Former NAIT student wins historic award for modernizing calibration of gas detectors

A former NAIT engineering technology student has made history as the first solo winner of the ASET Capstone Project of the Year award for creating a mobile app that expedites the calibration of fixed gas detectors.

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Adrianne Andal, a graduate of NAIT’s instrumentation engineering technology program, was announced as the winner at the Association of Science and Engineering Technology Professionals (ASET) of Alberta’s annual general meeting awards dinner on April 19. He was awarded for developing a method of calibrating fixed gas detectors that simplifies, modernizes, and speeds up the process.

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Andal, an international student from the Philippines, is now the first solo recipient of the award, which had previously only been awarded to team projects.

“I was really surprised that I got it,” Andal said. “The (capstone project) is a requirement to graduate, so I just focused on doing a project I was really interested in. It’s a big honour for me because I’m the first solo winner, and that means a lot. That’s a big deal for me.”

Andal and his fellow students were tasked with submitting a Capstone project for their final assignment — an innovative project meant to demonstrate the skills they’ve learned in their field. The projects are then evaluated for the annual Capstone Project of the Year award.

A fixed gas detector is a sensor that measures the gas concentration in the air, which helps check for hazardous gases. Traditionally, these detectors are calibrated by exposing them to concentrations of gases and comparing their readings to known values.

Andal found this method tedious and time-consuming, so he made a smartphone app that, with the help of other electronic components, controls the flow of gas used in calibration. This speeds up the process and reduces a technician’s exposure to extreme temperatures and toxic or combustible gases.

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“I was on a co-op job that required us to install and calibrate around 40 gas detectors, one at a time,” Andal said. “By the time I was calibrating my seventh gas detector of the day, I thought to myself, ‘There should be a better way of doing this.’ That’s when all the gears started turning in my head and the idea emerged for my Capstone Project.”

‘A remarkable future’

Barry Cavanaugh, ASET CEO, has presided over the ASET Capstone Project of the Year award since its inception in 2017.

“This is the first time in the history of the award that a one-person team has achieved this, and it’s exceptional given the level of excellence we consistently see in all the finalist projects,” said Cavanaugh.

He said the award goes to the project that is “most reflective of what they’re trying to see demonstrated” and how the project can be used as a public good. 

“(Andal) has a remarkable future,” Cavanaugh said. “If he can look at things in that way, identifying a problem and recognizing how to innovate a solution, then there’s no telling what he can accomplish.”

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