January 6, 2026 27 ECE design teams participate in capstone open house Written By: Allyson Crowley Departments: Electrical & Computer Engineering Categories: Alumni|Event|Students The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison prioritizes student application of theoretical knowledge to real-world practice throughout our curriculum. Specifically, within a varied selection of capstone courses, students engage in hands-on project work to develop and ultimately demonstrate design, collaboration, problem solving, task management and communication skills. The culmination of this work is on full display each semester at the ECE Capstone Design Open House. On the final day of classes for the Fall 2025 term, 27 teams from four capstone design sections presented projects of their own invention to peers, faculty, guests, and 15 ECE alumni judges. The courses participating were: ECE 453 – Embedded Microprocessor Systems Design taught by Teaching Faculty Joe Krachey ECE 454 – Mobile Computing Laboratory taught by Associate Professor Bhuvana Krishnaswamy ECE 455 – Capstone Design in Electrical and Computer Engineering taught by Associate Professor Tsung-Wei (TW) Huang ECE 455 – Capstone Design in Electrical and Computer Engineering taught by Assistant Teaching Professor Nathan Strachen Student team projects were widely varied in topic and design. Research posters accompanied such projects as an immersive racing game, a wearable temporal device for brain stimulation, and a first-aid and safe use free vending machine for a local transitional housing facility. Huang, whose work includes high-performance and quantum computing, shared his impressions of both the coursework and the presentations. “In the GPU Algorithm and System Design capstone, students tackle computational problems that require both algorithmic insight and system-level optimization using graphics processing units (GPUs). The open house gave students a forum to demonstrate performance-driven design and communicate complex technical ideas.” Alumni play an important role in the success of this event by bringing perspectives shaped by careers across engineering, leadership, research, and public service. Representing companies and organizations such as Google, Rockwell Automation, Oshkosh Corp., Exact Sciences, American Transmission Co., IBM, and the State of Wisconsin in technical, managerial, and research-focused positions, alumni connect students directly to the breadth of opportunities within electrical and computer engineering. Their participation demonstrates how skills developed at UW–Madison translate into impactful roles across industries while reinforcing the value of sustained student–alumni engagement. Alumni judge Robert Lux (BS’78), Capital Projects Principle with the Department of Administration for the State of Wisconsin, discusses a recipe sharing social media app with the members of the MealMates team, Jack Kienbaum, Chiara Kenagy, Mollie Johnson, and Ashton Vernon. Alumni judge Phil Nwafor (BS’03), Director of Healthcare & Life Sciences at Google listens to the presentation from NLOS Team. Members Avinash Anand, Nachiket Kerai and Conrad Kusion created a non-line-of-sigh (NLOS) parallelized image ReconstrucMon. Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies and Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor Azadeh Davoodi shared remarks with the group during the reception following the design showcase. “Design courses are an important part of the ECE student experience because they give our Badger engineers the chance to turn their ideas into real, working projects. These senior design classes bring together everything learned over the past four years and challenge students to problem-solve, build, test, and communicate just like they will in their careers. Today’s Open House is a great moment to celebrate the creativity, teamwork, and persistence that went into every project.” Davoodi announced the winners of the five design categories: The Best ECE 453 Project – Instructors’ Decision went to PCBros teammates Van Tran, Aayushi Singh, Max Leblang, and Mannan Jindal. They created Runaway Alarm which is a self-balancing alarm clock robot that makes waking up an active task. Prof. Davoodi (left) presents the Best ECE 454 Project – Instructors’ Decision Award to Team Pocket Therapist. The mobile computing students created an AI-based voice journaling app to help with mental health. Team members were Yana Gupta, Simar Tathgir, Rishab Gupta, and Rohit Sudhakar. The Flying Dutchman’s Crew members Nicolas Garcia, Ahmad Afiq Daniel Mohd Ismaruzaidi, and Drew Broch were presented a best project award from Prof. Davoodi. The team won Best ECE 455 Project – Instructors’ Decision (Strachen’s section) for an autonomous boat for underwater wreckage detection. Zach Gunderson, Elias Cassis, Xinyue Chen and Khiem Vu of FFTeam receive the Best ECE 455 Project – Instructors’ Decision (Huang’s section) from Prof. Davoodi. Their project demonstrated real-time neural signal processing using high performance computing. The Best Overall Project – Alumni Decision went to TheFourSights; Anna Huang, Chase Ott, Prathmesh Konda, and Hamlet Abrahamyan seen here with Prof. Davoodi. The microprocessor design team created smart glasses for visual assistance. Huang (left) attends the reception with alumni judges Cole Burek (BS’18) – Extreme Engineering Solutions Embedded Engineer, Bob Wolf (BS’84) – IBM Sales Executive (Retired), and Alex Sharp (BS’24) – Extreme Engineering Solutions Hardware Debug Engineer. The ECE Capstone Design Open House highlights the power of hands-on learning, strong alumni engagement, and faculty mentorship in preparing our students to make meaningful contributions as engineers beyond the UW–Madison campus. Final photos: TheFourSights demonstrating smart glasses for virtual assistance; Open House in full swing; Team Safe Supply demonstrating First Aid and Safe Use Free-Vend Machine for Local Transitional Housing Facility Top of page photo: FFTeam presenting poster to alumni judge Nader Nasr (BS’91) – Oshkosh Corp. – Senior VP of Engineering