Innovating for our future
From our morning cups of coffee to our essential health care routines, the daily aspects of our lives are being studied — and improved — by UC Davis graduate students.
These scholars are committed to taking the extra step in education and discovery, all while assisting their professors and teaching undergraduates.
With a boost from the funds provided by philanthropy, graduate students have even more opportunities to answer knotty questions, explore new avenues of research and make important contributions to their fields. Here is one such story:
An invention for monitoring fetal oxygen levels
The winners of the 22nd annual Big Bang! Competition, Kourosh Vali, Ph.D. ’24 and Regina Hoang, M.B.A. ’23, helped develop a noninvasive tool that accurately determines a baby’s well-being in the womb.
Built in the lab of Soheil Ghiasi, professor of electrical and computer engineering, the invention is called a transabdominal fetal pulse oximeter (TFO) and can measure a baby’s blood oxygen saturation levels. It can also help prevent unnecessary Caesarean sections.
“This breakthrough device will make labor and delivery safer for moms and babies,” said Vali, a computer engineering student. “It will let doctors know when the fetus’ blood oxygen saturation levels are low — a red flag that indicates the baby needs to come out right away or risk losing oxygen to the brain or organs.”
The competition, organized by the donor-funded Mike and Renee Child Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, has been helping entrepreneurs start or grow business ventures for more than two decades through the competition, workshops, mentoring and networking opportunities.
“I believe in developing businesses that serve a bigger purpose in society,” said Hoang. “I’m very passionate about bringing the TFO medical device into hospitals as soon as possible, so that it can help women and children have better health outcomes.
Vali and Hoang, team members of the Davis-based Storx Technologies, won the $20,000 first-place prize in the competition. They plan to use the prize money to conduct more market research and seek venture capital funding.
“This hands-on experience was wonderful,” said Vali. “It is an honor to work on this project that can have such an important impact for families.”