{"id":1598,"date":"2008-09-17T11:48:53","date_gmt":"2008-09-17T15:48:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/?p=1598"},"modified":"2014-12-17T11:50:04","modified_gmt":"2014-12-17T16:50:04","slug":"rewarding-student-initiative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine-archive\/2008\/09\/rewarding-student-initiative\/","title":{"rendered":"Rewarding Student Initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Vikram<\/a>
Vikram Aggarwal and Linda Wan are both grateful for the Student Initiatives Fund.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For a start-up, cVision Medical SolutionsTM is racking up an impressive track record. Founded in 2007 by Johns Hopkins researchers and graduates, cVision\u2019s flagship product cVeinTM began as a senior design project of students Vikram Aggarwal, Aniruddha Chatterjee, Jason Chiang, Yoonju Cho, and Wai Yim Lam. Today, the device is in clinical human trials at Hopkins\u2019 Bayview Medical Center Cardiac Catherization Lab and will soon expand to a cardiology group in Denver.<\/p>\n

But getting to this point wasn\u2019t easy, recalls PhD candidate Aggarwal, MS \u201907. After he and his team had created a second-generation prototype cVein (a low-cost, noninvasive solution for measuring central venous pressure, safely, accurately and in real-time by a handheld, ultrasound-guided probe), they were eager to compete at the 2007 Boomer Venture Summit Business Plan Competition at Santa Clara University.<\/p>\n

They lacked just one thing: the money to travel to California. \u201cFunds were scarce at that point,\u201d he recalls. Then they learned of the WSE Student Initiatives Fund (SIF). \u201cWithout it, we would not have been able to go,\u201d says Aggarwal. \u201cWe were selected as one of five finalists in the competition, and the contacts and exposure we made there have catapulted us to the stage we are now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Established by Dean Nick Jones in 2006, the Student Initiatives Fund supports both individual students and student groups. Awards are used as seed money for projects that are so often essential to taking a student\u2019s education and experiential learning to the next level.<\/p>\n

Society of Engineering Alumni (SEA) Council executive board member and University Alumni Council member Carl Liggio \u201996, MS \u201900, PhD \u201901, is an enthusiastic donor to the fund. After a presentation about the Student Initiatives Fund during an October 2006 SEA Council meeting, Liggio, the founder of the energy industry\u2019s Systems Analysis, offered a challenge on the spot to all in attendance. \u201cI said I would donate $500 and by the end of the day, the fund had $2,000,\u201d he recalls proudly. \u201cI give every year. Without funding, student groups have to struggle to do things well. A little money from the fund goes a long way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just ask Linda Wan \u201909, who is beginning her yearlong tenure as president of Hopkins\u2019 Engineers Without Borders (EWB) chapter and is a veteran of two EWB trips abroad. As leader of Hopkins\u2019 EWB Ecuador project\u2014 the chapter currently focuses on engineering projects in Ecuador, Guatemala, and South Africa\u2014Wan traveled in January 2006 to the rural community of Santa Rosa de Ayora, Ecuador, to assess the development and con- struction of a much-needed daycare center.<\/p>\n

Typically, the Student Initiatives Fund supports \u201cin country\u201d living expenses for students, such as room, board, transportation, and interpreters. \u201cIt aids us in places where grant money or our own fund-raising falls short,\u201d Wan says. \u201cBecause of the SIF, we\u2019re able to complete our assessments and projects, so we can go back home and do our design.\u201d As a result of her experience in EWB, Wan changed her major from chemical engineering to civil engineering, and she\u2019s planning to apply to Michigan Technological University\u2019s Master\u2019s International program, which includes a year of course work followed by two years in the Peace Corps. \u201cAt Hopkins, it\u2019s all about opportunity,\u201d she says. \u201cEWB has inspired me so much that I want to continue to use my skills to help people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like Aggarwal and Wan, Liggio believes students gain far more than just engineering experience from the activities supported by the SIF: \u201cIt\u2019s a great training ground. The projects make them better problem-solvers, innovators, and leaders,\u201d says Liggio. \u201cStudents learn to create new ideas and think on their feet\u2014 that\u2019s what they\u2019ll need to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n