Innovation and Collaboration Celebrated at the Fourth Annual Biomedical Engineering Day

Hosted by the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology, BME Day serves as an annual showcase of the department’s research, student innovation, and growing partnerships with industry and healthcare leaders. The event highlights the work of undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students while providing opportunities to connect with individuals across the biomedical engineering community.

The fourth annual celebration began with opening remarks from Jennifer Kang-Mieler, George Meade Bond Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Department Chair, who welcomed attendees and emphasized the department’s commitment and progress over the year in advancing biomedical innovation.

Kang-Mieler concluded her speech by welcoming the keynote speaker, Tejal Desai, Sorensen Family Dean of Engineering and Professor of Engineering at Brown University, who reflected on her journey into engineering, tracing her early inspiration to her participation in a pre-college program at Stevens. Desai shared that she was among the first cohort of women to attend the program, describing how that experience sparked her passion for engineering. She further discussed her ongoing research in biomaterials and their extensive applications in drug delivery systems and cancer therapies, highlighting the transformative progress of modern medicine.

The day continued with the BME Day tradition of 90-second elevator pitches from current senior design teams. From a low-cost neonatal incubator for under-resourced populations to a non-invasive, pre-screening platform for Alzheimer’s disease, 13 teams summarized their engineering problem, design solution, and broad impact. This showcase invites students to share progress on their projects as they prepare to present their completed projects at the Innovation Expo in May.

The top three winning teams, voted by the audience, advanced to a “Shark Tank”-style competition, where they presented their projects to a panel of industry guests as an investors’ pitch. Among the teams, the judges selected Duoxalis, an at-home screening tool for common vaginal infections.

“This event was a great experience and opportunity to showcase our team’s progress and applications of BME principles to a real-life problem,” stated Gabrielle Moroney, a member of the Duoxalis team.

Beyond senior design, BME Day also spotlighted student research across multiple academic levels. Undergraduate and graduate researchers presented their work across a wide range of biomedical subjects, from tissue engineering to novel imaging techniques for cancer screening. Student-researcher presenters included doctoral student Amanda Peterman and doctoral candidate Aleese Mukhamedjanova, and senior undergraduate student, Gabrielle Moroney.

The event also featured Garrison Allen, a fourth-year medical student and Master’s student in the Stevens-Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine (HMSOM) Partnership. Allen highlighted the program’s unique focus on healthcare innovation at the intersection of engineering and clinical training, where students are readily equipped to apply technical problem-solving skills at the patient interface.

Adding a dose of friendly competition, faculty members, graduate and undergraduate students, and industry guests faced off in a spirited BME department-themed Jeopardy game, testing their knowledge of BME faculty fun-facts, Stevens’ history, and pop culture. The graduate students were the winning team, as determined by the final Jeopardy question.

The day concluded with lunch and networking, offering students the opportunity to connect with faculty, alumni, and industry partners.

Through engaging talks, student-driven innovation, and meaningful connections, BME Day continues to highlight the vibrant and collaborative community within Stevens’ biomedical engineering program. Reflecting on the event, Kang-Mieler noted, “Biomedical engineering is about turning ideas into solutions that improve lives. Events like BME Day remind us that the next generation of innovators is already building the technologies that will shape the future of healthcare.” As a longstanding department tradition, BME Day remains a celebration of the research, innovation, and people shaping the future of biomedical engineering.