By Regina Pynn, '11
Student Correspondent
Katherine Freed (Class of 2008, Rutherford NJ) already has
notes on her résumé that some graduate students would be jealous of. She took her Senior Design project as an
opportunity to perform groundbreaking research that has resulted in a
provisional patent, publishing opportunities, and a first place finish in a
prestigious contest.
Freed entered Stevens in 2003, but added a year to her
program in order to receive both her B.E. in Biomedical Engineering and her
B.A. in History. She completed her
Senior Design project in her fourth year at Stevens. Freed and her team focused on Electrical
Impedance Technology (EIT), which deals with the electric properties of healthy
and malignant body tissue. Her group
created a prototype of a device that would perform a non-invasive three
dimensional screening for breast cancer. The device would remove much of the ambiguity present in current breast
cancer screening processes and allow a diagnosis to be made swiftly and easily.
“We found the technology, and then decided on application,”
Freed said.
Their prototype has received wide recognition and
acclaim. The team received the Technogenesis
Award, which is given by Stevens to the Senior Design team that has the
greatest potential to develop new technology based on scientific concepts. The team has also received a provisional patent for their device and they are looking into applying for a full patent.
“Then last April we competed in the New Jersey level of the International
Society of Pharmaceutical Engineers (ISPE) poster contest. We came in second, then were given the
opportunity to compete internationally…[I] went to Las Vegas where I competed with students from
all over the world.”
Freed won first place in the poster contest, which allows
her to publish the team’s research in ISPE’s journal.
“For me it’s not so much the monetary gains, but that
something useful can come from this technology. It should be used to save
lives.”
Freed is currently deciding between several law schools and
plans on studying Health Law and Bioethics and said that her experience at
Stevens has prepared her for this future.
“I came in as a Mechanical Engineer and had no idea I’d pick
up degrees in Biomedical Engineering and History! At Stevens I started the Stevens Political
Awareness Committee…and in class I learned about ethics. I have an appreciation for the legal and
ethical implications of new technology…Stevens is a small school with big
resources and I am confident that Stevens has prepared me to reach my full
potential and my professional goals.”
Kate Fried and her teammates - Esther Rodriguez, Megan Calderia, and
Rachel Ostroff - won first
place in the International ISPE student design
contest held in Las Vegas from November 4 to November 7, 2007. 