|
FELIX VARELA STUDENTS WIN PRESTIGIOUS LEMELSON-MIT GRANT
MIAMI – The next landmark invention may be coming from our own backyard, and it might help someone breathe easier. Felix Varela Senior High School’s InvenTeam was one of 18 high schools selected from across the country to be awarded a grant of up to $10,000 by the prestigious Lemelson-MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Program. The program is designed for students to come up with a prototype device to help address a problem that they have identified. Varela’s team, made up of Maria Chicuen, Jorge Fernandez, Nancy Foen, Evan Kalina, Alejandro Mesa, Alexis Mesa, Mauricio Salah, Andres Sanchez and Ximena Toro, proposed a device they named CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) Alert system, a breathing sensor for individuals suffering from sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a temporary suspension of breathing occurring repeatedly during sleep, often affecting those having an obstruction in the breathing tract. The idea came from Toro, one of the team leaders, who saw her father’s apnea condition worsen when his CPAP mask would come off during sleep. The device proposes to alert the patient and anyone nearby if the mask comes off so that the problem can be corrected. Another application discussed is the possibility of using it on babies suffering from apnea. Varela’s InvenTeam will present their inventions during the InvenTeams Odyssey, a culminating event at MIT in Cambridge, Mass., next June. ### 05-LJG/135/JAA |
