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HAWK WORKS

Holistic Alliances Whose Knowledge Will Offer Resources for Kickstarting Success (HAWK WORKS)

At Viterbo University HAWK WORKS, our community drives innovation. One of Viterbo’s strengths historically has been its innovation and flexibility to meet student and community needs. HAWK WORKS brings together students and faculty from disciplines across campus to:

  1. Identify areas in need of innovation, particularly in healthcare
  2. Design and construct solutions
  3. Elevate projects into commercialized products to broaden the impact and accessibility of innovations

HAWK WORKS projects will help to establish connections between areas of study that are physically and curricularly segregated on campus. In a world that grows increasingly specialized, students will strengthen communication and team work skills by working with individuals from diverse technical backgrounds. The project team will measure and provide quantitative and qualitative feedback on individual teamwork skills. Student teams will regularly develop short-term goals, participate in team reviews, and evaluate team members. HAWK WORKS projects live within the engineering, applied math and analytics, and computer science Design Capstone course sequences with University Studies (UNST) courses running in parallel for majors outside of engineering, math and computer science. The course sequence will culminate in a final student presentation in front of local engineers, nurse practitioners, and business professionals.

Interested in participating in a HAWK WORKS project?

Students majoring in disciplines outside of engineering, math, and computer science who are interested in potentially participating on an innovation team should email their resumes to Emily Vanderfleet from a Viterbo email address. Be sure to include HAWK WORKS in the subject line. Select student applicants will also participate in a formal interview with HAWK WORKS faculty members.

 

 

 

2021/2022 Projects

Experiential Learning for Multidisciplinary Entrepreneurship in Healthcare

(ELeMEnt-Health)

Experiential Learning for Multidisciplinary Entrepreneurship in Healthcare (ELeMEnt-Health) brings together engineering, nursing and business students to improve trishaw design and reduce barriers to trishaw usage in healthcare facilities, including our community partner Bethany St. Joseph Corporation. Sub-teams working in the ELeMEnt-Health project will decide through research and discussion which aspect(s) to pursue. Some options for the ELeMEnt-Health project include:

  • Designing and constructing a trishaw with a particular customer or set of customers in mind
  • Designing and constructing attachments or modifications for existing trishaw devices
  • Designing and implementing a system to optimize trishaw use

Biology and Engineering Site Assessment of a Floodplain Ecosystem (BE-SAFE)

Biology and Engineering Site Assessment of a Floodplain Ecosystem (BE-SAFE) brings together biology and engineering students to investigate of historical use of and water quality in a floodplain land parcel for our community partner Mississippi Valley Conservancy (MVC). The sub-team on the BE-SAFE project will decide through research and discussion which aspect(s) to pursue. Some options for the BE-SAFE project include:

  • Investigation of historical use of Black River Bottoms, a parcel of land near French Island owned by MVC.
  • MVC expressed an interest in baseline data regarding water quality testing for phosphorous, nitrates, and heavy metals.  Comparisons could be made in the water quality in the areas with southern sedge meadow versus the floodplain forest versus the emergent aquatic wetlands.
  • Invertebrate sampling is a method for assessing water quality.
  • Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination was detected on French island including areas adjacent to Black River Bottoms. Researchers at Princeton University identified wetland microbes that can breakdown these “forever chemicals”.
2022/2023 Project

Due to the success of the 2021-2022 projects, we are extending existing projects and postponing the RESULTS project until 2023-2024.

Experiential Learning for Multidisciplinary

Entrepreneurship in Healthcare

(ELeMEnt-Health)

Experiential Learning for Multidisciplinary Entrepreneurship in Healthcare (ELeMEnt-Health) brings together engineering, nursing and business students to improve trishaw design and reduce barriers to trishaw usage in healthcare facilities, including our community partner Bethany St. Joseph Corporation. HAWK WORKS students will build upon the progress made during the 2021-2022 school year, which includes:

  • Development of a webpage application to connect volunteers with opportunities at nursing homes
  • Computer assisted design (CAD) drawing of a trishaw that is redesigned for use by a wider range of nursing home residents .
2023/2024 Projects

Experiential Learning for Multidisciplinary

Entrepreneurship in Healthcare

(ELeMEnt-Health)

Experiential Learning for Multidisciplinary Entrepreneurship in Healthcare (ELeMEnt-Health) brings together engineering, nursing and business students to improve trishaw design and reduce barriers to trishaw usage in healthcare facilities, including our community partner Bethany St. Joseph Corporation. HAWK WORKS students will build upon the progress made during the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school year, which includes:

  • Computer assisted design (CAD) drawing of a trishaw that is redesigned for use by a wider range of nursing home residents .
  • A physical prototype of trishaw

HAWK WORKS Connect

HAWK WORKS Connect is a webpage application to connect volunteers with opportunities at nursing homes. The software was designed and coded in over the 2021-2022 academic year and over the summer of 2022 as a part of the ELeMENT-Health project. The HAWK WORKS Connect project team will advance the designing and implementing a system to optimize trishaw use. Needs include:

  • Convert database to MySQL from Microsoft SQL Server
  • Link code to new database
  • On-board users to test software
  • Create user documentation

Amplifying Resource Capacity in Healthcare (ARCH)

Amplifying Resource Capacity in Healthcare (ARCH) brings together students to support  healthcare needs of aging population (increasing numbers of older adults and decreasing numbers of working-age adults). The ARCH project team will decide through research and discussion which aspect(s) to pursue. Our community partner is Mayo Clinic Health System. Some options for the ARCH project include:

  • Health disparities related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
  • Counting people entering/leaving rooms
  • Solutions for janitorial shortages
  • Way finding

Re-Evaluating Support of the Unsheltered for Long-Term Success (RESULTS)

Re-Evaluating Support of the Unsheltered for Long-Term Success (RESULTS) brings together students to innovate equipment and systems to serve the unsheltered homeless. The RESULTS project team will decide through research and discussion which aspect(s) to pursue. Our community partner, the City of La Crosse , has a goal of “functional zero”, i.e. 30 days or less of homelessness and prioritizes public safety, human dignity/rights, and serving the underserved. Some options for the RESULTS project include:

  • Design and prototyping of outside sleeping pods built for Wisconsin weather
  • Design and prototyping of basic amenities including bathing, bathroom, garbage
  • Design solution for mobility and storage of personal belongings
  • Design system for locating persons without permanent addresses

Heat Exchanger Alignment Technology (HEAT)

This project aims to develop a better solution for measuring and attaching headers to brazed aluminum heat exchangers for Chart Energy and Chemical. The primary goal is to eliminate dimensional errors when locating headers. Ultimately, this would reduce the number of shifts to complete the final assembly of the core.