... They will come to the seventh annual College of Engineering expo

By Mary Ann Albright
Gazette-Times reporter

Bryan Beck and Dan Keenan weren’t even thinking about the eagerly anticipated film adaptation of Dan Brown’s novel when they dubbed themselves Team da Vinci Code.

It’s just coincidence that the two Oregon State University seniors presented their work at the College of Engineering’s seventh annual expo on the same day that the movie “The Da Vinci Code” opened in theaters.

Beck and Keenan, both computer science majors, developed a computer program that can take digital images and make them look like paintings.

“With da Vinci being a painter, and code being what we’re writing, it was just a bad pun,” Beck said.

This project was just one of many presented by OSU engineering students Friday afternoon at the Kelley Engineering Center. The bioengineering, chemical engineering, computer science, electrical and computer engineering, mechanical engineering and nuclear engineering departments participated.

Some local high school students also presented their FIRST robots.

At Beck and Keenan’s booth, people could manipulate their program, changing the number and thickness of brush strokes, as well as the color variations.

The two students displayed digital photographs of themselves that they’d made to look like commissioned paintings with just a few mouse clicks. They also had images of a lion, a duck and da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” — so people could make a picture of a painting look like a painting.

Aaron Mitchell, a Siuslaw High School student visiting from Florence with his physics class, enjoyed experimenting with Beck and Keenan’s computer program.

“It’s pretty cool,” he said.

Mitchell thinks this innovation would be helpful for graphic designers and art teachers, as well as people who want to turn their family pictures into paintings.

So far, the program mimics only the Van Gogh style, with uniform brush strokes. In the future, Beck and Keenan would like to add Impressionistic style and other variations to their program.

Sean Rea, a computer science major, also presented his senior project at the expo.

Rea set out to create a computer program that could predict final sale prices for eBay auctions.

Using a computer program he created, Rea collected data on 14,000 Apple iPod Nanos auctions. Looking at variables such as color, capacity, condition and seller feedback ratings, Rea tried to predict the items’ sale prices.

So far, he hasn’t found a clear pattern.

“My predictions are always more accurate than flipping a coin, so I know I’m on the right track, but there’s still a lot of research to do,” he said.

Peering over the second-floor balcony at Kelley, Keith Prickett communicated with his teammates on the ground level using a wireless communication device they developed.

“It’s basically a digital form of a walkie talkie that you can use hands-free,” said Prickett, a senior computer engineering major.

The voice-activated device is powered by batteries and can transmit up to 100 meters. It fits easily into the palm of the hand, and contains a speaker, microphone, antenna and receiver.

Prickett’s teammates, Jules Dake, Daniel Braunworth and Tim Chou, brought their electrical engineering know-how to the endeavor.

Chou’s parents, Jongjit and Hoa Chou, came from Portland for the expo.

“I’m so proud of him,” said Jongjit, who got to try using the device her son helped create.

“It’s nice to see the results after all the hours he’s put in. They’ve really pulled together, and they’re great kids,” she said.