Make-a-Thon
Registration for the 2023 Make-a-Thon *closed*
For the past seven years, BMES at UC Davis has held an annual Make-a-Thon. Similar to a hackathon, the Make-a-Thon is a competition in which participants have 48 hours to design and prototype a medical device that solves a real-world clinical or medical problem.
The Make-a-Thon aims to provide engineering students with a hands-on experience using CAD and the design process in preparation for their capstone senior design project. Students will have the opportunity to prototype their device using the Translating Engineering Advances to Medicine (T.E.A.M.) Prototyping and Design Lab at UC Davis. Utilizing rapid prototyping techniques such as 3D printing and laser cutting, the teams will work to turn their designs into a functional device.
In the past, we have created a skin biopsy tool for procuring tissue samples from the wings of bats (currently being used by UC Davis Veterinarians), a low cost, modular, adjustable pair of eyeglass frames for economically disadvantaged communities, and a device that utilizes a person’s smartphone as an ophthalmoscope in order to record and capture images of patients’ retinas. Most recently, the virtual Make-a-thon created a device to count how many times a pill bottle would open.
The 2023 Make-a-Thon will take place on January 13-15th, 2023 at the Genome and Biomedical Sciences Facility (GBSF) on the UCD campus.
Cost:
•$20 Local BMES members
•$40 for UC Davis non-BMES member students
•$45 for non-UC Davis students
*Local UC Davis BMES membership is $15. Membership forms can be found at http://www.ucdbmes.com/membership and can be turned into any BMES officer or venmo @BMESatUC-Davis
Registration Requirements/Information:
The Make-a-Thon has been featured in Popular Science: http://www.popsci.com/students-engineer-help-bats-fighting-white-nose-syndrome.
Here's an example of how the T.E.A.M. Lab has helped surgeons: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/health-and-medicine/healthy-choices/article68641512.html
The Make-a-Thon aims to provide engineering students with a hands-on experience using CAD and the design process in preparation for their capstone senior design project. Students will have the opportunity to prototype their device using the Translating Engineering Advances to Medicine (T.E.A.M.) Prototyping and Design Lab at UC Davis. Utilizing rapid prototyping techniques such as 3D printing and laser cutting, the teams will work to turn their designs into a functional device.
In the past, we have created a skin biopsy tool for procuring tissue samples from the wings of bats (currently being used by UC Davis Veterinarians), a low cost, modular, adjustable pair of eyeglass frames for economically disadvantaged communities, and a device that utilizes a person’s smartphone as an ophthalmoscope in order to record and capture images of patients’ retinas. Most recently, the virtual Make-a-thon created a device to count how many times a pill bottle would open.
The 2023 Make-a-Thon will take place on January 13-15th, 2023 at the Genome and Biomedical Sciences Facility (GBSF) on the UCD campus.
Cost:
•$20 Local BMES members
•$40 for UC Davis non-BMES member students
•$45 for non-UC Davis students
*Local UC Davis BMES membership is $15. Membership forms can be found at http://www.ucdbmes.com/membership and can be turned into any BMES officer or venmo @BMESatUC-Davis
Registration Requirements/Information:
- 15 teams can participate in Make-a-Thon. Teams must have five people and meet the requirements of 2 freshmen/sophomores and 2 juniors/seniors. The last person may be a student of any year.
- The registration form must be completed by one person from your team. Before you begin, make sure you have the following for each member:
- 1. Name
- 2. Email address
- 3. Major
- 4. Year of each member
- 5. Payment method of each member: venmo or cash accepted
- If venmo, please obtain venmo usernames of those paying. (One member can pay for multiple members)
- If cash, setup will be coordinated with the email confirmation.
- Once the registration is filled out, you will receive an email confirmation and will have 3 days to secure your spot via payment from ALL team members.
- Once payments are received and your team’s spot is secured, there are NO REFUNDS.
- If you do not have a team but are still interested in participating, you can be asked to be put in the single person waitlist. Individuals on the list will be grouped together in teams of 5 if there is space after team registration concludes.
- Non-UC Davis students: Please contact us if you’re interested in the event! We understand that it is more difficult for you to get funding to come and may not be able to register immediately. If you contact us, we may be able to save your team a spot in the Make-a-Thon.
- ALL will be asked to show their Daily Symptom Survey for each day of the event. These will be checked and required for entrance.
- link to Daily Symptom Survey: https://campusready.ucdavis.edu/symptom-survey
- Their CDC Vaccine Card (phone image acceptable) or digital vaccine record from the State of California OR
- Photo ID
- During the event, all must abide by California Department of Public Health (CDPH) guidance which requires individuals to wear a face covering in indoor public settings and businesses.
- After initial registration for the following days after, only the Daily Symptom Survey **AND** lanyards given during registration will be asked to be shown upon entry. These lanyards must be worn at all times during the event and will be proof of COVID clearance and event participation.
The Make-a-Thon has been featured in Popular Science: http://www.popsci.com/students-engineer-help-bats-fighting-white-nose-syndrome.
Here's an example of how the T.E.A.M. Lab has helped surgeons: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/health-and-medicine/healthy-choices/article68641512.html
Another successful Make-A-Thon! Thank to all of the participants, judges, mentors, volunteers, Make-a-Thon board, and BMES officers! Congratulations to all of our competing teams for their stellar designs and creativity!
This year the prompt was to create an assistive device to help patients with physical limitations open "push-and-twist" or “child-resistant” medicine bottles.
This year the prompt was to create an assistive device to help patients with physical limitations open "push-and-twist" or “child-resistant” medicine bottles.
make-a-thon 2017
Thank you to all of our judges, mentors, participants, and BMES officers for making the 2017 Make-a-Thon a success!
