Valerie Sonnenberg

2016-2017 Projects

Aquaponics Bay

Ethiopia and Kenya

During the summer of 2017, I traveled for 3 weeks to Kenya and Ethiopia working on malnourishment. The solution to one of the problems we found was an aquaponics bay, built to be 95% water retention farming. In high drought or urban areas, this would be a crucial development in the sustainability of food and income. We designed and built an aquaponics bay out of local materials with help from local welders and handymen in a school created by Fields of Hope (a nonprofit partnered with Invictus Initiative).

Water filtration

Nicaragua

In November 2017, I traveled to Nicaragua with The Invictus Initiative. While there, we identified a need for water filtration in many of the villages we visited as there is naturally occuring arsenic in the groundwater. We designed a water system built from local materials and with the help of local handymen, created several prototypes that are being tested by the people on-site. There is a return trip planned in which we will see how our prototypes are working and distribute more filters.

Refrigerator

Thermodynamics

For Thermodynamics, we were tasked with building a device to model a thermodynamic cycle or process. We chose to build a refrigerator using a turbine and compressed air to demonstrate a Rankine cycle. During this project, I learned how to weld, use gauges, mills and lathes, and obviously about thermodynamic cycles. Another skill I learned during this process was taking and analyzing data in a meaningful way.

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Rumbletop

Freshman Design Final Project

For our final project in Freshman Design, we decided to build a "tabletop roomba". The final product spritzed water and mopped up spills while having the capability to stay on the table at all times, due to switch triggers that stopped and rotated it when they went off the edge of the table. During this project, we learned how to prototype, redesign, and overcome obstacles in real time.

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T-Rex

Freshman Design Introduction

For our first project at CU, we were required to build a vehicle to move a marshmallow into a specified box. Of course, I designed a T-Rex. This was my first exposure to CAD modeling and Arduino, and allowed for creativity while learning new skills necessary to be an effective engineer.

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