Days before they are set to present their final design to the University of Rochester<\/a> community during Design Day, a team of senior biomedical engineering<\/a> students tinkers with a small radio-controlled car they have tricked out to handle rough terrain, travel long distances, and carry flannel flags. For their senior design project, the team is creating a mobilized system to collect ticks in Costa Rica for further study by epidemiologists.<\/p>\n Design capstones like this one are a culminating experience for students in the Hajim School of Engineering & Applied Sciences<\/a>. This year, 266 students are working on nearly 80 capstone projects, including 67 team projects and 12 individual theses. Clients who have presented the design capstone teams with problems have been providing input throughout the semester as the students work on solutions under the guidance of their faculty advisors.<\/p>\n In addition to providing hands-on opportunities to create something novel, the design projects offer opportunities for students to connect with potential employers, engage in global experiences, and conduct interdisciplinary research with collaborators from places like the University of Rochester Medical Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n The biomedical engineering team developed the tick collection system for Professor Timothy Dye<\/a>, a medical anthropologist and social epidemiologist at the Medical Center, and Professor Adriana Troyo Rodr\u00edguez from the University of Costa Rica\u2019s Center for Research in Tropical Diseases. The device is intended to overcome obstacles to studying tick-borne diseases.<\/p>\nCollecting ticks in Costa Rica<\/h3>\n