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2007 Finalists
Sadie Bartholomew
Otterbein College
Cost-efficient Engineering of a Small-scale Bioreactor
Advisor: John Tansey
Undergraduate category
When Sadie Bartholomew entered her first year at Otterbein College, she felt fortunate to have found a professor who was willing to accept a freshman into his research lab. She became involved in the protein research that was being conducted, and quickly discovered that creating the protein needed was a time consuming and tedious process. Although other labs might use a bioreactor to create large amounts of protein for research, she knew her school didn’t have the budget needed to purchase such an expensive piece of equipment. So, Bartholomew set out on a quest to get around the limited budget, and in the end, developed her economical bioreactor for use in the lab.
She began by conducting many literature searches and examining the techniques that others had used. As she searched, she broke the problem down into small elements and worked on tackling each element. As she would discover a potential solution for one of the elements, Bartholomew would conduct experiments, relying a great deal on trial and error. Over the course of two years, she adapted many different methods existing in a variety of fields and altered them to fit her system.
When trying to solve a way to test for the amount of oxygen in her system, Bartholomew says she actually ended up utilizing a test she first learned about in high school. “That moment of remembering the test in high school was my epiphany,” she says. “That was really when the project took off. It was a long and tedious process, but in the end it is now a beautiful system.”
Bartholomew is excited about the different ways her small-scale bioreactor could have an impact. Many academic schools have smaller labs that are limited in the funding they receive to conduct research. Because protein production is such an important component to biochemical research, this opens doors in terms of research possibilities.
Growing up in Swartz Creek, MI, Bartholomew, 22, attended Swartz Creek High School. An avid equestrian, Bartholomew once considered studying to become an equine veterinarian. She received her B.S. in chemistry and biochemistry from Otterbein College in June 2007, and she is currently continuing her education as a doctoral biochemistry student at Stanford University. Her experiences at Otterbein revealed her passion for research, and she looks forward to a future as an academic researcher.
Corey Centen and Nilesh Patel
McMaster University (Ontario)
CPRGlove: Wearable CPR Training, Testing, and Assist Device
Advisor: Hubert de Bruin
Undergraduate Category
As Corey Centen and Nilesh Patel sat in their college cafeteria at the beginning of their senior year, they discussed ideas for their final project. As they talked, they realized that even though both had been trained in CPR in high school, neither of them could really remember how to do it if faced with an emergency situation. They thought it would be great to have a device that could assist people with CPR in emergency situations and even help train them on the techniques. The idea for the CPRGlove was born.
Centen and Patel conducted research, and they were surprised to discover that a 2005 study concluded that CPR quality was well below the levels it should be, even when administered by health care professionals. Convinced that there was a real need for a device to assist with CPR, they began working on a prototype, outfitting a store-bought glove with various electronics. By the next year, their design had progressed to a custom-made glove with sensors and an LCD screen to give instructions and feedback when the user performs CPR. The glove is able to provide information on the rate, depth, force, and angle of compressions as well as the heart rate. It also speaks, providing verbal cues for the user.
What began as a senior project for them has turned into a business. Along with a fellow electrical and biomedical engineering classmate from McMaster, they formed Atreo Medical, Inc. to refine and market the device. They’ve been pleased to receive support and funding for working on the glove from various Canadian sources, and they are making headway in the U.S. as well.
Centen, 22, grew up in Ottawa, Ontario. Always interested in inventing as a youngster, he recalls continuously working on his own projects, even turning the dining room of his home into a mini-lab for his work. “My parents,” he remembers, “were very generous.” After graduating from Immaculata High School, he found things similar as a student at McMaster, where he created an unofficial lab in the corner of his dorm room. Centen graduated earlier this year with a degree in electrical and biomedical engineering and is the CEO of Atreo. The CPRGlove is an exciting project for him as he thinks about the lives that could potentially be saved. “Right now,” he says, “we’re focusing on a final prototype for clinical trials, and then we’ll work on FDA approval.”
Patel, 21, is from Toronto where he graduated from West Humber Collegiate Institute. He looks forward to graduating from McMaster with his electrical and biomedical engineering degree in 2008. Patel also remembers his inventiveness as a child, once using a cardboard box, a solar panel, and some LEDs to create a solar house. He sees the importance of the three main uses for the CPRGlove—to train individuals in CPR, to test their knowledge of it, and to use in emergency situations. Patel is also thrilled to know that the glove has been receiving positive attention. He notes, “After a story ran about our work with the glove, we were actually contacted by the lead researcher of the 2005 CPR study that we had researched.” Patel is currently the chief technical officer of Atreo.
Ian Cheong
Johns Hopkins University
Liposomase for Generalizable Drug Delivery
Advisor: Bert Vogelstein
Graduate Category
Ian Cheong didn’t start out in a scientific career. The Singapore native trained to become a lawyer in his home country, and ended up working at a law firm specializing in corporate criminal litigation. Some of the firm’s clients were scientists, and as Cheong says, “Science looked like it was too much fun to be left to the scientists.” With that, he left the world of law behind and began his scientific studies.
Once at Johns Hopkins, Cheong focused on a main problem in cancer therapy; namely, drugs used in cancer treatment kill the healthy cells as well as the cancer cells. Many cancer drugs are potent, but they are nonspecific, and there is continuous searching for ways to make the drugs more specific.
Cheong has devised a way to target cancerous tumors and release the drugs just in those areas. He begins by injecting bacterial spores into the subject which selectively inhabit the oxygen-poor areas found within cancerous tumors. Next, Cheong puts the cancer-fighting drug in lipid particles and injects these liposomes into the subject. Because the germinated bacterial spores also secrete a protein that makes liposomes fall apart, when the drug-containing liposomes are in the proximity of the tumors, the drug is released only in those specific areas.
In testing conducted on mice, Cheong was astonished at the results. One hundred percent of the mice showed regression of the tumors. In fact, Cheong recalls that the moment when he realized that the mice tumors were being eradicated as a high point of his research. He hopes his work will have a positive impact in the treatment and diagnosis of cancer.
Cheong, 33, arrived in the U.S. in September 2001 to begin his studies. He received his Ph.D. in cell and molecular medicine from Johns Hopkins in 2006. Currently, he is working on postdoctoral research at JHU, and he hopes to remain in academia while focusing on research that industry would normally classify as high risk ideas. He says, “These are the ideas that need to be explored because they have the potential to completely change how we treat cancer.” He is married to Dawn Kua, who runs a nonprofit organization in Singapore.
Tara Deans
Boston University
A Tunable Genetic Switch for Regulating Mammalian Gene Expression
Advisor: James Collins
Graduate Category
In high school Tara Deans was fascinated with chemistry and biology, specifically with how those subjects could be used to learn how the human body works. Her passion for the sciences led her to study biology as an undergraduate at Washington State University and eventually biomedical engineering as a graduate student at Boston University. Her work in biomedical engineering involves engineering a genetic switch that can be used to turn a gene completely on or off, and can also be used to tune that gene’s level of expression. Such a switch could be very helpful for exploring the basic mechanisms of many biological processes.
Deans created the switch by combining two techniques. The first technique involved introducing a repressor protein that prohibits RNA copies of the DNA from being made. However, inevitably this technique exhibits some leakage of RNA copies. She also employed the second technique of RNA interference which destroys any of the RNA copies that leaks through. By using the techniques together, Deans discovered that a gene’s function could be turned off completely. In addition, she found that she could engineer the switch so that the addition of a chemical could adjust the level of the gene’s expression, somewhat like a dimmer switch on a light.
The potential impact of Deans’ work is impressive. For instance, her switch can be used to investigate the molecular mechanisms involved in the onset of neurodegenerative diseases (e.g. Alzheimer’s Disease) and pathologies (e.g. cancer). Additionally, her switch can be used to study stem cell differentiation. Understanding these mechanisms will aide in the development of therapeutic applications.
Deans enjoys her work and is passionate about the research and discovery. She says, “My favorite time is when I turn on the microscope, and I am the very first to see something or the first to know something. It’s very exhilarating and exciting.”
As the daughter of a State Department employee, Deans, 34, moved often while growing up. She attended Port Credit High School in Mississauga, Ontario and chose Washington State University to receive her undergraduate degree. For several years after receiving her B.S., she spent time doing research at Harvard Medical School and Harvard University. In 2001, she entered the Ph.D. program at Boston University. Deans is married to Michael Deans, who is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School. They have two children, both daughters, aged four months and four years.
John Dolan
University of California, San Francisco
The Dolognawmeter: An Instrument to Quantify Pain Induced Oral Dysfunction
Advisor: Brian Schmidt
Graduate Category
John Dolan investigates the molecular mechanisms responsible for oral and facial pain. Dolan observes, “While in dental school I attended to patients with untreatable pain from disorders such as oral cancer.” He realized that the most substantial obstacle to improved pain medication was the inability to measure oral and facial pain in experimental animals. Without an instrument to measure oral or facial pain in animals, it was impossible to test the efficacy of experimental painkillers. Dolan notes, “Diseases such as oral cancer or temporomandibular joint disorders are excruciatingly painful when patients chew or open their mouths. Therefore, the pain research community needs an instrument that measures pain in animals during the same behaviors that are producing pain in patients.”
Dolan realized that gnawing in rodents uses the same muscles, joints, nerves and soft tissues of the oral cavity and face that are required for almost all oral functions in humans. He then created a device that could measure gnawing function in animals by taking advantage of an instinct observed in rodents. If a mouse is placed in a narrow tube with an obstacle at the end, it will instinctively gnaw at the obstacle to escape. Dolan’s device exploits this instinct. The device, termed a Dolognawmeter, (dolor, Latin for pain; gnawmeter referring to measurement of gnawing) automatically records the time required for a mouse to gnaw through a series of dowels obstructing exit from a tube. Upon severing the dowels, the mouse escapes from the tube. Slower gnawing indexes greater pain, providing Dolan with a way to study the effectiveness of painkillers.
The apparatus is inexpensive, compact and simple; multiple Dolognawmeters can be used in parallel to simultaneously evaluate many mice. Since mice are nocturnal, the device is employed inside a standard research cage at night since no operator observation is required. Dolan says the device has the potential to revolutionize the way that both analgesics and anxiolytics (anti-anxiety drugs) are tested. “Since confinement anxiety motivates the mouse to gnaw, a Dolognawmeter will also allow for a simple, cheap and objective method to test new anxiolytics in animals. That alone makes the device worth its weight in gold,” says Dolan.
Dolan began his education in anthropology, earning a B.S. from Montana State University and an M.A. from the University of California, Berkeley. While working toward his Ph.D. in anthropology he was inspired by studies demonstrating that a person’s creativity often peaks by the late twenties or early thirties. Upon learning this, he put aside his graduate work, purchased a used Tungsten Inert Gas welder from an Oakland shipyard and became an artist for five years. He says, “My greatest skill since childhood has been artistic mechanical design.” In 2003 he combined his passion for material sciences and the application of mechanical principles to human problems and entered dental school. At the same time, he began research into the mechanisms of oral and facial pain. He earned his DDS in 2007 and is currently in a postgraduate program in oral and craniofacial sciences at UCSF.
F. Scott Gayzik, Amber Bonivtch, and
Kerry Danelson
Wake Forest University School of Medicine
Pulmonary Surrogate for use in Anthropomorphic Testing Devices: Lungs for Crash Test Dummies
Advisor: Joel Stitzel
Graduate Category
In the field of injury biomechanics, the focus of research is to study how the body responds to and tolerates injury. In particular, motor vehicle crashes are a common source of trauma. Anthropomorphic testing devices, often called crash test dummies, are frequently used to assess occupant injury in crash tests. Scott Gayzik, Amber Bonivtch, and Kerry Danelson realized that within this area of research, little is done to predict the damage done to internal organs, especially the lungs. So in October of 2006, the trio set out to create a model of human lungs that could be used in crash test dummies.
Utilizing CT scans of an average size man’s lungs, they made a 3D reconstruction of the lungs. These models were cast in urethane by using rapid prototyping, resulting in a hollow, durable prototype, accurately depicting a lung with its five lobes. They attached tubing to the lobes to mimic the air passages, and by inserting sensors in the tubing, were able to measure air pressure changes during impacts.
The team’s work is a step forward for the field, since existing crash test dummies do not model organs of any kind. Their idea was innovative enough to catch the eye of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, winning an award in a recent design competition.
Gayzik, 28, is originally from Middlesex, NJ, where he graduated from Middlesex High School. After receiving a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech, he continued at the university, receiving an M.S. in the same field. He currently is working towards his Ph.D. at the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences (SBES). Gayzik notes, “What motivates me to continue my work is the challenge of it, and tackling engineering problems that are timely and applicable.” Gayzik is married to Caroline Gayzik, also an engineer.
Danelson, 29, is a native of Winston-Salem and a graduate of R.J. Reynolds High School. She received her B.S. in mechanical engineering from the U.S. Military Academy and served in the Army for five years upon her graduation. She is working on her M.S. at SBES. Danelson notes that Wake Forest is a family affair for her and her parents, Tom and Beth Smith, saying “They’re both medical researchers at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine.” Always interested in the combination of engineering and medicine, she says, “The integration of these systems is an opportunity to study many different things.” She is married to Steven Danelson, a U.S. Army helicopter pilot, and they have a three-year old son.
Bonivtch, 26, spent most of her childhood in Charlotte, NC. After graduating from Olympic High School, she went to the University of North Carolina and received her B.S. in mechanical engineering. Originally planning on a biology major, she quickly changed fields of study upon meeting another mechanical engineering student and realizing how many different options the field presented. She received an M.S. from Virginia Tech and is now in the Ph.D. biomedical engineering program at SBES. Regarding her current field of study, she says, “I really enjoy injury biomechanics because it is immediately applicable, and I can see the impact of the results right away.” Bonivtch is married to Matthew Bonivtch, a C-130 navigator for the North Carolina Air National Guard.
Jinho Kim
Temple University
Fly by Heat—Smart Wing
Advisor: Parsaoran Hutapea
Undergraduate category
When Jinho Kim was a child in South Korea, he had a fascination with tools and taking things apart. He couldn’t stop himself from dismantling old and broken electronics, searching for what was inside and conducting experiments. Not surprisingly, Kim would eventually find himself a student of mechanical engineering, allowing him to satisfy his desire to continuously explore.
While a senior at Temple University, Kim found himself working on a project involving an improved way to control wing flaps on aircraft. Flaps are used to change the shape of the wing to adapt to the flying circumstances, such as cruising at high speed or taking off and landing, and they are controlled by hydraulics. While effective, the hydraulic systems add weight to an aircraft, increasing the fuel consumption on any given flight.
Kim’s invention involves using a shape memory alloy (SMA), a type of “smart” metal, in the wing. The SMA can memorize the shape in which it is formed, and it can also be trained to expand and contract with temperature changes. By controlling the temperature, the flap of the wing can be controlled. Kim’s wing uses SMA springs made of nickel and titanium that act on the wing, with one in position to pull the flap up, and another positioned to pull the flap down. If a spring is heated, it will return to its original memorized shape as it was trained.
Kim remembers entering a glider building competition as a child and becoming very interested in saving energy because of South Korea’s lack of oil. His interest in energy savings translates well to his current invention since the smart wing is so much lighter than standard wings. He sees the potential impact of SMA technology as huge, and imagines using SMA alloys to control the flaps on small aircraft or unmanned aircraft.
Now 28, Kim began college in South Korea before serving his mandatory army enlistment for two and a half years. He came to the U.S. in 2002 upon the encouragement of his sister who was living in the Philadelphia area. He was impressed by the quality of the engineering department at Temple, and in May of 2007, received his B.S. in mechanical engineering. Currently working on his M.S. at Temple, he sees himself continuing his education by obtaining a Ph.D., after which he hopes to find a teaching position in the U.S.
Evan Thomas and Max Gold
University of Colorado, Boulder
“Bring Your Own Water” Treatment System
Advisor: Bernard Amadei
Graduate Category
Evan Thomas and Max Gold, both student volunteers for Engineers Without Borders-USA, were faced with the challenge of bringing fresh water to people in Rwanda, Africa’s most densely populated country. A very poor country, Rwanda doesn’t necessarily lack water, but rather, it lacks clean water. For many people living in rural areas, their main source of water is surface water which is the cause of much disease. Unfortunately, simply digging wells isn’t an option there, as the region is too mountainous.
Thomas and Gold knew that no available water treatment technologies would be appropriate for rural Rwandans who had very little money. So they devised a gravity-fed system they call “Bring Your Own Water,” which is capable of treating 8,000 liters of water a day. First, untreated water is poured into a tank which is set on a hill or other raised surface. The tank is a settling tank that allows heavier particles in the water to drop out. The water then flows to another tank below which contains a layered filter made of sand, gravel, and pumice, cleaning the water further. Finally, the water passes through ultraviolet light which disinfects it by eradicating any remaining harmful bacteria. The UV light, which is expected to last up to three years before replacement, is powered by a solar panel. The BYOW system even has a built-in system for back flushing the layered filter for cleaning.
The team found that a great challenge is convincing community members that drinking clean water is preferable. Many are used to the taste of dirty water, and Thomas and Gold work to explain that the tasteless treated water will be better for community health. Despite the challenges, the duo are enthusiastic about each Rwandan trip they take, bonding with people in the communities where they work. Water treatment is just one of their projects, and each year when they travel to Rwanda, they check on previous projects, install new ones, and scope out work for the upcoming year.
Thomas, 24, a graduate of Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, California, received undergraduate degrees in broadcast journalism and aerospace engineering from the University of Colorado, in addition to an M.S. in aerospace engineering. Currently working at NASA Johnson Space Center, he continues to work on his Ph.D. at the University. For Thomas, the travel and outreach is nothing new. As editor of his high school newspaper, he organized trips to Cuba and Vietnam to report on students’ lives there. But, he’s never been far from engineering. He notes, “Even as a kid, I spend a lot of time in the garage building things, and I knew I always wanted to be an inventor.”
Gold, 25, grew up in New York City in Manhattan, attending Fieldston High School in the Bronx. He has received his B.S. in civil engineering from the University of Colorado and is currently working on his M.S. in the same field, working within the Building Systems Program with a focus on engineering for developing communities. As chief engineer for the Rwanda projects, he finds that he enjoys engineering real world systems that cost relatively little money while performing effectively. “It’s exciting when there’s a problem in an unfamiliar place,” he says, “and then trying to solve the problem and improvise on the fly.” Once Gold graduates in 2008, he plans to move to Rwanda to continue work on a larger scale through a non-profit organization that has been established for that purpose.
Brian Timko
Harvard University
An Electronic Interface Between Neurons and Nanowires
Advisor: Charles Lieber
Graduate Category
Brian Timko hasn’t taken biology since high school, but while engrossed in his research at Harvard, he found himself learning it as he went along. While exploring the synthesis of silicon nanowires and subsequent fabrication of nanowire electronics, Timko decided to investigate the possibility of using his devices to monitor neuron signaling as well as to deliver information to the neurons themselves.
Timko developed a technique to form arrays of cell-nanowire interfaces that operate with high signal sensitivity and spatial resolution resolution. By essentially creating artificial synapses, he can achieve two-way communication between a cell and nanowire that mimics the ways cells in the body communicate with each other. In this way, it is possible to learn more about how neurons work by studying them in far more intimate ways than previously possible. Timko envisions his technology as a valuable tool for eventual basic research on neural networks and cell-cell communication. Implications include studying and developing drug assays for neurodegenerative disorders and perhaps even the development for far more powerful prosthetics.
To create his artificial synapses, Timko synthesizes silicon nanowires, nanoscale structures thousands of times thinner than a human hair. He uses a fabrication process to build electrical contacts to individual nanowires, then cultures neurons on top of the electrically functional chip. The nanowires respond to the changing electrical fields generated by the neurons, and similarly, signals applied to the nanowires can elicit a response in the neurons. While work in this area has been conducted on a micro level, Timko’s work is the first conducted at nano scale – for the first time enabling many devices to be interfaced with a single neuron.
Timko remembers being a sophomore in high school and discovering that chemistry was his favorite class. It was then that he knew he wanted to pursue science as a career. The summer after his junior year of high school, Timko was involved with the High School Honors Science Program, a research program at Michigan State University. He says, “That was my first real exposure to how scientists do research, and that experience confirmed, in my mind, that I wanted to do scientific research more rigorously.” Today, he admits that his schedule is based on the needs of his work, no matter the time of day or night.
Timko, 27 and a native of Larksville, PA, attended Wyoming Valley West High School. At Lehigh University, he received a B.S. in chemistry and a B.S. in chemical engineering. He sought a graduate school that would allow him to continue his interdisciplinary involvement, and currently he is pursuing his Ph.D. in physical chemistry at Harvard. In the future, Timko sees himself staying in academia and continuing to pursue biotech or nano-related research.
Conor Walsh and Nevan Hanumara
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Robopsy—A Disposable Medical Robot for Lung Biopsies
Advisor: Alexander Slocum
Graduate Category
During a class with Prof. Alex Slocum in the fall of 2004, engineering students Conor Walsh and Nevan Hanumara found themselves intrigued by a problem presented by a physician visiting their class. Dr. Rajiv Gupta from the Department of Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital expressed the need to perform lung biopsies more efficiently. Walsh and Hanumara tackled the problem, and before long they created Robopsy, a disposable robot intended specifically for lung biopsies.
With traditional lung biopsies, a doctor must utilize a CT scan to direct a needle towards a targeted lesion. This, however, is a difficult process, as the needle can only be advanced a short distance before another CT scan must be taken to check on progress. During a lung biopsy, it’s possible to take at least a dozen CT scans in order to get the needle placed appropriately and to avoid damaging the lung.
Walsh and Hanumara approached the problem by extensive and keen observations of many lung biopsies. They realized that sterility and small size were important factors in creating a device, and within three months, they created their first prototype, a lightweight unit that was disposable. Because it is disposable, the unit does not need to be designed to withstand repeated sterilizations. The pair’s device allows the needle to be orientated to the desired angle so that it is aligned towards the lesion. When the Robopsy unit is used, a doctor can attach it to the patient, place the patient in the CT scanner with the unit, and then keep the patient in the scanner while the needle placement is guided by remote control.
The team has just begun a series of pig trials and they are also testing the device using ballistic gelatin forms. Currently, they are designing their third prototype and will soon apply for FDA approval as a class II medical device. They envision an eventual cost for their disposable unit of less than $300.
Walsh, 25, grew up in Dublin, Ireland where his family still lives. After receiving his undergraduate degree from Trinity College, he traveled to MIT, receiving his M.S. in mechanical engineering. He currently is working towards his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering as well as a Certificate in Medical Science through Harvard Medical School, and along the way, hopes to be able to launch a startup company with Hanumara to manufacture and market Robopsy and fulfill his desire to stay within the medical realm after he graduates. Commenting on their technology, he says, “People have this misnomer that surgical robots have to be large and expensive. But, you can go to a toy store and buy a robot that can do anything. The basic technology already exists, and it just has to be applied.”
Hanumara, 25, is from Kingston, RI where he graduated from The Prout School. He received a B.S. in mechanical engineering and a B.A. in French from the University of Rhode Island’s International Engineering Program, an M.S. in mechanical engineering from MIT, and is now a doctoral candidate in mechanical engineering. Thinking about his field of study, Hanumara notes, “I think for me, the need to fiddle manifests itself. I’ll be dissatisfied with how something is constructed or operates and begin to think about how I would like to make changes.” This, in part, is what brought him to MIT where he could focus on building devices. After receiving his degree, he looks forward to working with Conor for their own medical products company.
Derek Zoch and Steven Jones
University of Pennsylvania
Quicker Kicker
Advisor: Anne Stamer
Undergraduate category
Derek Zoch and Steve Jones are both passionate about football, so it’s appropriate that their invention focuses on that sport. Faced with a problem on the football practice field, they’ve used their knowledge of the game and innovative thinking to solve that problem.
It started when Zoch, a place kicker for the University of Pennsylvania, was frustrated at practice because he was unable to simulate game conditions in order to practice his kicking. In an actual game, when the place kicker is on the field, the football is snapped to another player, who then quickly places the football on the ground in anticipation of the kicker running up to make the kick. Zoch found that at practice, other players quickly tired of repeatedly positioning the ball for him.
So Zoch thought of a device that could hold the ball off the ground, then swing it down and place it, just as if it had been snapped and placed by players in a game. Jones put his mechanical engineering skills to work, and soon the pair had the Quicker Kicker. Although an earlier version was made of PVC, their current version is constructed of aluminum tubing that includes a frame and a pivoting arm that moves and places the ball. The device also has a timer that can be set to release the arm.
The Quicker Kicker has already received positive reviews from collegiate and professional football players. Zoch and Jones anticipate being able to start manufacturing of the unit within six months and have it on the market at an affordable price.
Zoch, 21, of Kinnelon, NJ, graduated from Kinnelon High School. A football player since middle school, Zoch chose to play at Penn partly because of the opportunity to attend the Wharton Business School, where is he currently a senior finance and management major. Although he looks forward to a career in finance, Zoch admits he often works with his hands, as seen when he was always trying to construct new devices when he was growing up. “I love engineering,” he says. “There’s always a better way to do things, and I really enjoy the entrepreneurial spirit that goes with that.”
Jones, 22, was raised in Clayton, CA in the San Francisco Bay area, graduating from De La Salle High School in Concord. A senior mechanical engineering major, he says, “What I really enjoy is recognizing a problem and trying to find a solution for it. I’ll dwell on a problem, keeping myself up late at night.” Inspired by his father and uncle, he notes that he has enjoyed building things since he was young, from LEGO constructions as a kid to actual houses today.
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