Devicelab Selects Medical Device Engineering Scholarship Winner

DeviceLab Selects Medical Device Engineering Scholarship Winner

Jacqueline Baidoo to Use Award to Continue Chemical Engineering Studies at Georgia Tech, Improve Road Conditions in Ghana

 

ORANGE COUNTY, Calif., July 26—DeviceLab Inc., an Orange County medical device design and manufacturing company, today announced the winner of its first annual medical device engineering scholarship program.

 

Jacqueline E. Baidoo was selected for DeviceLab’s $1000 scholarship. The third-year student currently enrolled at Xavier University of Louisiana in a 3+2 dual degree engineering program has recently been accepted to the Georgia Institute of Technology’s chemical engineering program. Baidoo said she will use the scholarship to complete her efforts to earn three Bachelor’s degrees by May 2018.

 

The new scholarship program was launched in October 2015 as a way to both encourage and reward students that pursue educations which may lead to a better world, said DeviceLab founder and CEO Dac Vu. “As a company specializing in medical device engineering, DeviceLab is always eager to support the next generation of talent in our field,” said Vu.

 

Opened to undergraduate and graduate students at accredited U.S. colleges and universities, the scholarship application process required applicants to submit a 1,000-word essay that that answered “How are you driven to innovate, inspire or make a positive impact to your community using your degree?”

 

Vu said that Baidoo’s application stood out from a very competitive field of applicants. In particular, he highlighted her essay that explained how her experiences in Ghana—where abysmal road conditions often prohibit travel, which impacts all aspects of life such as healthcare, commerce, education and overall quality of life—have inspired her to use her robust education to find solutions to such matters.

 

“It is a fact that not every road is paved,” Baidoo said in her essay. “But what if there was an alternative to pavement? What if there was an inexpensive material with all the firmness of pavement but none of the rigors of the construction and the waiting period that goes with it? It could be anyone who brings this to life, but I want it to be me.”

 

Baidoo referred to nanotechnology research she has performed with others at Xavier, in Japan as part of the Nakatani RIES program, Georgia Tech and elsewhere as critical experiences in her ambition to find her true professional calling.

 

“I don’t know what the world will need in 5–10 years and I don’t claim to be the answer to every problem that might arise,” said Baidoo. “But I do know that there is at least one solution within my grasp. I know that I think of new problems every day, and that the next two years [at Georgia Tech] might provide me with the knowledge of how to solve them.”

 

About DeviceLab

 

Established in 1998, the Orange County-based DeviceLab is a contract medical device development and product design firm. A full-service company for mechanical engineering, electronics, software, industrial design, prototyping, manufacturing, FDA regulatory consulting and product testing services, DeviceLab has completed more than 100 projects of varying complexities.

 

For more information about DeviceLab, please visit www.devicelab.com.