Last night before a crowd of more than 50 people, Aaron Fleishman along with four other Penn State students were presented with a check for $10,000 for their Mashavu idea.
The award winning idea? A network of medical sensors, laptops, and cell phones that connects orphans and citizens in Tanzania with doctors all around the world. The sensors would read bodily vitals such as blood pressure and lung capacity, transferring them directly onto a cell phone. This phone would transmit a signal over the Internet to doctors in countries across the world who "electronically adopt" each patient.
The project name "Mashavu," is Swahili for "chubby-cheeked."
"It's a sign of healthiness," Fleishman (senior-chemical engineering) said, adding, "It's something we want to see in children all over the world."
The idea behind the project is a versatile one. "This is something that can be implemented in communities all over the world," Fleishman said.
Fleishman said he came up with the idea last spring for an entrepreneurship class he was taking. The idea further developed when Khanjan Mehta, the team's faculty advisor, approached him in December about taking the project to the next level.
Fleishman then recruited three other members to contribute the cause, Andrew Baxter (senior-political science), Julia Wittig (junior-biobehavioral health) and sophomore Jennifer Moreau (kinesiology and movement science).
Wittig hopes that with the money to fund the project, the main goal can be met.
"[It will] increase health awareness of the community we're working in," she said.
The $10,000 award was won through an online competition at ideablob.com, a Web site sponsored by Advanta and dedicated to people who want to present, share, compare and celebrate ideas.
Ami Kassar, chief innovation officer at Advanta, one of the largest issuers of credit cards to small businesses and entrepreneurs, came up with the idea for the online competition. Every month, ideablob.com tallies the votes of the public to determine the winner. The competition has been around for almost six months, with Fleishman and the Mashavu team being the youngest winners yet.
"You guys at Penn State have a lot to be proud of," Kassar said.
Penn State faculty and staff aren't the only people who were proud. Fleishman's mother, Gloria, talked about how her son was always involved in something.
"He gets something going, he goes for it," Gloria Fleishman said.
Fleishman said he's excited about the $10,000 award.
"It gives us a lot of starting funding to take the project to the next step," he said, adding the next step is traveling to Tanzania this summer and setting up a trial version of the plan.
The Mashavu team will travel to a nationwide competition at Georgia Tech from April 2 to 4. The winner of this upcoming competition receives $10,000.
