This week was easily the most challenging yet. Preparing for two major presentations while continuing hands-on project development really tested my time management, creativity, and stamina. But it was both stressful and incredibly fulfilling. If you’re new here, you’ll be able to catch up on my previous posts to see how we got from sketches to a working prototype.

Monday: Poster Crunch & Photo Shoots
We kicked off the week by finalizing and printing our posters for both the EARTI and Drain Saver projects, just in time for the Student Shop Managers Consortium (SSMC) 2025 hosted at the Ralph S. O’Connor Engineering Building. Dr. Holmes provided us with some critical feedback, which we quickly incorporated to refine our poster.

Later that day, we had a professional photoshoot with all SEED interns, plus individual and team shots for our project documentation, definitely a highlight!

EARTI: Streaming, Control, and Scaling Up
This week, our team made significant progress on the EARTI camera system, a solution designed to help farmers remotely monitor crop growth in vertical hydroponic systems. Our main focus was on enabling live-streaming functionality and building a user-friendly interface that allows remote users to control the camera in real-time. After multiple iterations, we successfully got the live video feed running with minimal latency. We also developed the first version of a web-based interface where users can:

• Pan the camera up to 270°
• Control its vertical movement along a 70-inch track,
• And soon, activate preset positions to automatically scan each hydroponic tray with a single click.

This milestone brings us one step closer to empowering remote monitoring for high-density indoor farming, saving time and ensuring better crop oversight.

Looking forward to our final week, we’ll be:

• Refining the user interface to ensure it’s intuitive and accessible for first-time users,
• Adding preset movement controls to simplify repetitive scanning,
• Upscaling our prototype to 70 inches, as requested by our client, so it fits within the actual EARTI machine and is ready for real-world use.

It’s exciting to see our solution come to life, and next week, we’re determined to finish strong!

Drain Saver: Long-Term Testing & Data Logging
This week, our focus for the Drain Saver project shifted to long-duration performance testing and data analysis. We conducted extended test runs — five hours each, over three different days — to capture real-time temperature fluctuations during autoclave operation. Using our cooling system (which combines passive fins and active fans), we tracked how well our design handled the high-temperature steam cycles.

The data revealed some key insights:

• Noticeable temperature spikes still occur during certain moments in the cycle,
• But our current solution is able to cool those spikes more effectively than unassisted setups.
• We now understand how long it takes to reach safe temperature levels after each cycle.

 

Next Week Plans
As we approach the final showcase, we’re aiming to:

• Tackle the remaining cooling delays during temperature spikes by adjusting airflow and fan timing
• Expand our solution to multiple autoclaves to test scalability and consistency,
• And finalize our setup and visuals for Thursday’s big presentation.

Every test gets us closer to our goal: reducing water consumption in autoclave rooms by offering a sustainable, air-cooled alternative. We’re excited to wrap things up strong next week!

 

SSMC 2025 Presentation: Sharing Our Story
Wednesday was our big SSMC poster session, and what an experience it was! We had the chance to walk attendees through the challenges we tackled, the design process, and our outcomes. People asked insightful questions about our prototypes, materials, and decision-making. It was amazing to share what we’ve been building for the past six weeks — and to see others genuinely excited about our work.

 

Chevron Visit: Innovation Meets Industry
As I mentioned in last week’s blog, we were invited to visit Chevron’s Downtown Houston office, and this week, we made it happen! We met four Chevron representatives, key sponsors of Rice360 and the SEED program, and gave updates on our projects to show how their support is making an impact.

 

They were impressed by our progress and encouraged us to keep pushing, and most importantly, to take our learnings home to Africa, to spark innovation and drive change in our local communities. We also connected with fellow Chevron interns from Texas Medical Center, learned about their projects, and shared a great lunch. I’m truly grateful to Chevron for investing in young talent like us, it’s opportunities like this that change lives.

Weekend Vibes: House Party with the SEED Fam
After a packed week, Saturday brought some well-earned fun. I attended a house party hosted by Dohoon, Erin, and a few other SEED interns. We played games, laughed a lot, and got to meet new friends outside the program. It was a refreshing reminder that while we’re here to build and learn, we’re also here to connect and grow as people.

 

To all SEED interns, Dr. Holmes, OEDK staff, sponsors, and the Rice360 team, thank you and I’m proud of how far we’ve come.

One more week to go. Final blog episode coming soon, stay tuned!