Over the past two years, the Makerspace at NJIT, a training-focused, rapid prototyping facility that is central to both the university’s hands-on learning mission and its growing relationship with New Jersey’s manufacturing community, has given rise to a number of ingenious devices used in research experiments, club team contests and startup ventures: a novel composting appliance created for a capstone project; a device to explore new energy sources deep below the Earth’s surface; and syringe prototypes for a health care startup that monitors the temperature of medications.
The senior capstone team, composed of four women engineers, envisioned their composting device as “an everyday appliance in the average house, like a microwave oven.” Homeowners would deposit their biodegradable waste into it from a sealable opening in the kitchen and later remove it for reuse from a second opening on the outside of the house. In the meantime, the decomposing waste could potentially generate enough energy to heat a room. Please read more here.