Two teams that include former Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech graduates have reached the finals of national Collegiate Inventors Competition.

Former BME undergraduates Jared Brown, Bailey Eaton, and Rachel Mann are presenting as team SecURO. Their team advisor is James Rains, director of capstone, in the Coulter Department. The team’s description is as follows:

SecURO

Prostate cancer affects one in nine men in the United States. When the prostate must be removed, poor visibility and restricted maneuverability can lead to human error and complications including life-threatening infections. Designed to make this procedure safer, SecURO is a single-use, automatic circular stitching device that places the stitches with the pull of a trigger, eliminating problems associated with hand-stitching. Patients can expect faster recovery times and fewer complications when SecURO is used.

Former Coulter BME undergraduate Mahdi Al-Husseini, who also has a MS degree in computer science from Georgia Tech, is competing in the graduate category. His team, SALUS, represents both Georgia Tech and Stanford University. His teammates are Joshua Barnett and Tony Chen. The team’s advisor are Shivan Amin, Rocco Giustino, Marty Jacobson, and Thomas J. Leppert V. Jacobson is a design instructor and lecturer in the Coulter Department. The team’s description is as follows:

SALUS (Stabilizing Aerial Loads Utility System)

When helicopters hoist patients, soldiers or cargo, turbulent winds created by the blades can cause the people or objects lifted from the ground to spin, leading to serious damage or even death. SALUS (Stabilizing Aerial Loads Utility System) is an electromechanical stabilization system that uses flywheel technology for safer aerial transport. This innovative device can stabilize a hoisted load in seconds, significantly reducing the time needed to perform a potentially life-saving aerial hoist.

The Collegiate Inventors Competition was founded in 1990 to encourage and drive innovation and entrepreneurship at the collegiate level. The Competition recognizes and awards students engaged in cutting-edge research and discovery. With the help of their sponsors, they have awarded over $1 million to the country’s most innovative collegiate students.

Finalists gather at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) headquarters to present their research and prototypes to the most influential innovators and invention experts in the nation — National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductees and USPTO experts. This panel not only judges the Finalists’ entries, but also provides feedback, brainstorming and encouragement to take inventions to the next level.