Congratulations to Han Liu, Daniel Stranart and Luke Wiersma for winning first place in the Innovative Design category of the Canadian Engineering Competition (CEC) with the product they designed with Darron Phann for their fourth-year Nanotechnology Engineering Capstone Design project.
Their winning design is called SMRT Coat. It is so named because this spray-on coating provides a Simple Method for Recognizing Trauma. When applied on helmets, SMRT Coat indicates when an athlete has suffered a blow to the head that is severe enough to cause a concussion. Upon impact, the coating changes colour, giving players, coaches and referees the information they need to take appropriate action to safeguard the athlete.
Prompt head-injury diagnosis
Recognizing potential head injury is important. The approximately 3 million concussions that are detected in the United States each year are just a small part of the problem. As many or more head traumas go undetected. Every person with a head injury is at risk for acute symptoms such as amnesia, headaches, Post-Concussive Syndrome (PCS) and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). Those who don’t know they are at risk are less likely to take the precautions necessary to avoid further injury.
SMRT Coat provides a fast, easy, cost-effective and non-intrusive way to protect athletes who have experienced head trauma.
Canadian Engineering Competition
The annual Canadian Engineering Competition is hosted by the Canadian Federation of Engineering Students (CFES), a national organization that represents approximately 81,000 engineering students across Canada. The event includes eight competition categories in which students develop innovative solutions to prevalent problems.