Research & Innovation

Stevens Graduate Student Innovations That Will Change the World on Display at Conference

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Doctoral fellows assemble at a November 17 event at Stevens
Doctoral students assemble at Stevens' annual I&E Doctoral Fellowship Conference November 17

Startups, research discussed at doctoral-student event

Stevens graduate student ingenuity, insight and entrepreneurship were on display at the university's annual I&E Doctoral Fellowship Conference November 17. Twenty-four doctoral student candidates presented talks; discussed research findings, patent applications and startup ventures; and took questions from an expert Stevens faculty panel.

Martin Burns, a Cedar Grove, New Jersey native currently pursuing a doctoral degree in biomedical engineering and advised by professor Ramana Vinjamuri, was selected winner of the annual Best Presentation Award for his presentation, "Near-Natural Human Hand Exoskeleton."

Among the other projects and presentations enjoyed by the attendees were:

  • A new filtration technology based on plants that appears to effectively remove contaminants such as antibiotics residues from drinking water, presented by Saumik Panja;

  • a filtration technology designed to remove dangerous heavy metals such as lead from drinking water, using specially manufactured nanomaterials, presented by Shujuan Zhang;

  • continuing refinement of a new machine-learning technology developed by professors Rajarathnam Chandramouli and K.P. Subbalakshmi that scans text and phone calls for potential early-warning signs of Alzheimer's disease, dementia and aphasia, presented by electrical and computer engineering student Zongru (Doris) Shao;

  • and a detailed examination of the reasons why companies switch between listings on major U.S. stock exchanges, and whether that switch is ultimately profitable, presented by business student Ali Taatian.

"The I&E Doctoral Fellowship is a highly competitive program, reserved for those who not only work on challenging research topics but also possess the drive and zeal to take their research beyond the lab and into the marketplace," noted Vice Provost of Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Mo Dehghani.

"Our I&E Doctoral Fellows work diligently to prepare for this conference," added Mary Ann Piazza, executive portfolio manager for the university. "They are exposed to multiple entrepreneurial speaker events and training sessions to assist in their preparation."