Hotspots鈥攃aused by shaded solar cells overheating鈥攑ose a serious fire risk in solar installations. The team鈥檚 proposed solution, idealPV鈥攕olar panel technology patented by Kent Kernahan鈥攃ontinuously monitors dynamic conductance and adjusts current flow in milliseconds, preventing reverse bias before it begins. Described by the team as 鈥渢he airbag of the solar industry,鈥� this technology can keep solar arrays operating safely and efficiently鈥攅specially important in high-risk wildfire areas like Southern California.

Harvey Mudd sophomores Felix Peng (team lead), Amy Li, Anika Sharma and Katie Cheng were inspired by past research led by physics Professor Peter Saeta.

鈥淢y involvement began with a Clinic project to validate Kernahan鈥檚 patented technology, which evolved into a full-blown research effort,鈥� says Saeta. The resulting paper, co-written with Harvey Mudd professors Richard Haskell and Qimin Yang and five students, was published in the December 2022 IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics. 鈥淚t was exciting when Felix approached me about entering the DOE competition. I鈥檓 thrilled with the team鈥檚 win.鈥�

After being selected as an EnergyTech UP finalist and receiving a $5,000 prize, 24 multidisciplinary teams of post-secondary students from universities across the U.S.鈥攑itched their innovative business plans to industry stakeholders and OTC leadership to bring a DOE National Laboratory-developed or other high-potential energy technology to market.

Peng, who competed in DOE challenges during high school and recently with mathematics Professor Weiqing Gu, assembled the team after revisiting Saeta鈥檚 published research. 鈥淲e wanted to build a business case around an innovation with local impact,鈥� he says. 鈥淚n Southern California, solar innovation and wildfire risk are high, so safety innovation like idealPV made sense to us.鈥�

Each team member brought a distinct strength:

• Engineering major Peng led project management and stakeholder outreach.
• Computer science and mathematics major Li conducted market sizing and economic feasibility analysis.
• Computer science and mathematics major Sharma developed the implementation and scalability strategy.
• Engineering major Cheng focused on articulating the technical edge of idealPV in the competitive solar landscape.

Peng says, 鈥淚dealPV eliminates the fire risk problem entirely by dynamically monitoring the slope of the current-voltage curve (dynamic conductance) and adjusting current in real time to keep every cell in safe operating range. We created a full implementation and licensing plan: launching a local pilot with nonprofit CHERP Solar Works, scaling through licensing to larger manufacturers and aiming for industry-wide adoption.鈥�

The team鈥檚 success stemmed from a combination of personal connection to the problem, technical fluency and stakeholder validation鈥攊ncluding input from firefighters, utilities, nonprofits and solar startups.

鈥淭his competition has been a springboard to so many opportunities in the climate tech space,鈥� says Sharma. 鈥淚鈥檓 grateful for all the connections it brings.鈥�

Student involvement in national 无忧视频 competitions reflects 无忧视频鈥檚 goal of fostering a diverse cohort of engaged 无忧视频 leaders through exceptional teaching, learning and research.

鈥淭he team at 776 is tasked with backing exceptional founders as early as possible in their journey, giving potential founders the space and time (and money) to build something great,鈥� states the 776 Fellowship website.

O鈥橦ara will pursue his startup Apsis Robotics, which is focused on carbon capture technology to help the environment. He was inspired to launch his business after taking the spring 2022 Entrepreneurship class at Harvey Mudd.

“With his passion for climate change and his entrepreneurial abilities, I honestly believe he will change the world,鈥� said course instructor Kash Gokli, Oliver C. Field Professor of Manufacturing Practice and Engineering Economics and inaugural director of entrepreneurship initiatives.

O鈥橦ara has an extensive research background in climate change. He has conducted research at the University of Arizona, the University of Washington, NASA and the Sea Education Association. He has participated in a data gathering expedition with the Sea Education Association and developed new theoretical climate-related technologies with NASA. He has disseminated climate research information by speaking at the recent United Nations COP27 climate conference and collaborating on the United Nations International Panel on Climate Change 6th Assessment Report (as the representative of the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists, of which he is the youngest-ever co-chair). He was selected by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation as a 2023鈥�2024 Astronaut Scholar.

With a desire to apply his scientific expertise to real-world applications, O鈥橦ara launched Apsis. Its flagship product, an autonomous engineered system, mitigates the effects of ocean acidification and supports vulnerable marine ecosystems. The company’s robots can sustainably convert carbon dioxide in seawater (one of the primary drivers behind ocean acidification) into calcium carbonate (a basic compound which naturally keeps seawater at a healthy pH), dramatically slowing local acidification and creating more habitable environmental conditions for nearby reefs and ecosystems.

O鈥橦ara says, 鈥淲e hope to work with and sell to coastal governments, near-shore aquaculture firms and ocean conservation entities鈥攇roups with a vested interest in mitigating ocean acidification鈥攖o effectively protect and restore marine life.

鈥淚n the long-term, I hope to scale this technology and use it to support and rebuild reefs and other nearshore ecosystems all around the world until our society achieves net negative carbon emissions,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 believe that one of the primary roles of climate technology is to support failing ecosystems and mitigate the consequences of climate change in the short-term until we’re able to develop and implement the long-term economic and social changes required to truly rebuild the environment, a mission that drives Apsis’ work.鈥�

As a member of the executive team of the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists, O鈥橦ara works with the UN on climate policy. 鈥淥ne of the major things I’ve learned from this work is that the oceans experience some of the most severe consequences of climate change but seem to be neglected in global climate policy and talks. Ocean acidification, in particular, is an outcome of climate change that isn’t discussed enough: if our oceans continue to acidify, we’ll see the complete collapse of countless marine ecosystems, which will threaten the food security of billions of people, leave coastal communities more susceptible to ocean storms and flooding, and devastate Earth’s biodiversity. As a result, I wanted to use my knowledge of this space and technical expertise to fill this perceived gap in the climate movement’s work, and so Apsis was born.鈥�

During his last semester before graduating, O鈥橦ara will participate in Harvey Mudd鈥檚 entrepreneurship Clinic Program while also working on his startup and participating in the 776 Fellowship program.

At the SageTank event held in April, teams from around The Claremont Colleges shared startup pitches with a panel of experienced judges and a live audience. Winners received funding to invest in their company, and all competitors received publicity, networking opportunities and a jumpstart from the accelerator program.

All top teams, including the third-place finisher from Pomona College, had participated in the Entrepreneurship class taught by Kash Gokli, Oliver C. Field Professor of Manufacturing Practice and Engineering Economics and director of entrepreneurship initiatives. The popular course, open to all Claremont Colleges students, is part of HMC鈥檚 effort to strengthen and expand its curricular and co-curricular activities to nurture the next generation of entrepreneurs. The class is aimed at those who would like to: launch a startup upon graduation or later; join established companies and apply their entrepreneurial skills and spirit; or be social entrepreneurs. Ayman Abdelletiff 鈥�23 co-creator of Athena Network, said, 鈥淚t was great to be in an environment that really nurtured our respect and passion for entrepreneurship.鈥�

The winning startups and team members were:

1st place: Axolotl Audio, Devon Overbey 鈥�24, Pierce Gruber 鈥�25, Xander Fries 鈥�24

2nd place: Brakesafe, Mau Brave Guzman 鈥�25, Dominick Quaye 鈥�25, Ket Hollingsworth 鈥�25

3rd place: David De Souza (Pomona College)

4th place: Athena Network, Ayman Abdelletiff 鈥�24

Axolotl Audio

Devon Overbey, Pierce Gruber and Xander Fries will use their $5,000 prize to develop a prototype this summer and prepare for their first sales. The team began as a music startup last semester in the entrepreneurship class. During spring, they pivoted to traffic management. Their product uses audio from a microphone to detect the speed of passing cars and transmits that data to the cloud. Fries says, 鈥淥ur device is 10 times cheaper than existing speed-monitoring devices, enabling HOAs and cities to continuously collect speed data on dangerous roads to make streets safer for everyone.鈥�

He adds, 鈥淚’m extremely thankful for everyone who’s helped us get to this point and excited to see what’s ahead in the next few months.鈥�

Brakesafe

The founders note that automatic emergency braking, the largest improvement to car safety since the airbag, is not present in the majority of operating cars, let alone those made before 2018. The feature is more effective than forward-collision warning alarms at reducing car collisions, which result in 1.35 million deaths each year. Their product, Brakesafe, is an installable automatic braking system for motor vehicles which utilizes an open-source algorithm capable of detecting imminent collisions, pedestrians and red lights.

Athena Network

Athena Network is a mobile-based application that supplies students with valuable resources to get the most out of their college career. The design focuses on three major aspects of the college experience: college courses, community engagement and creating a new way for students to network.

Fiber optic light-up ski poles and an affordable analog software for musicians and sound engineers were among the startup business models presented by students on the final day of 无忧视频鈥檚 new Entrepreneurship Workshop class. Student teams develop an innovative idea for a product that solves customers鈥� unmet needs and then create a scalable business model for their startup.  

The course is a hands-on, practical class that helps students create a model for their startup with significantly less money in a short timeframe. The class is taught by Kash Gokli, founding director of entrepreneurship initiatives and professor of manufacturing practice and engineering economics.

鈥淎ll of the presentations were great, and each student brought an interesting perspective to their product and company,鈥� Gokli said. 鈥淣ot everyone here will go on to start a company, but they鈥檒l at least learn how it is done and how to set the building blocks if they ever have an idea they want to run with.鈥�

Six groups presented various products and services, including a college-experience enhancement platform, a college-based marketplace mobile application, fiber optic light-up ski poles and an affordable analog software for musicians and sound engineers.

鈥淲e started off creating an analog synthesizer, but after talking to potential customers at music stores, we found that people really don鈥檛 care all that much about them,鈥� Xander Fries 鈥�24 said. 鈥淲e took that feedback and shifted to talking to customers in active markets.鈥�

Fries said that the chip and software he has developed with his classmates Devon Overbey 鈥�25 and Pierce Gruber 鈥�25 will help cut down by hours the time it takes for sound engineers to reset high-quality studio mixing consoles.

鈥淭his class taught us how to approach and talk to our target audience to gather information that would help us shift accordingly,鈥� Gruber said. 鈥淎nyone thinking about getting into entrepreneurship needs to be comfortable with getting out and talking to everyone in their target audience. It is one of the most important steps when getting started with a product.鈥�

Ayman Abdellatif 鈥�24 teamed with fellow classmates Ammar Fakih 鈥�24 and Lucas Welch CMC 鈥�25 to create a mobile application that aspires to enhance the undergraduate college experience.

鈥淎thena Network is a one-stop shop that provides college students with all of the resources they may want,鈥� Abdellatif said. 鈥淥ur goal is to connect students with other students, staff, faculty and, most importantly, their community.鈥�

The Athena Network team discussed its initial hypothesis, showcased a full application overview and presented a three-year forecast for the company.

鈥淚 always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur, even when I didn鈥檛 know what that meant,鈥� Abdellatif said. 鈥淎fter hearing about all of the things that Josh Jones is doing as an HMC alumnus, that really inspired me to text Ammar, my childhood best friend, to get something going.鈥�

In addition to being an entrepreneur (DreamHost founder) and investor, Josh Jones 鈥�98 and Gary Evans, professor of economics emeritus, co-founded HMC INQ (a finance company that invests in HMC alumni and their startup companies) and Harvey鈥檚 Angels, a network of HMC alumni who invest in Harvey Mudd-related companies.

Jones also helps teach the Entrepreneurship Workshop class alongside Gokli.

鈥淚 love seeing these teams鈥� enthusiasm as they go through this semester-long journey and how they have to pivot and adapt with their idea,鈥� Jones said. 鈥淪tudents getting into entrepreneurship shouldn鈥檛 think too hard and just go for it. A few years down the line they may be breaking even and be happier than if they were somewhere else.鈥�

To learn more about Harvey Mudd鈥檚 entrepreneurship courses and resources, visit the Entrepreneurship website.

鈥淔or this college-wide program, companies tell us what they鈥檙e looking for, students do the same, and then we match them up,鈥� says Kash Gokli, inaugural director of entrepreneurship initiatives and Oliver C. Field Professor of Manufacturing Practice and Engineering Economics. He notes that both the students and the companies reported numerous benefits.

The student view

鈥淚 did research on campus before, but I also wanted to see what it鈥檚 like in the industry, and see my engineering knowledge being applied,鈥� says Jenny Wathanakulchat, a senior engineering major who spent 12 weeks as a test-and-integration engineer intern at the robot-pizza-making company Stellar Pizza. Besides reviewing new components and reporting back to the design team, she also helped communicate the technology to its end-users, she says. 鈥淥ne of the biggest things I learned was how to incorporate the human aspect鈥攅ngaging with operators to make sure everyone knows how the tech works and how to do it safely.鈥�

Stellar Pizza had one intern, but other participating companies accepted more. One was Aquilius, a life science and medical technology incubator that brought in interns from several schools, including three from HMC. Interns attended lecture-style meetings centering on the ins and outs of running a new tech company, while also working in teams to solve one of several real-world, biology-related problems. 鈥淭he idea was that we would create a little company from the start, develop actual prototypes and finally present that project to a panel of investors who would vote on which company had the most potential for moving forward,鈥� explains junior engineering major Devon Overbey. To sweeten the pot, Aquilius offered聽 a $10,000 prize for the top team project.

鈥淭he whole experience was solid,鈥� Overbey says. 鈥淚鈥檝e been thinking about starting a company since high school, but this internship definitely made me feel more confident in my abilities, especially the fact that my team鈥檚 project showed promise to actual investors, and we ended up winning the prize, which we split three ways. That was really cool.鈥�

The company view

Two of the other participating companies included Flycoin, a cryptocurrency-based, frequent-flier-loyalty program, and Trilo Bio, a robotics synthetic biology startup.

鈥淲e wanted HMC interns because Mudders are amazing,鈥� said Nate Daiger, Flycoin CTO. 鈥淚’ve met lots of them through and if you’re looking for smart people who can jump into any tasks and tackle them with aplomb, I don’t think you can do any better. And that’s what startups need most.鈥� The company鈥檚 three Mudd interns excelled, he commented. 鈥淓veryone here, including many HMC grads, were extremely impressed with their skill and diligence.鈥�

Trilo Bio decided to offer an internship because it was 鈥渁n opportunity to nurture a relationship with a Harvey Mudd student just beginning their career,鈥� says co-founder and CEO Roya Amini-Naieni. 鈥淲hen I was younger and just starting out, someone let me join their research team. What I鈥檝e found is that people who are given an opportunity [early on] tend to work harder and be more creative because it鈥檚 their first chance,鈥� she says. She was not disappointed, describing her company鈥檚 intern, first year Arman Khasru, as a 鈥渟uper-independent鈥� person who dove right into a microfluidics project to assist with genetic engineering experiments. 鈥淗e was our first intern ever at the company, and he did well,鈥� she says.

What鈥檚 next?

With the program鈥檚 successful first-year in the books, Gokli now hopes to expand it. 鈥淢y plan is to make it a bigger-impact program, perhaps even doubling the number of students who participate.鈥� To do that, he encourages other companies to either contact him by email or phone or fill out the website form. He notes that HMC fully or partially funded some of the internships in 2022, so he is seeking other ways to sponsor students in 2023 and beyond. 鈥淭his is especially important for students who are perhaps disadvantaged or are first-year students and typically would not get a nice internship like this,鈥� he says, noting that the investment helps students build their portfolio of knowledge and experience.

The benefit to students is real, agrees Wathanakulchat. 鈥淢udd is a very hands-on experience already, but it鈥檚 still not 鈥榬eal鈥� compared to the outside [business world]. It鈥檚 a really good, comforting moment to see that what you did in classes actually applies. It鈥檚 very validating.鈥� Besides, she adds, 鈥淚 had such a good time.鈥�

The new class, led by HMC engineering professor and the director of entrepreneurship initiatives Kash Gokli, had an enrollment of 63 students from each of the undergraduate Claremont Colleges and CGU (73% from HMC). One of the class sessions was about 鈥淗ow to Find a Co-founder.鈥�

鈥淚t was fascinating to see the students reaching out across the colleges to find co-founders for their companies,鈥� says Gokli. 鈥淚 saw cross-college teams with members from HMC, CMC and Pomona leveraging students鈥� strengths from other colleges.鈥�

The course is part of HMC鈥檚 effort to strengthen and expand its curricular and co-curricular activities to nurture the next generation of entrepreneurs. In addition to HMC alumni entrepreneurs and others who shared their success stories and covered topics of interest during class sessions, the 10 teams came up with startup ideas and worked on them throughout the semester. Projects included apps for more efficient road trips, to convert freeways into free markets, to decentralize art and to streamline the giving process. Student teams also pitched ways to connect makers with consumers and to help schools provide better instruction for complex 3D concepts.

Mentors included Josh Jones 鈥�98, DreamHost co-founder and co-founder of the startup incubator HMC INQ, and HMC trustees Sergio Monsalve P25 and Mar Herschenson P24.

鈥淚 was blown away by the level of student energy, the quality and the breadth of projects students worked on,鈥� says Herschenson. 鈥淭his class is an important step to inspire our students to become great entrepreneurs.鈥�

鈥淚t was very encouraging to see students鈥� interest in entrepreneurship,鈥� says Gokli. The class is aimed at those who would like to launch a startup upon graduation or later, students who want to join established companies and apply their entrepreneurial skills and spirit and students who would like to be social entrepreneurs. 鈥淓ntrepreneurial skills and an entrepreneurial spirit can benefit students in all career paths.鈥�

The winning teams鈥擜thena led by Ayman Abdellatif 鈥�24 and Terra Robotics led by Ryan O鈥橦ara 鈥�24鈥攚ill pitch to well-known venture capitalists in northern and southern California this summer.

Athena

Ayman Abdellatif 鈥�24 describes Athena as modern class registration to help students graduate. According to his research, 50% of four-year college students and 80% of two-year college students don鈥檛 graduate due to finances, academic disqualification, poor socialization and other factors. With a focus on course preparation, student connection, on-demand tutoring and local community engagement, the Athena service would require colleges to pay a subscription per student. Along with Abdellatif, who is CEO of Athena, Ammar Fakih 鈥�24 is CTO,  Lucas Welsh CMC 鈥�25 is CMO and Andrew Faber 鈥�24 (UC Riverside) is senior software developer.

鈥淎mmar Fakih and I were talking about wanting to do something meaningful during our time at Harvey Mudd,鈥� says Abdellatif. 鈥淚 had been in ID049 for a couple weeks and decided that over our short time at Mudd, Ammar and I had enough experience to at least dabble in the tech industry. Ammar had wanted to develop a resource like Hyper-schedule that expanded on the idea of scheduling courses effectively. At the same time, I had also been brainstorming an app I like to call FlashPolitics that allows citizens to see short, yet educational, bullet points on elected topics to inform people of their options. Putting these ideas together we created Class Pages, which is currently a key feature of Athena. Class Pages allows for students to get more information such as: course syllabi, hours spent on a course outside of class, and even course recommendations about all their possible courses in an organized mobile app.鈥�

Abdellatif says the class has inspired him to become an entrepreneur. 鈥淎fter listening to all the guest speakers and meeting with them at the pre-class dinners, I began to see my dream of being a CEO develop. These awesome alumni showed me how it鈥檚 possible to chase that dream, even at a young age. Moreover, the guidance of Professor Kash Gokli, Josh Jones, and Mar Hershenson allowed me to get this far with my team. Having successful people who believe in my team and our dream has been a key aspect in our progress.鈥�

Terra Robotics

Citing rising sea levels, increasing temperatures and climate-fueled conflict as issues that affect everyone, Terra Robotics founder Ryan O鈥橦ara 鈥�24 sees direct air capture as a solution that benefits everyone. DAC technology pulls CO2鈥攖he primary greenhouse gas driving climate change鈥攆rom the air and sequesters it away beneath the Earth so it can no longer warm our planet. The Terra Robotics product is a DAC robot that floats on the ocean and uses hydropower and biochar to sequester carbon dioxide. O鈥橦ara says it is sustainable, cheap to produce, produces net negative carbon emissions and aligns with cutting-edge DAC science. Terra Robotics would target 154 coastal governments around the world.

O鈥橦ara, a sophomore transfer student double majoring in environmental robotics (IPS) and math/CS, has considerable experience in the climate science community. He worked at NASA in 2020 on the development of a water purification system that could mitigate the effects of future droughts; in 2021, he took a research expedition on the Atlantic to study the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems, and he worked with the United Nations on recent climate assessment reports to study the ways the climate crisis is projected to impact human civilization.

鈥淎ll of this has shown me firsthand how severe and serious climate change is and will become in the coming decades, and I started my company with the hope that I could use the skills I鈥檝e developed to make a difference in the fight against the climate crisis,鈥� O鈥橦ara says. 鈥淭he class gave me the push to put something into action I鈥檝e been thinking about for a few years now: using science to make the world a better place and help those who鈥檒l be most impacted by climate change. I also got a lot out of the guidance provided by both the guest speakers and Mar Herschenson, founder of a venture capitalist firm and one of our guest speakers, who gave me valuable advice on how to move my idea from theory to reality.鈥�

This summer, along with team members and engineering majors Devon Overbey 鈥�24 and James Barrett 鈥�24, O鈥橦ara will begin prototype design. Within the next year or two, they hope to have a prototype that achieves the desired parameters so they can begin to scale up. 鈥淔ive years from now, we hope to have a significant number of units deployed in the ocean.鈥�

Visit the Entrepreneurship site for more information.

鈥淭his is an exciting opportunity,鈥� said Gokli, Oliver C. Field Professor of Manufacturing Practice and Engineering Economics. 鈥淭here are a lot of initiatives already happening at Harvey Mudd, and now we can bring it all under one umbrella and add more, to create a truly impactful entrepreneurship program. It’s not a question of whether we will be successful or not, it’s a question of how far we can take it.鈥�

Gokli will collaborate with a multi-constituency working group on entrepreneurship co-chaired by trustees Sergio Monsalve P25 and Bob Hulse 鈥�96/97 and faculty members Albert Dato and Darryl Yong 鈥�96, to design and support a set of curricular and co-curricular activities that will nurture Mudd鈥檚 next generation of entrepreneurs. Gokli will build upon the substantial legacy of Gary Evans, professor of economics emeritus, and the ongoing efforts of the 无忧视频 Entrepreneurial Network.

鈥淲e want to provide opportunities to students from their first year through the fourth, so they can learn and grow and become entrepreneurs,鈥� Gokli said. 鈥淪tarting with seminars, workshops, events, summer fellowships and eventually coursework, we hope to provide education, practical experience, networking and funding opportunities.鈥�

鈥淓ntrepreneurship education is not only for those students who want to start their own companies,鈥� said Gokli, 鈥渂ut also for students who want to join an already established 聽聽company or become social entrepreneurs to impact society. Entrepreneurial skills and an entrepreneurial spirit can benefit students in all career paths.鈥�

鈥淩are diseases鈥� was the theme of the third annual Mount Sinai Health Hackathon in New York City, where four 无忧视频 students competed last month. Sophia Cheng 鈥�21, Valerie Kwee 鈥�19, Victoria Marino 鈥�20 and Heather Wing 鈥�21 spent part of their fall break developing technology for at-home patient monitoring for parents with children suffering from West Syndrome, a condition characterized by infantile epileptic spasms, abnormal brain wave patterns and intellectual disability.

The 48-hour multidisciplinary competition focused on creating novel technology solutions for problems in healthcare. Prior to the start of the competition, teams were given access to video interviews of patients and doctors discussing the challenges they face that involve rare disease. 鈥淲e did not know which rare disease we wanted to focus on,鈥� says Kwee, 鈥渂ut we did know we wanted to help monitor infantile seizures. West Syndrome just happened to be a specific rare disease with epileptic symptoms that could use the tool we created.鈥�

The students鈥� first task at the event was to pitch their idea to an audience and recruit people to join them in developing their device, the West Wave. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a kit developed for at-home use that can collect data in real time to help doctors monitor infants with rare diseases,鈥� says Kwee.

Joined by students from other schools, employees of Mt. Sinai and an entrepreneur from Washington, D.C., the team spent Friday evening to Sunday afternoon developing prototypes and marketing pitches. 鈥淭he project was challenging in that we needed to make devices that were comfortable, marketable and functioning,鈥� Kwee says.

Concealing conductive thread and flexible electrodes in a comfortable, kid-friendly beanie, the West Wave is a wearable electroencephalogram (EEG) that measures brain activity using OpenBCI (open-source, brain-computer interface platform) software and hardware. The beanie is part of a kit that also includes informational material on helping those with West Syndrome and an arm device that detects muscle contraction.

鈥淥ur idea was to have babies wear this wireless EEG and armband when they sleep, and when there are abnormal activities detected, parents would receive an alert on their phones,鈥� says Cheng. 鈥淲e actually got a decent amount of the hardware and part of the software to work.鈥�

鈥淭he arm device uses a resistance sensor fabric that will change resistance as the material is stretched or bent,鈥滽wee says. 鈥淲e used conductive thread to make the device comfortable for users. The arm band is attached to an Arduino microcontroller that plots the changes in resistance, which corresponds to when the wearer is having a spasm and contracting their muscles.鈥�

In the end, the West Wave was not selected as a finalist in the competition. 鈥淚 think all of us were disappointed, to some extent, that our project wasn’t presented the way we had wanted to,鈥� says Cheng a mathematics and computational biology major. 鈥淲e only had three minutes to present; we had a lot of ideas and we executed a lot of them, yet we weren鈥檛 able to present them fully.鈥�

However, as biology and chemistry professor Karl Haushalter points out, 鈥淚 think that the more interesting story is what they were able to create, the interdisciplinary nature of the project and the patients that it would serve.鈥� Haushalter coordinated the team鈥檚 trip to the hackathon through a connection with the Mount Sinai medical school.

鈥淭he experience was unforgettable,鈥� says Kwee, who is majoring in engineering. 鈥淲e were able to meet people from many trades that we likely would never have had the opportunity of meeting.鈥�

Though this team will likely not continue development of the West Wave, the project may be taken on by another group. 鈥淚 really would like to continue working on it and possibly have this turned into a future Clinic project,鈥� says Marino, an engineering major. 鈥淢t. Sinai engineers were particularly interested in the product idea and will likely expand on it,鈥� Kwee says.

This was the second year that a team from Harvey Mudd competed in the Health Hackathon. 鈥淚 was pleasantly surprised that other students there know about Mudd,鈥� says Cheng. 鈥淭he presenters and the sponsor also mentioned Mudd a couple times during the introduction.鈥�

In February, last year鈥檚 team was invited to enter its project, the Teddy Tracker, in a Shark Tank-style showcase, during which they presented a pitch to a panel of entrepreneurs and received positive feedback. The Teddy Tracker has also made it through the first round of selection for the Lemelson-MIT student prize, which honors promising student inventors. Funding for both trips came from the Shanahan Student-Directed Project Fund.

鈥淚 would definitely recommend Mudd students participate in the Health Hackathon,鈥� says Kwee, pointing out that, with the preparation that all Harvey Mudd students receive in the Core, students of any major are already equipped to participate.

鈥淚 am glad I had the chance to participate in the event before I graduated,鈥� Kwee says. 鈥淚t really showed me how much I鈥檝e learned in the past three-and-a-half years and reminded me of the impact I can make. The event helped me build confidence in myself, and I am more excited to see what the future will hold for me as an engineer.鈥�