Fellow:Nathan Smialek

Bio

Nate is a junior Bioengineer at the University of Pittsburgh, his work involves primarily entrepreneurial engineering management and design. He currently runs an organization known as Engineers for Sustainable Medical Development (ESMD). The group works hand-in-hand with clinicians at UPMC (Universty of Pittsburgh Medical Center), and international conglomerate, to develop medical technology. He is leading a design team that has a provisional patent filed in conjunction with the University of Pittsburgh on a medical device created for clinical application. EMSD also works to bring practical engineering to the classroom by leading weekly workshops using arduinos, simple motors, and SolidWorks. He is focused on expansion of the group, they have forged a relationship with the Office of Technology and Development at the University of Pittsburgh to help patent the medical devices that come out of the club. As president, he is currently managing five design projects which are funded by multiple sources including the Department of Bioengineering, ESMD, and the Coutler program. His mission is to spread this initiative across the campus and throughout the nation by collaborating with similar organizations and raising interest in entrepreneurial endeavors.

M-OCT

Nate led the team comprised of Ian McIntyre, Stephanie Lee, and Harrison Harker that created the M-OCT (Mount for Optical Coherence Tomography). The team collaborated with Kira Lathrop to create a specialized mount to image various stem cell niches of the eye during optical surgery. On Monday, September 24, 2013 the mount was used during four surgeries to diagnose degenerative disorders and help in the effort to restore sight to blind pediatric patients. The team looks to further develop the M-OCT as a tool used to help restore vision, diagnose degenerative disorders, and image areas of interest.

Related Links

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University Innovation Fellows

Spring 2016:

Mark Doman

Grant Jacoby

Emily Klonicki

Zach Patterson

Aakash Sudhakar

Spring 2015:

David Jacob

Madhur Malhotra

Ian McIntyre

Harinee Suthakar

Fall 2014:

Jennifer Sommer

Fall 2013:

Brian Rhindress

Nathan Smialek

Fall 2012:

Karuna Relwani