April 4, 2022

Tanzeem Choudhury, Maria Helguera, Sanghamithra Korukonda, Linda Marchese, Theophana Mitsa, Inna Partin-Vaisband, and Sarah Smith were all recognized during Women’s History Month by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. See Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion below.

Dear members of the Hajim School community,

Again this year, master’s degree students in our Center for Medical Technology and Innovation (CMTI) device design program have won the top prizes in University-wide competitions.

At the University’s America’s Got Regulatory Science Talent Student Competition, for example, Mark Truskinovsky and Warish Orko took first place for their proposed Smart Event Evaluation and Reporting (SEER) system. The system uses artificial intelligence to combine and analyze the millions of yearly consumer reports of adverse experiences with medications, vaccines, and medical devices. The system would help the FDA identify genuine issues with medical products in its regulatory decision-making.

Nandita Bhowmik, Katarina Lichak, Bahie Ezzat, and Ejiroghene Davies-Okarevu took second place for their proposal to develop a mobile app for at-home users of COVID tests. Their app would provide nonverbal video acting out of test kit instructions for all users to easily follow, regardless of native language or literacy level. The app would also provide notifications about major test kit recalls and where to report a positive test.

At the first annual Big Ideas in Science and Medicine Pitch Competition, Hadi Wehbe, Lucas Lassinger, and Stephen Wells took first place with their proposal for a medical device to improve laparoscopic surgery procedures.

Second place went to Abbi Miller, Allison Coon, Sylvia Zhong, all from CMTI, and Haotian Li of the Technical Entrepreneurship and Management (TEAM) MS program. They proposed a medical device to assist with the accurate insertion of surgical screws during open reduction internal fixation (ORIF) surgery. A video of the competition can be seen on Vimeo.

CMTI is an outstanding, one-year program that immerses students for eight weeks in guided clinical observations in the operating room or other clinical settings. Students then take graduate engineering and biology courses along with specialized coursework in entrepreneurship, regulatory processes, and intellectual property pathways. Following a guided process for project selection, students select one clinical need for brainstorming, design, and prototyping. Please help spread the word about this excellent opportunity for students.

ART OF SCIENCE COMPETITION

Thanks to the students, faculty, and staff members who submitted 57 entries to this year’s Art of Science Competition. Please take a moment to look through them and cast your vote for the People’s Choice award by midnight tomorrow, April 5.

GRADUATE RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM

Congratulations to Brandon Ruszala, a biomedical engineering PhD student in the lab of Marc Schieber, professor of neurology. Brandon was one of four winners for best posters and presentations at the AS&E Graduate Research Symposium for his work on Injecting Arbitrary Instructions into Anterior Parietal Cortex with Low-Amplitude Intracortical Microstimulation. He describes a new area of the cortex that could be stimulated to improve the functioning of brain-machine interfaces. A listing of all Symposium entries, including abstracts of each student’s research, can be found here. 

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION

As part of Women’s History Month, the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering highlighted its women faculty members and members of its advisory board. I was honored to be included among these women whose achievements in academia and industry provide inspiration for future women engineers:

• Tanzeem Choudhury, ’97, professor of computing and information sciences at Cornell University and co-founder of HealthRhythms Inc.
• Maria Helguera ’90 MS, formerly PI of RIT’s Biomedical Imaging Lab, now adjunct professor here.
• Sanghamithra Korukonda, ’12 PhD, senior scientist at Nanostring Technologies.
• Linda Marchese ’91 ’93 MS ’97 PhD, senior terahertz architect for RaySecur.
• Theophana Mitsa ’91 PhD, managing member at Aretisoft, LLC and recipient of the George Eastman Medal.
• Inna Partin-Vaisband ’15 PhD, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois in Chicago.
• Sarah Smith ’19 PhD, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering here.

Learn more about their achievements here.

LEARN ABOUT STUDENT UX CERTIFICATE

Undergraduates interested in the University’s new UX (User Experience/User Centered Design) Certificate can learn more at an information session from noon to 2 p.m. this Friday, April 8 at the iZone.

UX design is used to create products that provide meaningful and relevant experiences to users through understanding behaviors, needs, and attitudes. This interdisciplinary certificate unites computer science, engineering, psychology, statistics, art, and design to focus on user experience.

The information session is an opportunity to chat with certificate advisors Stephanie Ashenfelder, director of Digital Media Studies and academic director of Studio Art, and Caitlin Owens, academic advisor for the Multidisciplinary Studies Center. Students in the Certificate Program and in the UX/UI Club will also be on hand.

FORBES ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETITION

A hand-held scanner to quickly detect disease in agricultural crops. Mall rooftops as turf soccer fields. A hyperlocal network of micropreneurs to provide reliable drinking water to millions of Pakistanis. These are among the great ideas that received the top prizes in recent Forbes Entrepreneurial Competitions.

Created in 1989 with an endowment from Charles and Janet Forbes ’40, the competition encourages undergraduate Hajim students to augment their academic design projects (e.g. senior design projects) with a business plan, including the initial organizational, financial, marketing, and production aspects of a company based on their design results. At least half of a team’s members must have declared majors within the Hajim School.

The deadline is noon on April 15 to submit your online application for this year’s competition. Presentations and judging will take place virtually from 3-4:30 p.m. April 29. Prizes are $5,000, $2,500, and $1,000.

Take a look at the Forbes website for resources to help you prepare a strong proposal. If this is your first pitch competition, you can schedule a practice session with Ain Center for Entrepreneurship staff for feedback before the live event. Let’s have a strong turn out this year! Members of the public–and that includes our Hajim School community–are encouraged to listen in on the presentations. The registration link is here.

CMAP SUMMER SCHOOL AND WEBSITE

Our Center for Matter at Atomic Pressures (CMAP) is headquarters for an exciting collaboration among faculty, scientists, researchers, and students at MIT, Princeton, the Universities of California at Berkeley and Davis, the University at Buffalo, and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The center explores planets and stars throughout the universe, including revolutionary states of matter right here on Earth, through cutting-edge research that submits matter to extreme conditions. Learn more at CMAP’s new website.

Undergraduate students can learn more about this exciting, growing field by attending CMAP’s five-day, virtual Discovery Science Center Summer School for Matter at Extreme Conditions in the Laboratory and the Cosmos from August 15 to 19. Register here by June 15. There is no cost to apply or to participate in the program. Accepted students will receive a meal delivery service e-gift card so they may order lunch during the program.

UNIVERSITY TECHNOLOGY SHOWCASE

Have a great week!

Your dean,
Wendi Heinzelman