Georgia Tech team takes highest honor at Rice 360⁰ design competition

Teams from UTEP, Rice, Johns Hopkins also win prizes

Teams from the Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Texas at El Paso and Rice took the top prizes at the ninth annual Rice 360⁰ Institute for Global Health design competition held March 29 on the Rice campus.

This year, 21 teams of undergraduate students from 13 universities presented their innovative technologies to improve global health, including teams from the University of Malawi Polytechnic and the Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST).

Lizzy Kappler and Yahia Ali of LibiMedical, a student team from Georgia Tech, took top honors in the Rice 360° Institute for Global Health’s design competition March 29 for their fetal heart-monitoring technology. (Photo by Jack Wang)

Paulette Ramirez, Laila Alsaihati and Carmen Abril Chavez of Miners19, a team from the University of Texas at El Paso, earned second place for their low-cost water filtration system. (Photo by Jack Wang)

Jiayu Liu, Hoang Vu, Hannah Anderson, Matthew Wester and Daniel Wang of OxyMon, a team from Rice, claimed third place for their device to quantify the oxygen output from oxygen concentrators in under-resourced communities. (Photo by Jack Wang)

Keynote speaker Noah Perin, CEO and co-founder of VIA Global Health, receives the Rice 360° Innovation and Leadership in Global Health Award from Veronica Leautaud, director of education at the Rice 360° Institute for Global Health. (Photo by Jack Wang)

First place went to Georgia Tech’s LibiMedical, whose fetal heart-monitoring technology, fetoMic, utilizes a microphone and app to detect and capture fetal heart rates. This affordable and durable alternative to rudimentary fetoscopes is designed to better allow clinicians to assess the health of mother and baby during delivery. Guided by the belief that “medicine is for everyone,” the student team ensured that fetoMic uses locally sourced materials with an easy-to-build design.

Miners19, a team from the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), earned second place. The all-female team, UTEP’s first-ever entry in the competition, confronted the problem of unsafe drinking water on the Texas-Mexico border by developing a low-cost filtration system to remove heavy metals. The device can be adapted to households and pipes, including in communities that lack running water and rely on bulk water cylinders.

Team OxyMon from Rice took third place for its device to quantify the oxygen output from oxygen concentrators in under-resourced communities. Clinician partners in countries such as Malawi currently do not have access to tools to measure how much oxygen is being delivered to patients.

ObstetriCare, a one-woman entry from Johns Hopkins University, took home the prize for best poster. Jacqueline Lanzaro presented technology to help women who suffer from obstetric fistula. Her solution helps women manage the immediate challenge of urinary incontinence while they wait for surgical treatment.

Keynote speaker Noah Perin, CEO and co-founder of VIA Global Health, encouraged the students to “continue to pursue (their) ideas … the world really needs them.” He reflected on his own career as an entrepreneur and advised the students to buck the consensus, embrace the journey and reflect on their motivations when times get tough.

For his contributions to global health, Perin was recognized with Rice 360°’s Innovation and Leadership in Global Health Award. Rebecca Richards-Kortum, director of Rice 360°, described him as “a great example of perseverance and ingenuity to our students. His innovation has helped to solve one of the most difficult barriers to creating access to global health technologies: purchasing and distribution. He is a great inspiration to students in their journeys to not just create innovative devices, but to ensure they reach the communities that need them.”

The 37 judges included clinicians and researchers from the Texas Medical Center, the University of Houston, Texas State University and elsewhere as well industries dedicated to developing and manufacturing diagnostics and biomedical devices, including BD, Every Shelter, 3rd Stone Design, and Merck.

Competition sponsors included the Stephen W. Ley Family Endowment for Global Health and The Lemelson Foundation, which supported teams from MUST and the University of Malawi Polytechnic.