Jalen Bailey, Ξ ’24, hopes to work in the Biomedical Engineering (BME) space after graduation this Spring. As an Engineer at Stevens Institute of Technology, that seems like an obvious step. Unlike other job-hunting grads, though, Bailey may have a leg up.
Bailey is part of a four-person team that recently took first place in the annual Ansary Entrepreneurship Competition at Stevens. With that title came a $10,000 prize. They will also be competing in a bigger tournament for even larger prizes soon.
“The general idea is that it’s a competition for engineers and whatever senior capstone project you do, you try to pitch your invention as something that can be commercialized,” says Bailey. “The point is for the project to grow into a real business or real invention.”
Bailey says the top three groups from his senior Design class went on to the semi-finals, where they had to make a video about the project and answer questions. They took their project to the finals after that, which only accepted six groups out of the original 125. There, they did a 3-minute pitch in front of a crowd at the Stevens Innovation Expo.
His team took first place and the $10,000 prize. What was the project? Let him explain.
“We created an automated knee therapy device for knee flexion contracture,” says Bailey. “It’s basically a condition where you can’t hyperextend your knee and it makes it difficult to walk normally and climb stairs normally.”
