On Friday May 16th the Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering hosted the 9th annual project showcase and industry engagement day for its Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) design engineers.
The day-long event, held in Duffield and Tang Halls, brought students together with faculty, project sponsors, alumni and professional attendees to connect with the breadth of talent in the school’s M.Eng. program.
This year’s 18 projects were sponsored by Baxter, Becton Dickinson, Boehringer Labs, Caretech Human Transmedics, West Pharmaceutical, Weill Cornell Medicine, and Hospital for Special Surgery with attendees from many of these organizations.
Organized by Meinig School M.Eng. director and professor of practice Newton de Faria, the program featured a keynote talk by Mr. Robert Boehringer, whose family sponsors a Meinig School M.Eng. fellowship every year. “The keynote serves as a standalone engagement and is a signature moment that marks the culmination of the students’ yearlong efforts,” said de Faria, “as well as a meaningful ‘sendoff’ as the students transition into the next phase of their professional journey.”
Mr. Boehringer’s talk was complemented by career panel sessions with early career and seasoned professionals who spoke about their companies, their challenges, and their pathways to success in the biomedical field. The afternoon session featured a project design showcase at which students showed and demonstrated their year-long design projects with industry sponsors.
Students were especially fortunate to visit with physician mentor-sponsors Susan Pannullo, M.D., professor of clinical neurological surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College and adjunct professor at the Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering, and Tamatha Fenster, M.D., assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medicine and director of biotechnology and innovation at Weill Cornell Medicine’s Fibroid and Adenomyosis Center.
This year’s student cohort benefitted from working alongside medical student Andrew Yang, who is enrolled in the one-year professional M.D.-M.Eng. program. Designed to accelerate engineering innovations in medicine, the cross-campus program allows students at Weill Cornell Medicine to earn an M.Eng. degree while in medical school.
As a result of these physician partnerships, said de Faria, “These students actively participated in multiple clinical-translation projects, “including ‘Design and Validation of a Biodegradable Intervertebral Cage for Biologic Spinal Disc Support,’ ‘A Novel Device for Conducting Columnar Brain Biopsies,’ and ‘A Wireless, Minimally Invasive Intracranial Pressure Monitor.’”
Participating Student Experiences
“It was inspiring to see the range of projects and the creativity behind them. Many teams, including ours, have provisionally patented the devices which acts as an exciting landmark for our careers and a testament to the skills we’ve gained in the medical device design development process. Achieving this was a personal goal at the start of the year and a key reason as to why I enrolled in Cornell’s biomedical engineering program, and it feels deeply fulfilling to see it come to life … our team was awarded the Excellence in Engineering Award. ”
Lilly-Mae Goodwin M.Eng. ’25
“During my time in the program, I had the opportunity to grow both technically and professionally. One of the most impactful experiences was a year-long engineering project focused on the design and validation of a biodegradable intervertebral cage for biologic spinal disc support. The project provided hands-on experience with the biodesign process, including stakeholder identification, prototype development, validation and testing, and design for manufacturing. Our team earned first place in both the overall design showcase competition and a second competition sponsored by Autodesk Fusion 360.”
Christian Voloshen M.Eng. ’25
“My team presented to Cornell alumni and professionals currently working in the medical device industry, and it was an incredible experience to receive their feedback and learn about their diverse career paths. Their insights gave us valuable direction for improving our model and offered a broader perspective on how engineers can drive innovation in healthcare. Explaining our design in detail also helped me practice and improve my public speaking skills, especially in communicating complex engineering concepts clearly to a varied audience. Throughout this process, I’ve also learned a lot about different 3D printing techniques and explored various materials to better replicate the unique properties of uterine tissue. These insights will be invaluable as we refine our model to make it as realistic and effective as possible for surgical training.”
Madeleine Slavett M.Eng. ’25
2025 Project Showcase competition winners
Design Competition
Judges evaluated the success of each team’s trajectory through the year on criteria including: business case, engineering, creativity, quality and merit, overall competence in design, and impact.
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First Place
Design and Validation of a Biodegradable Intervertebral Cage for Biologic Spinal Disc Support
Mohammad Alattas, Grace Herchenroder, Jonathan Kaj, Christian Voloshen, Hancheng Wang, Andrew Boyuan Yang
Degenerative disc disease involves the deterioration of intervertebral discs in the spinal column, leading to loss of disc height, hydration and mechanical function. This can compromise spinal mobility and support, often causing neural compression, pain, and disability. Current fusion-based surgical treatments limit motion and impose excess stress on adjacent levels, resulting in a 20% lifetime risk of subsequent interventions. Bioengineered discs aim to restore native disc function and have shown promise in ex vivo and in vivo large animal studies. However, failures were noted due to early displacement from poor physiological integration. To address this, a biodegradable cage was designed to temporarily anchor the implant, facilitating integration with vertebral endplates as it degrades. Six-degree-of-freedom robotic testing and finite element analysis were then used to validate this novel cage design. Coupled with biologic disc development and optimization, this technology supports robust pre-clinical evaluation toward long-term efficacy and future human applications.
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Second Place
/Intraoperative Digital Ligament Tensioner for Total Knee Arthroplasty
Alina Abramoff, Nikki Kwiatkowski, Brendan McGarr, Zhibo Zhang
Ensuring optimal knee stability and function after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) requires precise intraoperative control of ligament tension. Incorrect ligament function can result in instability and mechanical loosening, two of the leading causes of revision TKA. Currently, surgeons assess tension qualitatively and do not have access to quantified ligament tension. The digital ligament tensioner is a device designed to quantify medial collateral ligament (MCL) and lateral collateral ligament (LCL) tension. This allows surgeons to verify implant spacer size and bone cuts to ensure post-operative joint stability and ligament balance, which we expect will reduce the rate of revision TKA and increase patient satisfaction.
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Third Place
A Wireless, Minimally Invasive Intracranial Pressure Monitor
Rajdeep Banerjee, Athena Borca, David Roberts, Andrew Yang
Elevated intracranial pressure (ICP) is multicausal, and is a lifelong risk for some and a one-time emergency for others. The current standard for ICP monitoring requires hospitalization and immobility to ensure accuracy. A less invasive outpatient monitoring modality is needed. We developed an implantable, continuous, and wireless ICP monitor leveraging extradural pressure measurements via a capacitive force sensor between the dura and skull. Data is transmitted over bluetooth low energy. In testing, our device successfully differentiates pressure over the physiologic ICP range, potentially providing improved quality of life and peace of mind for otherwise stable patients who require ICP monitoring.
Pitch Competition
Judges focus on merit of the invention in the eyes of the stakeholders/investors.
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Best Pitch Performance
Infant Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) Diagnostic Pacifier Millifluidic Device
Olivia Joy Dyke, Emily Chen, Pooja Singh
GERD team provides a non-invasive diagnostic device to diagnose gastroesophageal reflux disease in infants. The current gold standard of diagnosis is through invasive devices such as a pH probe or the Bravo capsule. In the United States alone, 10-12% of infants experience ongoing GERD symptoms by the age of one. The millifluidic device, equipped with custom-made inlets, transports saliva and reflux samples from within the mouth to an external component housing a pH sensor for continuous monitoring. Fluid movement through the channels is driven by capillary action and the negative pressure created by a milli siphon pump.
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Engineering Excellence
A Novel Device for Conducting Columnar Brain Biopsies
Andrew Yang, Lilly Goodwin, Anna Gwozdz, Anna Olivia Humiston, Niranjan Vinay Kulkarni
Accurate diagnosis of brain cancers requires high-quality, representative biopsy samples. Current technologies frequently produce limited tissue with poor integrity, especially in deep-seated malignancies. This concept presents a unique columnar biopsy apparatus that can harvest larger, undamaged core samples in a single session. The device has a dual cannula mechanism that allows for precision coring of tumor tissue while protecting healthy brain tissue. It underwent successful testing and validation, indicating increased sample volume and integrity. This method allows for more accurate diagnosis for brain tumor patients by eliminating the need for recurrent biopsies while preserving tumor heterogeneity.
Autodesk Fusion 360 Competition
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First Place
Design and Validation of a Biodegradable Intervertebral Cage for Spinal Disc Support
Mohammad Alattas, Grace Herchenroder, Jonathan Kaj, Christian Voloshen, Hancheng Wang, Andrew Boyuan Yang
Degenerative disc disease involves the deterioration of intervertebral discs in the spinal column, leading to loss of disc height, hydration and mechanical function. This can compromise spinal mobility and support, often causing neural compression, pain, and disability. Current fusion-based surgical treatments limit motion and impose excess stress on adjacent levels, resulting in a 20% lifetime risk of subsequent interventions. Bioengineered discs aim to restore native disc function and have shown promise in ex vivo and in vivo large animal studies. However, failures were noted due to early displacement from poor physiological integration. To address this, a biodegradable cage was designed to temporarily anchor the implant, facilitating integration with vertebral endplates as it degrades. Six-degree-of-freedom robotic testing and finite element analysis were then used to validate this novel cage design. Coupled with biologic disc development and optimization, this technology supports robust pre-clinical evaluation toward long-term efficacy and future human applications.
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Second Place
Novel Multimodal Approach for Safer Blood Collection
Antik Chakraborty, Javier Mayorga-Kintanar, Alex Senderov, Peixian (Patrick) Xu
Venous blood collection is the gold standard for diagnostics, but typically requires trained phlebotomists, limiting its use in non-clinical settings. To address this, we developed VeinEase, an assistive device that enables minimally-trained users to perform safe and consistent venipuncture. Guided by customer discovery, which revealed key challenges such as hand shakiness, inconsistent insertion angles, and low user confidence. We designed VeinEase with a stable, angled stand to support optimal needle positioning and promote muscle memory. The device features a modular system—including a needle housing, flex bar mechanism, and attachable base—engineered for stability, ease of use, workflow integration, and improved first-attempt success rates
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Third Place
A Hybrid Morcellator and RFA Device for Minimally Invasive Fibroid Treatment
Sophia Asif, Katherine Bim-Merle, Asher Lal
Uterine fibroids affect up to 80% of women by age 50, with submucosal myomas causing significant symptoms such as heavy bleeding, pain, and infertility. Current treatments often require invasive surgery or separate procedures for ablation and tissue removal, increasing patient recovery time and procedural complexity. Our project aims to develop a novel, minimally invasive device that integrates radiofrequency ablation (RFA) with mechanical morcellation to safely soften and remove fibroids in a single procedure. By combining targeted ablation and precision cutting, the system aims to reduce operative burden, preserve fertility, and improve patient outcomes while enhancing procedural efficiency for physicians.