Following the Spring 2026 Capstone Design Expo, a select group of teams gathered once more on May 5th for the Senior Design Finalists’ Luncheon, an event celebrating the projects that stood out for their technical depth, creativity, and real-world impact. 

Students began arriving around 11 a.m., filling the ISyE main atrium with conversation and excitement. Teams enjoyed lunch together while catching up with advisors, clients, faculty members, and representatives from industry partners. Project posters lined the space, giving attendees a chance to walk through the semester's work and explore the wide range of challenges tackled by ISyE students. 

The atmosphere felt equal parts celebration and reflection; students exchanged stories about long nights spent debugging models, clients discussed implementation possibilities with teams, and faculty and industry guests stopped to ask questions or to congratulate students.  

The energy was fitting. This semester's cohort was the largest in recent memory, and an exceptional number of outstanding projects made the selection process particularly competitive. ISyE recognized work across three categories: Senior Design Finalists, the KS2 Technologies Design with Impact Award, and Senior Design Honorable Mentions, with a larger-than-usual number of teams honored in each. 

“Across the full cohort of 31 teams, the collective value created this semester is striking. Projects delivered outcomes that include more than $51 million in cost savings, more than $19 million in increased revenue, more than $200K in profit increase, a doubling of the number of teachers served, dramatic improvements to GT first year course registration outcomes, kitting time reductions of 20-45%, doubled output in production environments, and inventory and annual cost reductions of 25% each,” said ISyE Professor Emeritus and Senior Design Examiner Leon McGinnis. “No two projects tackled the same problem, and that range of impact reflects the breadth of what ISyE students can do." 

After lunch, ISyE Chair Dr. Pinar Keskinocak opened the event with warm remarks, welcoming attendees and celebrating the students' accomplishments before turning to Senior Lecturer Laura Li to introduce the finalist presentations. 

Category 1: Senior Design Finalists 

Being selected as a Senior Design finalist represents one of the highest honors in the ISyE capstone program. Finalist teams are evaluated by faculty members and corporate experts, and they are chosen based on a combination of project challenge, technical rigor, presentation quality, innovation, and the measurable impact of their solutions.  

AA Flight Dispatcher Scheduling 

Working with American Airlines, this team developed an optimization model to improve dispatcher scheduling across multiple regions and shifts. Their model balanced millions of variables and constraints simultaneously to reduce understaffing, improve shift coverage, and increase overall operational efficiency—delivering a tool that American Airlines can integrate directly into scheduling workflows. 

Team members: Amanda Ehrenhalt, Colin Fravel, Alexis Frith, Sehaj Munot, Christopher Schulte, Sahana Yerneni, Chaitanya Sri Yetukuri 

Client Sponsor: Analytics Manager, Data Scientist, Samuel Rodriguez-Gonzalez 

Faculty Advisor: Associate Professor Mathieu Dahan 

Improving First-Year Registration: Georgia Tech Office of the Registrar - Winner 

Partnered with Georgia Tech’s Strategic Consulting and the Office of the Registrar, this team focused on improving registration outcomes for incoming first-year students. Among their key recommendations was an “AP reserve” system designed to better support students awaiting Advanced Placement credit determinations while still allowing them to register for the right courses, reducing downstream schedule conflicts and improving placement accuracy. 

Team members: Alexis Almeida, Irene Chang, Zarah Khan, Mahathi Manikandan, Shaan Patel, Madeline Sanders, Zach Thomas, Claire Wu 

Client Sponsor: Georgia Tech Senior Director of Academic Administration Andrew Eichel 

Faculty Advisor: Associate Chair Dima Nazzal

Aluminum Production Scheduling Optimization - Novelis 

Working with Novelis, a global leader in aluminum rolling and recycling, this team developed solutions to reduce production scrap and improve manufacturing efficiency through process optimization. Their scheduling approach addressed complex interdependencies across production lines, providing Novelis with a more systematic framework for sequencing orders and reducing costly waste. 

Team members: Nivi Dileep, Charles Hill, Davis McLanahan, Myiesha Rahman, Mahathi Siripurapu, Martin Svobodkov, Jason Warner, Peter Zagrobelny 

Client Sponsor: Novelis Supply Chain Senior Manager James Praino 

Faculty Advisor: Associate Professor Mathieu Dahan 

VayKLife Route and Capacity Optimization: VayKLife - Winner 

Partnered with VayKLife, this team optimized delivery routing and vehicle space utilization for beach rental equipment, helping the company reduce operational costs while maintaining high service levels during peak seasons. Their solution tackled a challenging last-mile logistics problem with significant variability in demand, product size, and delivery timing, producing routing recommendations that VayKLife can deploy in real operations. 

Team members: Lilly Aabye, Jessa Brown, Will Craycraft, Tyler Estridge, Lucy Fantz, Chance O’Donnell, Rohan Prabhuram 

Client Sponsors: Senior Logistics Analyst Matt Durigon and COO/CTO, Managing Parter Erik Weston 

Faculty Advisor: Professor Alejandro Toriello 

After deliberation, "FASET Your SEATbelts" and "Buzz on the Beach" were declared winners, each receiving a $1,500 award from ISyE. "Shift Happens" and "Complex Marriages" tackled large-scale problems with major corporations, American Airlines and Novelis respectively, and their solutions have the potential to generate tremendous operational impact. The margin between all four teams was exceptionally narrow. 

“What stood out this semester was how consistently the finalist teams connected their methodology to measurable outcomes,” said ISyE Senior Lecturer and Senior Design Team Examiner Laura Li. “These students didn’t just build models, they demonstrated, with data, that their solutions work.”

Category 2: KS2 Technologies Design with Impact Award 

Sponsored by KS2 Technologies, the Design with Impact Award recognizes outstanding Senior Design projects with a strong focus on implementation; projects that do not simply recommend solutions but demonstrate how those solutions can be put into practice to create measurable value for clients and communities. Each winning team received a $1,250 award from KS2 Technologies. 

Claims Concierge Process Improvement - Claims Concierge Inc. 

Working with Claims Concierge Inc., this team analyzed and redesigned key workflows within the company’s claims processing operations to reduce cycle time, improve throughput, and increase consistency. Their process improvement recommendations were grounded in detailed data analysis and structured for immediate implementation. 

Team members: Sylvia Shyrel Bentata, Lauryn Carter, Quincy Howard, Nevin Jiang, Octavio Plate, Catalina Segura Vargas, Matias Torres, Rasin Vasaya 

Client Sponsor: Co-Founder and COO Ariel Oken 

Faculty Advisor: Professor Nicoleta Serban 

Now You See Us - Elevate Solutions Group 

Partnered with Elevated Solutions Group, this team redesigned the client's multi-person assembly line into an innovative single-assembler model, eliminating double handling, decreasing interdependency between employees, and speeding up the material flows.  The implementation of the new system was done at a very low cost and is expected to save over $120K annually.  

Team members: Saba Ansari Mohseni, Justin Collins, Pardha Collins, Skyler Malmberg, Hannah Mathew, Visakhi Miriyapalli, Nicholas Nist, Esha Pentakota 

Client Sponsor: General Manager Paul Larate 

Faculty Advisor: Associate Professor Anton Kleywegt 

The presentations also featured some memorable moments, including one especially energetic presentation from KS2 Technologies Design with Impact Award-winner “Claim to Fame” opening with a surprising “BAM! Car accident!”, a moment that immediately startled the room and drew laughs from the audience.  

Category 3: Senior Design Honorable Mentions 

Honorable Mention teams were strong contenders for finalist recognition; projects distinguished by their analytical depth, quality of execution, and value to their clients. 

Pitching the Perfect Promotions - Atlanta Braves Marketing 

Working with the Atlanta Braves marketing team, this group developed a data-driven framework for evaluating promotional strategies and their impact on game attendance. Their analysis helped the Braves better understand which promotions drive incremental attendance versus those that attract fans who would attend regardless, enabling smarter, more targeted marketing investments. 

Team members: Nadia Bozeman, Joshua Canlas, John Cellitti, Vivian Chung, Sarah Copeland, Katie Hamfeldt, Avinash Haritsa, Curran Mitra 

Client Sponsor: Atlanta Braves Director of Platforms and Applications Paul Lupcke 

Faculty Advisor: Professor Craig Tovey 

Improving Operations at Wellstar’s Consolidated Service Center - Wellstar Health System 

Partnered with Wellstar Health System, this team redesigned Wellstar’s Consolidated Service Center into a system capable of absorbing future growth while controlling costs and maintaining service levels through re-slotting across the different pick zones and staffing improvements. 

Team members: Eric Baw, Aron Cheng, Mackenzie Hulsey, Sujan Ganesh Kumar, Junwon Min, Alka Rao, Nano Suresettakul, Patrick Tangente 

Client Sponsor: Executive Director Adam Flood 

Faculty Advisor: Associate Professor (Retired) Gunter Sharp 

The eight recognized projects were just a slice of a remarkably diverse cohort. 

“The range of industries represented by this cohort, from airline operations to health systems to aluminum manufacturing, reflects the versatility of what ISyE students are trained to do,” said ISyE Senior Lecturer and Senior Design Examiner Gamze Tokol-Goldsman. “The quality across the board made this a genuinely difficult set of decisions.” 

For the students, the luncheon marked the end of their capstone journey and the beginning of their transition into industry and future careers. As they shared their results one last time, the event celebrated not only exceptional projects but also the growth and accomplishments of the minds behind them as they prepare to take the next step in life. 

ISyE extends sincere thanks to the client sponsors, faculty advisors, Daniela Estrada, program manager, for her behind-the-scenes work keeping the program running smoothly, and Brandy Blake for her dedicated work supporting teams' technical communication throughout the semester. Special thanks also to Andrew Leipold and Meg Bailey at the Office of General Counsel for managing the legal agreements and NDAs that make client partnerships possible.