Effective medical care depends on the availability of appropriate facilities and the proper application of technology, processes and training. More than 50 students from across the university joined together to design medical applications to improve that medical care at the most recent Aggies Invent competition.
Aggies Invent promotes an innovation and entrepreneurial mindset among students at Texas A&M University. It gathers invited students, provides them with the needs statements submitted by sponsors, allows them to self-select teams and gives them access to industry mentors and support from the Engineering Innovation Center (EIC) to create solutions and prototypes in 48 hours.
Maxim Integrated and the Texas A&M Health Science Center sponsored Aggies Invent: Medical Applications. In addition to providing needs statements, representatives were on hand to serve as mentors and judges throughout the weekend.
Team Elevate received first place for its pressure-based weight measurement device to accurately assess the weight of a wheelchair-bound individual from their bed. Team members included Amanda Bass, Joseph Coll, François-Stéphane Domchueng and Austin Lu, from biomedical engineering, James O’Connell from mechanical engineering and Robert Shannon from chemical engineering.
Max Ortiz and Cody McDonough (manufacturing and mechanical engineering technology), Elizabeth Henderson (general engineering), Chris Gillett and Joshua Guillory (business) and Sarah Bohac (biomedical sciences) took second place. Their innovation, “Can You See Me Now?,” helps virtually connect the elderly with their families to combat the increasing rate of depression amongst the elderly.
Victoria Nguyen and Andrea Hernandez (biomedical engineering), Nicholas Hercl (electrical and computer engineering), Ryan Jones (mechanical engineering) and Roxana Khozein (College of Medicine) took third place with their innovation, MedPhone. Their device measures heart rate, blood pressure, EKG, heart and lung sounds and temperature with only a smartphone, headphones and the bell of a stethoscope.
The top three teams received $1,000, $750 and $500, respectively. The EIC and Aggies Invent also offer support for students to continue working on their project.
The judges for the weekend were Dr. Katherine Brakora, instructional assistant professor, Texas A&M HSC College of Medicine; Dr. Saurabh Biswas, associate professor of practice, Department of Biomedical Engineering; Kristopher Ardis, executive director for Micros, Security & Software at Maxim Integrated; Dr. Jennifer Freeman, assistant professor at the UT Southwestern Medical Center; and Clayton Ware, senior principal member technical staff, Maxim Integrated.