EDI Thesis Projects: Class of '25
Learn more about the culminating projects EDI students came up with and the problems they tried to solve.
An indestructible bike lock. A retrofittable wheelchair that functions like an e-bike. A service that uses games to reduce clothing overproduction.
Those are just three of the final Thesis projects presented in March by students in Northwestern's Master of Science in Engineering Design Innovation (EDI) program.
Thesis is a two-quarter long project that allows students to apply lessons learned in the 18-month program to a topic of their choice.
Learn more about each Thesis project from the EDI Class of 2025 below.
Maria Brito - Immus
When immigrants move to a new country, routine tasks such as renting a home or grocery shopping can feel overwhelming without a trusted guide. Navigating these challenges can be mentally exhausting, often pushing social connections to the bottom of the person's priority list as they manage numerous other responsibilities. Immus was created to ease this transition. It provides step-by-step guidance on everyday tasks, informed by the real experiences of other immigrants. At the same time, it fosters connections and community, ensuring that no one has to navigate this journey alone.
Hanzhang (Chris) Cao - Agent One
Young adults constantly juggle between real-life activities and digital communication, often disrupting in-person interactions and causing more turmoil. Staying connected shouldn’t come at the cost of being present. Agent One is an AI-powered personal assistant designed to seamlessly manage a person's communication. With movement tracking, sound recognition, and seamless integration with their communication accounts, Agent One handles repetitive communications, allowing people to stay present and focused on what truly matters.
Erik Chappell - Ironclad Lock
Standard bike locks are becoming irrelevant as bike thieves frequently adopt power tools as their tool of choice for cutting locks. New bike locks are being developed that can moderately withstand these threats, but bike lock prices are increasing exponentially, leaving consumers to choose between cost and security. The Ironclad bike lock promises to thwart all bike theft attempts at a fraction of the price. The Ironclad lock has a hard outer impact resistant shell that encases a hidden bearing technology capable of mitigating and shattering an angle grinder's blade. The Ironclad lock is dedicated to being an affordable high security lock that defeats bike thieves who are bold enough to test its indestructibility.
Yilin (Eddy) Chen - Memento
Travelers often find it difficult to reconnect with the emotions and stories behind their past journeys. Memento is a free trip tracker designed for travelers who want to capture the emotional richness of their journeys and give deeper context to their most meaningful experiences. It seamlessly records locations, emotions, and personal stories, allowing travelers to create a customized souvenir with embedded technology at the end of their trip. They can simply scan to relive their adventures — turning fleeting moments into lasting, tangible memories.
Sean Cheng - Adaptable Living
Urban renters who relocate frequently need flexible, transportable storage and display cases that don't compromise on style or function. Adaptable Living presents a modular shelving system designed to help renters seamlessly adapt to and engage with their evolving living spaces. Through a design that combines lightweight materials, tool-minimal assembly, and convertible display options, the system enables users to maintain organized, personalized environments across multiple moves. By bridging the gap between premium furniture and practical storage, Adaptable Living turns the constraints of temporary spaces into opportunities for creative, functional living.
Darya Daneshmand - Rem
Every day, countless ideas slip through the cracks — buried in forgotten notebooks, lost in endless voice notes, or scattered across apps and never revisited. Designed for fluidity and focus, Rem enables multimodal, flexible capture, allowing thoughts to be saved in the moment without breaking creative flow. Contextual resurfacing ensures that these ideas don’t just disappear into storage but reappear when and where they’re most relevant. A self-messaging function further integrates into existing habits, making it easy to send quick captures and consolidate scattered media — pulling ideas from texts, screenshots, links, and recordings into a unified space where they don’t collect dust or wait for “someday.” By prioritizing intuitive organization and minimal cognitive disruption, REM reimagines thought capture as a tool that enhances creative thinking rather than interrupts it.
Palka Dhirawani - Stride
Transitioning into financial independence for the first time can be overwhelming and isolating for young women, especially when it comes to finding relevant advice or people to talk to without feeling embarrassed. Stride understands the emotions behind money decisions and provides a judgment-free space to build lasting financial confidence. It guides users through personalized roadmaps that adapt to individual starting points, habits, and goals, whether that means navigating a first salary or learning to invest. Users can see how others in similar situations are reaching their goals, learn from peers anonymously, and get answers to money questions as they make strides toward financial growth.
Madeline Farace - Pack N' Dash
For airport travelers seeking a hassle-free way to manage liquids, the Pack N' Dash tool offers a secure and user-friendly solution. Designed to prevent spills when transferring liquids into TSA-compliant containers, it's part of a modular system for efficient transport and accessibility. Pack N’ Dash simplifies travel and enhances convenience.
Monica Garcia - ORI
For those who believe that the best stories should never fade, ORI helps you gather and relive the words, laughter, and wisdom of those you love. With thoughtful prompts that spark conversations, a portable ORI-orb to capture memories wherever life takes you, and beautiful ways to weave these stories into your everyday life, ORI helps you hold onto the voices and moments that matter most.
Samantha Hanson - Aeris
As spontaneous travelers look to explore the world with confidence, they often feel overwhelmed by the planning process, which can lead to stress and hinder their travel experience. Aeris offers a solution by providing real-time, curated recommendations that are personalized and adaptable to each traveler’s unique journey. This mobile app eliminates the clutter of traditional search tools and simplifies planning, offering tailored suggestions in just a few clicks. This way, travelers can confidently make decisions and move seamlessly through their travels, no matter where they go.
Noble Jones - A Better STEM Toy
The toys children play with shape how they see themselves, develop skills, and even influence the careers they pursue. Despite that, STEM-related toys are overwhelmingly marketed to boys, contributing to the gender gap in STEM fields. A Better STEM Toy is engaging and accessible to all children, with the goal of fostering curiosity, problem-solving, and foundational STEM skills from an early age. By creating a toy that encourages exploration and learning regardless of gender, the hope is to inspire more young girls to see themselves in STEM and develop these foundational skills that will help in their everyday lives.
Taylor Kagie - Boost
Have you ever had to push a wheelchair up a hill? It is difficult for anyone to do. For people with cognitive disabilities, steering a powered wheelchair or pushing the wheels of a manual one often isn't feasible. Therefore, full-time caregivers of people with cognitive disabilities need an extra boost to help them push their loved ones up a hill or over rough terrain. Introducing Boost, a retrofittable manual wheelchair add-on that functions similarly to an e-bike. The caregiver chooses between three assist levels that activate when the switch in the handle detects that the wheelchair is being pushed. When it is time to stop, the caregiver simply has to let go of the handles. Boost reduces the effort needed to push wheelchairs up hills, allowing caregivers to spend their energy making memories with their loved ones.
Karen Kodera - Bridg
Earth has suffered long enough from rampant clothing overproduction. Step into the future of fashion with Bridg. This service transforms customer feedback into smarter production decisions. Through interactive mini games, Bridg helps brands produce only what consumers want, minimizing unsold inventory, and keeping excess clothing out of landfills. The result? A more sustainable fashion industry, driven by conscious creation.
Kaustubh Chandra Lahiri - Collectivity
Collecting is a lifelong experience, evolving from childhood treasures to curated collections shared with friends, family, and communities. While adding to a collection is exciting and rewarding, many collectors struggle with organizing, cataloging, and sharing their items in a way that is just as fulfilling. Collectivity elevates the entire collecting experience through a suite of products designed to make organizing, cataloging, and sharing collections joyful and meaningful. Through stunning 3D scans, smart item mapping, and integrated digital tools, Collectivity brings a fresh sense of engagement to every step of a collector’s journey — encouraging them to interact with and showcase their passion both online and in their physical spaces. With Collectivity, collection management transforms from a chore into a delightful and purposeful experience, empowering collectors to celebrate and spotlight their most treasured pieces
Alexandra Lansing - Onit
Starting a new job remotely can be daunting with endless information, limited human connection, and pressure to make a good first impression. Too often, new hires hesitate to ask questions and struggle to connect with the right resources. Onit, an AI onboarding assistant, provides personalized, on-demand support for new hires. By offering role-specific guidance, judgment-free Q&A opportunities, and proactive engagement nudges, it helps employees navigate information overload while building confidence and connection with their teams. Onit seamlessly integrates into company messaging platforms, making it easy for new hires to feel prepared and empowered from day one.
Abiola Makinde - Stealthy Feet
Your feet are the foundation to your life, so why not strengthen your understanding and take steps to keep them healthy? Stealthy Feet equips people who have sustained prior physical injury with the awareness and tangible next steps on how to address joint aches and keep their feet healthy. With built-in foot and ankle compression support, Stealthy Feet provides insights into unique foot pressure points, and corresponding motion tracked stretch suggestions empower users to maintain long-term body health as they age.
Brittany Ransom - LIO
Staying organized is a constant struggle, especially for middle school students managing notes, assignments, and materials across multiple subjects. Traditional binders are often bulky and inconvenient, making it difficult to keep everything in one place without added stress. Traditional binders are designed for bookshelves, not for creating an effective workspace. That’s where LIO comes in. Designed for flexibility and efficiency, LIO transforms to fit the way students naturally work. It unfolds into a structured, open workspace, keeping materials neatly organized and within reach, then folds back into a sleek, compact binder that’s easy to carry. Thoughtfully designed compartments provide dedicated spaces for notes, devices, and supplies, providing structured organization without unnecessary bulk. More than just a binder, LIO is a smarter way to stay focused and organized, helping students manage their workload with ease.
Ashley Schultz - Sprout 'n Grow
Sprout 'n Grow elevates living spaces by seamlessly bringing the beauty of nature indoors. With its secure, user-friendly design, this system offers a customizable and visually appealing way to showcase plants of all kinds. Each unit features attachable pots and accessories that easily connect to a sturdy french cleat frame, ensuring lasting stability. Thoughtfully crafted for both accessibility and functionality, Sprout 'n Grow allows users to effortlessly display their greenery, transforming any room into a lush, vibrant sanctuary. Ideal for those looking to enjoy gardening while optimizing the space in their home.
Audey Shen - DoubleDip
DoubleDip aims to reduce food waste by helping individuals plan meals and grocery shopping efficiently while aiding grocery stores in better demand forecasting. By linking saved TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube recipes to a smart shopping list and step-by-step cooking guide, the app empowers first-time independent cooks to use produce before spoilage. Personalized nudges provide tips and education on handling produce leftovers, saving users money while reducing waste. On a larger scale, the app helps grocery stores optimize supply chains by leveraging user order data to minimize overstock food waste.
Paige Smyth - curiocity
Children need strong critical thinking and data literacy skills to navigate the vast amount of information they encounter daily. Yet, formal education in these areas is limited and often disconnected from real-life experiences. curiocity bridges this gap by bringing playful, interactive data literacy installations to public spaces and providing an online resource hub for both parents and children. This city-wide service sparks critical thinking by encouraging children to explore patterns, ask questions, and discover how data shapes their world. At the same time, it empowers parents to engage with their children’s learning through conversations and shared experiences. By embedding playful moments of inquiry into daily routines, curiocity fosters a generation of curious and confident critical thinkers.
Cypher Wang - 3DMeet
3DMeet is an interactive and engaging remote meeting experience for individuals who work from home long-term, lack a productive office atmosphere, or need to simulate in-person meetings for brainstorming, detailed discussions, and collaborative planning.
Tony Xiong - bubbl
bubbl is an AI group chat assistant that understands user's preferences, emotions, and needs, and helps make planning effortless. Just add bubbl’s number to a group chat, and it handles the rest through DM messages in the background, adaptive learning on conversation histories, and some AI magic. No more ghosting, no more guesswork, no more back-and-forth, just seamless plans that bring everyone together. Because great memories start with great plans.
