Summer 2020 Remote Internships

To apply for a Summer 2020 Remote Internship, please click >>HERE<<.


SUMMER 2020 Remote Internship Projects


PROJECT 01
Title: Mechanical design and analysis (general), Energy and/or thermal systems
Description / Skills: Includes embracing project-based learning such as the Rocket Project at UCLA, Bruin Spacecraft Group, or others with special consideration to those interested in aerospace engineering.
Desired level of experience: Rising sophomores, Rising juniors, Rising seniors, MS students, PhD students
Duration: 4-6 weeks, 6-8 weeks, 8-10 weeks
Funding amount: None or unlikely
Number of positions available: 1


PROJECT 02
Title: Embedded Anomaly Detection System
Description / Skills: Design, development and implementation of an anomaly detection system using LabVIEW FPGA and RIO device with analog/digital I/Os to detect and predict faults in the physical layer of signals from/to sensors/actuators for machines, processes and rotating equipment.
Desired level of experience: Rising juniors, Rising seniors
Duration: 4-6 weeks
Funding amount: None or unlikely
Number of positions available: 1


PROJECT 03
Title: Enhancement of existing novel food defrosting appliance for commercial kitchens
Description / Skills: Understand the fluid and thermo dynamics of the existing device. Develop both digital and analog models. Review existing list of possible improvements and select a few for both analog and digital model tests. Conduct solution demonstration/s on frozen turkeys.
Desired level of experience: Rising seniors
Duration: 6-8 weeks
Funding amount: $1860
Number of positions available: 1


PROJECT 04
Title: Review of world-wide monitoring practices of biogas emissions from landfills
Description / Skills:

Phase I: Assessment of existing CARB regulatory practices;
Phase II: Review of current sensor + UAV packages used for landfill gas emissions monitoring.

Phase I. Conduct review of existing CARB landfill inspection regulations and procedures. Interview CARB inspectors explaining the objective of the effort is to explore adding UAV’s w/cutting edge sensors payload to facilitate the process. Ask their opinion how the inspection process can be improved. Write synopsis of regulatory review + interviews as an interim report.

Phase II.

  1. Conduct review of how other countries are using methane sensing systems on UAV’s to monitor landfill gas emissions.
  2. Evaluate these foreign systems’ applicability to existing CARB landfill monitoring regulations.
  3. Write synopsis of this evaluation and recommend which systems should be tested/demonstrated as follow-on projects.

The desired outcome is to justify recommendations as to what UAV + sensor package should be subsequently tested for eventual CARB landfill inspection protocol adoption.

Desired level of experience: Rising Seniors
Duration: 6-8 weeks
Funding amount: $1200
Number of positions available: 1


PROJECT 05
Title: Quantify energy savings for adaptation of air curtains to the doors of AVTA’s electric buses
Description / Skills: The objective of the class is to determine if an air curtain can extend the range of an AVTA electric bus in either v. cold or v. hot weather. AVTA runs its electric buses in the High Desert – where it is very cold in the winter and very hot in the summer (it’s around Palmdale). Electric buses can run out of battery energy on very hot days and/or on very cold days due to excessive hotel loads during extreme weather. Part of that loss is due to the significant air exchange when the doors are opened when the bus stops to pick up and/or drop passengers. The “Air Curtain” is to limit this hot and cold air exchange – w/the idea that this yields a net reduction in the energy needed for bus interior heating or cooling. As more and more mass transits are converting to electric – this is a timely and pertinent issue. It’s the kind of student presentation the American Public Transit Association (APTA) would welcome and the local media would eat up on. AVTA has bought and installed an air curtain from China (where there are hundreds of thousands of electric buses).
Desired level of experience: Rising seniors
Duration: 6-8 weeks
Funding amount: $1200
Number of positions available: 1


PROJECT 06
Title: Aerial robot collision recovery for the DARPA Subterranean Challenge
Description / Skills: The DARPA Subterranean Challenge aims to develop new approaches to perception, localization, mapping, planning, and control that enable autonomous robot operations in underground environments. The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory CoSTAR team is looking for a talented PhD, MS, or undergraduate student interested in developing novel flight control algorithms that will enable a small aerial robot to takeoff from any possible initial configuration; such as after a crash or off-nominal deployment. This capability is critical for enhancing the resiliency of aerial robot operations and has far-reaching implications for future planetary exploration missions. The candidate will work directly with JPL engineers and a new MAE faculty with expertise in aerial robotics, control, estimation, and planning. Algorithm development will be conducted in simulation and eventually field-tested by JPL.

An ideal candidate will have a background in control theory and estimation; experience with ROS and the Gazebo simulation environment; and proficiency in C++ and/or Python. A background in flight control is preferable but not necessary.

Desired level of experience: Rising seniors, MS students, PhD students
Duration: 8-10 weeks
Funding amount: TBD
Number of positions available: 1


PROJECT 07
Title: High-temperature thermal properties
Description / Skills: Functional high-temperature materials are essential to a broad range of developing and proposed aerospace technologies, yet contemporary capabilities to measure thermophysical properties under such temperatures are sparse. However, recent improvements in optical and infrared spectroscopy and imaging provide pathways to substantially improve the accuracy and efficacy of high-temperature property measurements. This project seeks to develop a well-calibrated testing platform for measuring thermal diffusivity, conductivity, and contact conductance at temperatures of solid-state materials up to 2000 C. Fisher’s group has recently reported a transient method for thermal contact conductance measurements up to 750 C that decreases testing time by at least an order of magnitude with no measurable decrease in accuracy. Moreover, we are now developing similar methods using a high-temperature IR camera calibrated to 2000 C and a fast near-IR thermal spectroscopic technique that can be used with common glass windows. In addition, we are applying Angstrom’s method using periodic heating to provide high-fidelity property measurements that are independent of heat losses, which are typically the most significant cause of error in high-temperature thermophysical property measurements. The primary project objective is to collect information about known thermal properties of high-temperature materials (as functions of T) and to build models in Jupyter/Python for transient thermal response to heat loads. This project also involves several mentors from leading aerospace companies.
Desired level of experience: Rising sophomores, Rising juniors, Rising seniors
Duration: 8-10 weeks
Funding amount: $1000 / intern
Number of positions available: 2


PROJECT 08
Title: Transient flash boiling
Description / Skills: Multi-phase cooling is almost essential for managing ever-increasing heating loads from advanced electronics and aerodynamic heating. However, in many applications, peak heat loads occur in an initial short time period that is reasonably well known a priori, sometimes followed by a more moderate quasi-steady-state heating/cooling condition. This project seeks to develop a self-contained flash cooling device architecture (Engerer et al., Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, 123 678, 2018) in which a so-called vapor chamber is initially filled entirely with liquid coolant that is ‘flashed’ out of the chamber during (and intelligently timed with) initial heat pulses to provide on-demand high-flux cooling. The primary project objectives is to develop a modeling framework using Jupyter/Python that produces a design tool for chamber sizing, coolant type and amount, and optimization of transient profiles. This project also involves several mentors from leading aerospace companies.
Desired level of experience: Rising sophomores, Rising juniors, Rising seniors
Duration: 8-10 weeks
Funding amount: $1000 / intern
Number of positions available: 2


PROJECT 09
Title: Supercritical CO2 flow loop modeling
Description / Skills: With a leading aerospace company, UCLA is developing an extreme-condition heat exchanger technology targeted to ultra-high efficiency hybrid aviation power cycles. The heat exchanger will operate at 50 kW (thermal) at supercritical CO2 pressures of 80 and 250 bar (1160 and 3626 psi) in hot and cold streams, respectively and at a hot-stream inlet temperature of 800°C (1472°F). A metallic superalloy capable of withstanding high temperature and pressure will be used to fabricate a shell-and-tube-based design supplemented with 3D-printed tube augmentations. The optimized design will enhance overall heat transfer while maintaining a small overall form factor and low weight. The heat exchanger could dramatically improve efficiency and power density for new hybrid aviation power cycles.This project will involve thermodynamic design of a closed-loop test facility that includes a variety of components including compressors, valves, storage tanks, and heat exchangers. The intern will model the system using Jupyter/Python tools, and the project will include liaisons with a leading aerospace company.
Desired level of experience: Rising sophomores, Rising juniors, Rising seniors
Duration: 8-10 weeks
Funding amount: $1000 / intern
Number of positions available: 2


PROJECT 10
Title: New device for detection of COVID-19
Description / Skills: We are in the process of design and manufacturing prototypes for a device that can directly detect COVID-19 from Exhale human breath. Knowledge of CAD/Solidwork, ANSYS, COMSOL, Fluid Mechanics, Heat Transfer, Mass Transfer, Design and instrumentation would be desirable.
Desired level of experience: Rising sophomores, Rising juniors, Rising seniors
Duration: 8-10 weeks
Funding amount: $500 / intern
Number of positions available: 3 or more


PROJECT 11
Title: Soft robotics and structural mechanics
Activities: Analysis and design of soft robots. Design of small autonomous robotic vehicle. Numerical simulation. Programming.
Skills: Exceptional Computer Programming Skills (C/C++, Python). Good knowledge of solid and structural mechanics.
Desired level of experience: Rising sophomores, Rising juniors, Rising seniors, MS students, PhD students
Duration: 6-8 weeks, 8-10 weeks
Funding amount: TBD
Number of positions available: 2


PROJECT 12
Title: Effect of mechanical impact on Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
Description: In collaboration with UCLA neuroscience department, we are looking at the consequences of mechanical impact on brain tissue.
Skills: CAD/Solidworks, Modeling, Vibration and control, Fluid Mechanics.
Desired level of experience: Rising sophomores, Rising juniors, Rising seniors
Duration: 8-10 weeks
Funding amount: $500 / intern
Number of positions available: 1


PROJECT 13
Title: New alternative energy storage to replace chemical batteries
Description: A new novel system that can replace batteries for grid application.
Skills: CAD/Solidwork, Thermodynamics, Heat transfer, Fluid Mechanics.
Desired level of experience: Rising sophomores, Rising juniors, Rising seniors
Duration: 8-10 weeks
Funding amount: $500 / intern
Number of positions available: 1


PROJECT 14
Title: Fluid mechanics of vitrous humor, the largest tissue in human eye and its impact on healthcare
Description: Understand the structure of vitreous gel and its interaction with retina.
Skills: Fluid mechanics. Modeling.
Desired level of experience: Rising sophomores, Rising juniors, Rising seniors
Duration: 8-10 weeks
Funding amount: $500 / intern
Number of positions available: 1