UTDesign Capstone Expo Celebrates Engineering Innovation, Industry Partnerships and Student Achievement
The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of Texas at Dallas hosted the fall 2025 UTDesign Capstone Expo on December 12, showcasing more than 40 senior design teams whose projects blended creativity, technical depth and real-world impact. Across two packed presentation tracks and an afternoon of poster demonstrations, students shared solutions addressing challenges in autonomous systems, wireless communications, embedded hardware, medical technology, AI-driven sensing and more.
Throughout the morning presentation sessions, teams presented projects such as dynamic wireless charging for EVs, mmWave human-behavior tracking, thermal security imaging, open-source radio transceivers, autonomous 3D mapping systems and satellite antenna ground stations. These projects reflected extensive collaboration with faculty mentors and industry sponsors, including Texas Instruments, Raytheon, Mozee Inc., Open Air Lab, Toyota Tsusho and AT&T.
During the afternoon poster and demo session, industry judges praised the teams for their preparation, clarity and strong grasp of engineering use cases. AT&T judge Andres Zevallos, BS’13 and a senior solution architect in AT&T’s Business Technology Product Development group, shared:
“The students were well prepared and able to explain not only the technical details but also how their ideas could be applied in real-world scenarios,” said Zevallos. “Every project here represents a meaningful step forward.”
The best projects demonstrated a use case that can make an impact in the real world, Zevallos said.
“Always highlight the use case of what you’re building. Even if the audience is small, every engineering problem has an application that matters,” he said. “Understanding that purpose makes the technology meaningful.”
Electrical engineering senior Jai Peris said the experience pushed his team, which worked on environmental mapping using ambient WiFi signals to operate at a professional level.
“Our mentor, Dr. Murat Torlak, treated us like graduate researchers and guided us through literature review, algorithm planning and the entire research process,” Peris said.
The expo concluded with the announcement of two first-place teams whose projects exemplified innovation and engineering excellence:
UTDesign I Winner: Raytheon Autonomous Vehicle Competition Team
Team Members: John Didimos, Hannah Madsen, Syed Muhammad Shaheer Akhtar, Dineshman Bajracharya, Aadesh Senthilkumar, Jassiel Lorea, Riley McKinney, Love Bhusal, Neil Patel and Tu Dao
This multidisciplinary team designed and built a fully coordinated UAV-UGV system capable of visual navigation, autonomous motion and precision landing in GPS-denied environments. Their project pushes the boundaries of autonomous robotics by integrating computer vision, inter-vehicle communication and system-level controls. The team will advance to compete in Raytheon’s Operation Touchdown challenge representing UT Dallas in a high-profile national competition.
UTDesign II Winner: Educational VHF/UHF Transceiver Development Kit (Open Air Lab)
Team Members: Adrianne Quick, Phu Gia “Dominic” Nguyen, Eric Mutton, Jairo Thiongo and Zachary Potersnak
Addressing the lack of transparency in modern commercial radio systems, this team developed an open-source educational platform that demystifies RF communication by exposing key subsystems power management, audio processing, RF signal chains and embedded control. Their modular design allows students and hobbyists to explore radio fundamentals hands-on, reinforcing amateur radio’s original spirit of “advancing the radio arts.”
The Fall 2025 UTDesign Expo showcased the technical mastery of students in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and their readiness to tackle tomorrow’s engineering challenges with confidence, creativity and purpose.