Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM

Portable Splint Device, Tremor Assist Cup Take Top Prizes at 2019 Invent@SU Session in NYC

Thursday, June 27, 2019, By Alex Dunbar
Share
entrepreneurshipInventionsStudentsvideo

four people holding two oversized checksThey saw a problem and wanted to do something about it. Maxwell Boise ’21 and Emmett Burns ’21 had an idea for an easy to carry, portable splint device—and the six week Invent@SU program in New York City gave them an opportunity to design, prototype and pitch their concept.

“I was thinking about my background as a Boy Scout and in hiking, so we wanted to have something that was just a piece of gear that was really compact: someone has it in a pouch, slip in your pocket, slip it in your backpack,” says Boise.

“The current options are just super large devices that you would never bring on a trip with you,” says Burns.

Their Porta-Splint device can be adapted to help with a variety of injuries from ankle sprains to broken limbs.

“You can change the shape of it and it will immobilize and support that injury to help you get back to safety,” says Boise.

Boise and Burns were one of ten teams working out of the Fisher Center in Manhattan to develop new inventions. The program is open to all Syracuse University undergraduates. With help from Mechanical Engineering Professor Yevgeniy Yesilevskiy and his graduate assistants, they constructed working prototypes and pitched them to guest evaluators each week.

“This is real. This is like real life, this is hands-on stuff, says Jenniviv Bansah ’22. “You would be surprised by how much stuff that can change.”

After six weeks, all 10 teams presented their inventions to a panel of entrepreneurs, engineers and business leaders. Boise and Burns’ Porta-Splint took first place. Bansah and Skyler Hall ’21 took second place with a device to help people with hand tremors drink from a cup or bottle.

“It’s such an empowering device that if we can make it customizable for people it can really uplift their confidence and just make them happy,” says Bansah.

Several of the Invent@SU teams plan to work with Blackstone Launchpad in Bird Library to move forward as a business.

“I think it is great for anyone no matter what they study, no matter what their discipline,” says Boise.

“It makes you realize that a lot of things that seem super daunting, creating your own product, something you never could do–you totally can,” says Burns. “It is a good kick-start into the entrepreneurial world for sure.”

  • Author

Alex Dunbar

  • Recent
  • ‘ADA Live!’ Focuses on Protection and Advocacy Systems for People with Disabilities
    Sunday, February 28, 2021, By News Staff
  • Hilda A. Frimpong Becomes the First Black Student to Lead Syracuse Law Review
    Saturday, February 27, 2021, By Robert Conrad
  • Important Update for Flexible Spending Accounts
    Friday, February 26, 2021, By News Staff
  • Message From Dean of Students Marianne Thomson
    Friday, February 26, 2021, By News Staff
  • CAS in Intercollegiate Athletic Advising and Support Addresses Unique Needs of College Student-Athletes
    Thursday, February 25, 2021, By Jennifer Russo

More In STEM

Aerospace Engineering Alumni Profile: George Kirby ’92

Great technology requires an equally impressive business plan supporting it. The goal is to have a company led by someone who understands what makes the company innovative and also the business and analytical skill to grow it into an industry…

Keeping SARS2 Out of the Cell

As vaccines are distributed worldwide to fight the pandemic, important research at Syracuse University may uncover ways to block it and similar viruses in the future. Alison Patteson, assistant professor of physics, and Jennifer Schwarz, associate professor of physics, recently…

Syracuse University Campus as a Laboratory Funding Now Available

The Syracuse University Campus as a Laboratory for Sustainability (CALS) program is offering up to $75,000 for faculty or student projects that advance the University’s goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, directly or indirectly, or through raising awareness on campus…

Biology Professor Breaks Down Science Behind Ancestry, Heritage Tests

As people celebrate Black History Month, many in and connected to the African American community may be interested in tracing more of their family history and learning about their connections to the African continent. How do you piece together your…

ECS Receives National Recognition for College’s Diversity and Inclusion Efforts

The College of Engineering and Computer Science was recently awarded bronze level status from the American Society for Engineering Education’s (ASEE) Diversity Recognition Program. The program’s goal is to help engineering, engineering technology and computing programs promote diversity, equity and…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2021 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.