Local Students Win Big in National Invention Contest

A team of Clemson University bioengineering students placed third in the Collegiate Inventors Competition, a program of Invent Now Inc., with their invention of a high-impact shoulder stabilization brace, winning bronze medals, a trip to the White House and a $7,500 cash prize.

“The project started as our senior design project,” said team member Kaitlin Grove. “We worked with  Dr. Chuck Thigpen from Proaxis Physical Therapy in Greenville to determine a problem in need of an innovative solution within the prosthetics and orthotics field. We came to the conclusion that the market is lacking a shoulder brace that is effective in preventing secondary dislocations, but also functional in that it would not inhibit an athlete’s ability to play his sport. Thus, our team developed our shoulder brace.”

The team is currently pursuing a patent with assistance from the Clemson University Research Foundation on novel aspects of the brace.

The members of the Clemson team are Riley Csernica of Mount Pleasant, a graduate student in bioengineering who is also earning an MBA in entrepreneurship; Meredith Donaldson of Hickory, N.C., a graduate student in animal and veterinary science; Chelsea Ex-Lubeskie of Goose Creek, a graduate student in bioengineering; and Kaitlin Grove of Roanoke, Va., a graduate student in biomedical engineering at the University of Michigan. All team members graduated from Clemson in May with Bachelor of Science in Bioengineering degrees. Their senior design adviser and instructor was John DesJardins, assistant professor in bioengineering, and their departmental design team mentors were David Kwartowitz and Xin Xie.

"Working on this shoulder brace project has been exciting and rewarding," said Ex-Lubeskie. "While the shoulder is a complex joint, and one company holds most of the market share, we see a huge opportunity to succeed. Having the support of Clemson bioengineering has been invaluable. Being awarded as a finalist for CIC has been one of my proudest moments thus far in my collegiate career. Many people have shoulder instability, and we plan on providing them with a functional, affordable solution."

Funding for the brace development was partially supported by Clemson University Creative Inquiry and is now supported by the National Science Foundation through an I-CORPS grant.

The team placed third out of 14 finalists, and traveled to Washington, D.C., to present their inventions to a panel of judges, which included several inductees to the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Invent Now Inc. works to advance new and innovative ways to develop and create products and innovative partnerships that emphasize the importance of invention in today’s society.