Nyna Sayarath spent part of her summer vacation brainstorming ways to protect the minds of athletes.
Sayarath, 16, of Akron was among 14 teens who participated this week in the BioInnovation Academy at the Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron.
The program was launched last year to encourage youth to pursue careers in the biomedical field or in medicine. The academy was open to students who will enter grades 9-12 in the fall.
“The goal of the program is to educate the next generation to become scientists, doctors and entrepreneurs,” said Maurice Thomas, coordinator of the weeklong academy.
The high school students spent eight hours each day Monday through Friday working together in teams to come up with solutions for diagnosing and preventing concussions.
The participants learned from area experts and got hands-on help with research, computer-aided design, prototype development and 3-D printer use.
Sayarath, who will be a junior at Akron’s STEM High School in the fall, said the experience should help her with her future plans.
“I want to be a biomedical engineer,” she said.
This week’s session was the second of two offered this summer.
About half the nearly 30 students who participated in a session attend Akron Public Schools.
They were able to attend the $750 academy for free through scholarships provided this year by the Akron Community Foundation and the Akron-Region Interprofessional Area Health Education Center at the University of Akron’s School of Nursing.
Sayarath spent the week developing a multi-layer football helmet with teammates Mikailah Ramsey, 15, of Akron; Cameron Bruce, 15, of Rochester, Minn.; and Sarah Freeman, 14, of North Ridgeville.
After being prompted by an instructor to look to biology for solutions, the teens researched and discovered woodpeckers knock their head into wood about 12,000 times a day at a rate of 15 miles per hour but never suffer concussions.
“Their brains are tightly compacted in their skulls,” Sayarath explained.
The teens used their findings to develop a new helmet with a shock-absorbent material used for Olympic ski uniforms.
“We did a lot of teamwork and used a lot of brainstorming to come up with the ideas,” Bruce said.
The BioInnovation Institute was launched six years ago by Akron’s three hospital systems, the University of Akron and Northeast Ohio Medical University to boost medical-related economic development in the region. Akron Children’s Hospital, Summa Health System and UA continue to be active partners in the institute.
Cheryl Powell can be reached at 330-996-3902 or cpowell@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow Powell on Twitter at twitter.com/CherylPowellABJ.