Gaither wins at Ohio State Fair

Talmadge (TJ) Gaither, a recent graduate from Biomedical Engineering (BME), and a team of students working with Urban GEMS won two awards for their presentation at the Ohio State Fair, 2019 Technology & Engineering Showcase: Best Technology Exhibit and Technology Education People's Choice Award. Their presentation focused on the use of engineering design to develop aeroponic systems that enhance the activities of Urban GEMS, a positive-youth development program that uses urban farming to teach STEM and entrepreneurship to at-risk youth in Columbus. TJ designed several low-costs aeroponic systems to meet different needs of the program including providing youth hands-on educational opportunities, allowing youth to build their own systems to take home, and provide larger-scale systems that can be provided to classrooms implementing aspects of the Urban GEMS curriculum. His work built upon this engineering capstone design project with William Cisneros, Samuel Croarkin, Hali Midtlien, and Dana Murray. TJ’s work was supported by a BETHA foundation award to associate professor, Deanna Wilkinson (Human Sciences), professor of practice, Mark Ruesegger (BME), and professor, Keith Gooch (BME).

Congratulations TJ and team!