Five students from IPRO 362: M.O.R.E. Life were finalists in the Global Health Technologies Design Competition at Rice University on April 8-9, 2011. The team took first place in the competition’s poster category, the criteria for which included the design and content of the poster, subject of the project, and the impact its design could make on the world. The students who attended the competition included Urba Mandrekar (psychology), Shin Young Park (architecture), Henna Eassa (molecular biochemistry and biophysics), Blake Wolfe (biomedical engineering), and Felipe Duarte Rivas (biomedical engineering).

IPRO 362 is designing and building a mobile operating room that can be deployed in areas that have just experienced a natural disaster. This mobile operating room will be portable, modular, cost-effective, energy-efficient, and most importantly, include a filtration system within the walls of the tent to provide a sterile environment for injured victims in need of surgery. Presenting their design to competing students from around the country and to a panel of judges that included doctors, engineers, and health workers, the IPRO team was able to receive valuable feedback on their idea and approaches.

The IPRO 362 team will continue to work at a face pace, with a goal of building a prototype tent bythe end of the semester, which they will send to Uganda where their local partner will test it and provide feedback on improvements. Stop by their exhibit during IPRO Day, to be held on Thursday, April 28 in Hermann Hall, to see their progress.