DETROIT — A Dearborn student was among four Wayne State University students to compete in the finals of a design competition in Pennsylvania.
Ali Abdallah of Dearborn is one of a team of four first-year biomedical engineering students to make it to the finals of the Undergraduate Design Competition at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Summer Bioengineering Conference, held last Wednesday through Saturday in Nemacolin, Pa.
The team, working under the team name BANH, also was composed of Nigil Valikodath of Rockwood, Brandon Heid of Macomb Township and Hajra Khan of Windsor, Ontario.
The inaugural competition sought submissions from undergraduate design teams in the United States and Canada. Based on two-page descriptions of their designs, six teams were selected by a panel of judges to present their projects at the upcoming international conference.
While undergraduate teams at all levels were encouraged to submit designs, most of the projects were submitted by capstone design teams of senior students.
“The selection of this first-year team demonstrates the excellent work that the new undergraduate BME students are doing, even early in their curriculum,” said Michele Grimm, Ph.D., associate professor of biomedical engineering.
The group designed a device that will allow a diabetic patient with the use of only one arm to test his blood sugar independently. The device was developed based on the request of an actual client who approached the BME Department for assistance. The conceptual design will be prototyped this semester to allow actual testing and feedback from the client.