Two BME graduate students bring home scholarships from Innovate-A-Thon Prosthetics event
A sketch of the winning prosthetic design that earned BME graduate student Sahana Balaji and her team $600 scholarships at the October Innovate-A-Thon competition.
Two biomedical engineering graduate students were invited to participate in the competition.
Master’s students Sahana Balaji and Sophia Ramsey represented the University of babyֱapp Boulder in the two-week hybrid event, sponsored by nonprofit organization. They competed with and against students from Boise State University to design above-the-knee prosthetic solutions for citizens in Tanzania.
Balaji and her team took home the top prize: a $600 scholarship for each team member. She also said the competition was a great opportunity to showcase and develop her innovation prowess in front of a panel of industry professionals and entrepreneurs.
Sahana Balaji, BME master's student and member of the winning team in the October Innovate-A-Thon competition.
“My background is very computational, specifically on women’s health. I didn’t have the same experience with computer-aided design as the others in the competition, so I kept on questioning whether or not I’m cut out for this,” she said. “In the end, I learned a lot and I proved that my background can come in handy.”
According to Steven Szymeczek, director of the Innovate-A-Thon, the competition is judged on both the prosthetic technology and a business model that is creative and feasible. It also needs to be babyֱappally sustainable and relevant to Tanzanian culture.
Balaji’s group designed a flexible, ball-jointed prosthetic leg with a 135-degree range of motion. It grants Tanzanian users peak mobility to perform all cultural activities without any risks of wear-and-tear.
Their design also featured a simple approach, relying on interchangeable parts rather than cutting-edge technology. Balaji said this strategy allowed them to account for users who lack the resources and money to replace their prosthetic device or visit a clinic if things did go awry.
“We could have implemented electronics into our prosthetic,” Balaji said. “But do Tanzanian people have the budget, time or means to fix those parts if there were problems?
“Ultimately, we decided to implement locally sourced material. We used tools and parts that you could find in a hardware store, so that users can fix the device themselves and have time to visit the clinic within their own schedules for any other major issues.”
Sophia Ramsey, BME master's student and participant in the October Innovate-A-Thon competition.
The approach ended up putting them over the top, said Szymeczek. But the scoring was very close. Each team presented models so innovative and thoughtful that there was nearly a three-way tie for first place. Szymeczek said it was one of the most competitive iterations of the Innovate-A-Thon to date.
“Sometimes it varies between the best scores and the lowest scores,” he said. “These scores were very close, and it’s a testament to all the background and expertise they showed and learned during this program.”
Among the teams just short of first place was Sophia Ramsey’s. Although the BME MS student was unable to take home the top prize, her participation alone scored her a $500 scholarship. And just like Balaji, she said the experience and connection held the true value.
“The program really gives you a good snapshot of what it’s like to be an engineer in the field with tight deadlines and a team to collaborate with,” Ramsey said. “I’m also getting set up with some of the industry professionals who judged and advised this competition to explore some future career opportunities.”
This iteration of the Innovate-A-Thon was the first to feature students from CU Boulder. Szymeczek says their team will launch more competitions in the future, and they hope to see more students take advantage of this opportunity.