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BIDDEFORD, Maine

Kaitlyn Schoen wins Student Innovation Challenge with device to help vision impaired children

Students who participated in the final round of the Student Innovation Challenge pose with UNE President Danielle Ripich (front,
Students who participated in the final round of the Student Innovation Challenge pose with UNE President Danielle Ripich (front, left).

The final round of competition was held on April 2, 2016, for UNE’s second annual Student Innovation Challenge, an idea-stage competition sponsored by the Department of Business that encourages innovative and sustainable solutions to social, environmental and health issues facing our society. The contest was open to all full-time UNE students (undergraduate, graduate and online) and required that students, working individually or in teams, demonstrate a business model that is financially and ecologically sustainable.

The winner of this year’s contest is Kaitlyn Schoen (’16), a Health, Wellness and Occupational Studies major, who presented her product titled “S.E.E. (Sensory Eyesight for Education),” a visual enhancement device for children and adolescents who have reduced vision to help increase visual acuity. Schoen received a $5,000 prize.

The team of Nathan Elmore and Matthew St. Jean, both Medical Biology majors in the Class of ’16, took second place and a prize of $3,000 for the creation of “METrax,” a track based, rolling seat that allows for a care provider to be safely seated for the entirety of an ambulance transport.

Third place went to Andrew Wuu (COM, ’18) for his development of a system that provides high quality health care to underserved individuals in rural areas of Maine. Wuu received $2,000.

Five judges also made the event possible: Sandra Stone, Chair Emeritus, Maine Angels Investor Network and Principal of Sea Cove Solutions; David Barber, UNE Trustee and former president of Barber Foods; Ron Porter, EVP, Linkage Consulting & Innovation Practice; Karin Gregory, founding partner of Furman, Gregory & Deptula; and Steven Boughton, a UNE graduate (Environmental Studies) and president of Great Turning Advisors, LLC.

Boughton will speak at UNE on April 4 at 4:30 p.m. on “Social Entrepreneurship & Impact Investing” in Decary Café 2 as part of the Department of Environmental Studies’ Sustainability Lecture Series. He will discuss tools for protecting the environmental and human rights across the globe. Learn more.

The Student Innovation Challenge was made possible in part thanks to generous contributions from:  David Anderson, Sandra L. Golden, and the P.D. Merrill Charitable Trust. 

Kaitlyn Schoen, who took first prize, is congratulated by President Ripich.
Kaitlyn Schoen, who took first prize, is congratulated by President Ripich.

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.