Student Ryan Stellar co-designs pain-management device
Stevens Institute senior-design project is basis for start-up company
HOBOKEN , N.J. — Local resident Ryan Michael Stellar, a cooperative education senior at Stevens Institute of Technology, is a partner in a new technology venture company that he helped to found while a student, Stevens Proof of Concept (SPOC). Ryan is the son of Emrich Stellar, Jr. of Lehigh Valley and Kathleen Cadden of Dunmore.
“Dr. Norman Marcus, a well-known pain management physician at NYU Medical School , worked in collaboration with Team MECCo, one of our 2005 Biomedical Engineering Teams in Senior Design,” said Stevens’ Vice President for Institute Technology Initiatives, Dr Helena S. Wisniewski. “Together, they designed and built a device to facilitate a new high-tech method for diagnosing and treating pain.”
Dr. Wisniewski and the student team, along with Dr. Marcus, have become the founders of a Stevens’ Technogenesis ® spin-out company, SPOC, that will test, perfect and commercialize the device.
“SPOC illustrates the entrepreneurial spirit that has inspired Stevens’ students,” said Wisniewski. “SPOC is based on the patent-pending medical device that was developed as the senior project by Ryan and his classmates, Daniel Silva and Jeckin Shah, under the guidance of Professor Vikki Hazelwood. These students are the founders of the company together with Dr. Norman Marcus, a pain management physician at NYU Medical Center , whose methodology motivated the creation of the device. This device can locate the precise point of muscle pain and can help prevent unnecessary surgeries or treatments. Clinical trials will begin this fall.” Physicians, sports teams, and physical therapists have already been inquiring when the product will be available.
A five-year cooperative education student at Stevens, Ryan Stellar is already actively pursuing a career that began as a collaboration with his classmates, professors and healthcare professionals to find a solution that could help many who experience pain that was previously difficult to diagnose and treat.
About Stevens Institute of Technology
Founded in 1870, Stevens Institute of Technology is one of the leading technological universities in the world dedicated to learning and research. Through its broad-based curricula, nurturing of creative inventiveness, and cross disciplinary research, the Institute is at the forefront of global challenges in engineering, science, and technology management. Partnerships and collaboration between, and among, business, industry, government and other universities contribute to the enriched environment of the Institute. A new model for technology commercialization in academe, known as Technogenesis®, involves external partners in launching business enterprises to create broad opportunities and shared value.
Stevens offers baccalaureates, master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering, science, computer science and management, in addition to a baccalaureate degree in the humanities and liberal arts, and in business and technology. The university has a total enrollment of 2,150 undergraduate and 3,500 graduate students, with about 250 full-time faculty. Stevens’ graduate programs have attracted international participation from China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and Latin America. Additional information may be obtained from its web page at www.stevens.edu.
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