow over 10 potatoes in the farm in my short time planting them. My second method was using hydroponics to plant other vegetables by using water to grow the plants it could save weight going up to space instead of soil. using 5 gallon buckets and a giant tote bin i was able to hydroponically grow basil tomatoes and cucumbers. this would greatly improve the martian diet and help self sufficiency on mars. I added a system to automatically drip feed the plants nutrients. using PVC valves. using a fish tank bubbler i can oxygenate the water preventing the plants from dying. and I used an arduino to Project the temperature onto an LCD screen allowing me to monitor the system thoroughly. My hope is similar technologies will be developed to help astronauts advance humanity throughout our solar system

Annotated bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IS9gi1EFE_v5sg2tBZ4noY3I9_gvLEXByTNf85s7KXc/edit?usp=sharing

For my senior capstone, I coded my own information board using a raspberry pi and a TV donated by Braskem. To do this, I had to learn a brand new coding language and use software that I had never worked with before. This brought up challenges along the way because I had to use unique ways to solve my problems. I was able to get help from my mentor and classmates, along with forums talking about similar problems to mine. To make my capstone, I used a GitHub repository called MagicMirror to find the bare bones structure of my information board. From then, I implemented other modules I found and tried to create my own along the way. This whole time I was working in JavaScript and C++, which are both languages I have never worked with. Along with this, I was programming in an IDE called Geany, which is very basic compared to the IDEs I have worked with before. This made me learn how to troubleshoot my code without the help of debugging software, along with new skills in reading and writing code I have no experience in. This project is very valuable to me because it let me learn new skills that directly relate to what I will be going to college for a while, also making something that benefits SLA.

Annotated Bibliography:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1C-8X4IjwWA3mQJvHiNyGrHoLrs3pUUItSnKFwJ2pdx4/edit?usp=sharing

My capstone project involved developing a Chrome web store extension that accessed the Canvas LMS API to display assignments in a drop-down cube when the extension icon was clicked. The goal was to provide easy access to assignment information for students who often struggled with staying updated on deadlines. The project required extensive research and learning, as I had no prior knowledge of accessing APIs, working with Canvas API, or coding in JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and Chrome extensions. The extension was primarily focused on research, prototypes, and reflection due to its non-functioning state, which was caused by issues with accessing Canvas tokens and IDs. The key components of the project included the manifest.json file, index.html, and contentScript.js. The manifest file provided details about the extension, while index.html served as the basic HTML structure and the style.css functioned as the customization/”styling” of the HTML. The contentScript.js file, written in JavaScript, attempted to access the Canvas API, fetched assignments and dynamically displayed them in a dropdown box. Through this capstone, I significantly developed my programming skills and gained a deeper understanding of JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. Although the extension did not work as intended, the experience and lessons learned will positively impact my future coding endeavors. As my next step, I plan on creating and hosting a personal website to showcase my current and future projects.

Github Link (if you click on each file, there are comments under every important line of code, detailing what purpose they serve):

Capstone Bibliography:

For my capstone I taught some young students how to code. This was a very rewarding capstone since we were learning together. This felt like a great opportunity to show off skills I already had and pass those skills off to someone that might really enjoy it. My ultimate goal is get more women in STEM fields so the best way to help with that would be to show young girls that anyone can learn how to code and that it can be fun! The research for this project was loaded. I needed to not only refresh my knowledge on coding but also learn how to teach children. I was very happy with the results I saw with the projects. We did mini lessons to lead up to making websites. I will be attaching a very excellent project one of my students made. These are two screenshots of a website with their favorite authors. I was very impressed to see all of their links being functional and leading to different areas of the website.

Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TWvf-xuFffp8iuSuupSbjFY6ILizwcGn3Q8ALnB95g4/edit?usp=sharing

For my capstone project, I chose to make a digital info board by using a television donated to our school by Braskem and a Raspberry Pi, which is a tiny computer that has a variety of uses. I came across the idea of creating a digital info board when I searched what could be possible with a Raspberry Pi and a television screen and the first thing that appeared was Magic Mirror. Magic Mirror is an open-source software that allows me to extract and modify code previously written by other users who have done similar projects and enables me to implement my own code into the software. Magic Mirror is a software that uses Javascript which is a new coding language that I had to learn. I spent a good amount of time trying to write a module that would be able to display Septa buses and trains arrival time but after facing many errors I realized that creating that was not something I was currently able to do. So then I spent the rest of my time modifying the code of previous users to better suit the SLA community. Throughout this project, I have learned the basics of a new coding language and the importance of communication, since talking to more people these past few days has given me more and more ideas about what I could add to the info board.

Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Q8jbrSSkMTYGmKMg6v7g112kfr0U0nRX9LP25DsRn2c/edit?usp=sharing

Instructions Manual:https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Hf_38XU4Ppnl48T41kZXozsG2uy9m21wuy-ETD_QE3c/edit?usp=sharing