Hello! I am Bryn Gerwin, growing up in the corn fields of the Midwest but I now call Chicago home. I am a sophomore at Baker College, majoring in Mechanical Engineering. I am really interested in automation and mechatronics, so I most enjoy projects that combine mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and computer science altogether. I ultimately chose Mechanical Engineering because I especially love building physical things. In my free time, I build rockets with Rice Eclipse (where I’m leading the manufacturing and testing effort of our new rocket engine, Titan II!) and I work at the OEDK as a Lab Assistant.

The project that I am most proud of is from my summer internship. With a small and completely virtual team, I created a computer vision platform and corresponding hardware and enclosure for a public health tracker to be used in small businesses and other indoor public spaces. Aegis detects violations of social distancing, mask-wearing, and occupancy to alert the manager of threats and decrease the risk of spread of COVID-19. After a summer of work, the project is currently in piloting at a few locations around Chicago.

Last semester, I decided I wanted to make Sammy on each machine in the OEDK. I started this little project of mine, but didn’t get very far before we got sent home. Hopefully throughout this semester and my next couple years at Rice, I can complete this goal.

Lastly, from ENGI 210, I am looking forward to learning how to use (and becoming more comfortable around) the various machinery and manufacturing techniques that the OEDK has to offer. I am also excited to learn more about designing for those specific fabrication methods.