Student Innovation Award Nominees
Megan Ngo
Class of 2027
Accessibility in Eye Drops
Barriers of independent installation of eye drops include neck and shoulder mobility and finger/hand dexterity, both of which decrease with age and general muscle weakness. In a study performed by Mehuys E. et al., 40% of patients reported ≥1 problems with eye drop installation, including difficulty squeezing the bottle and getting the drop into the eye. The creation of a rectangular shaped bottle with an angled nozzle will offer a practical and ergonomic alternative to those facing these barriers.
Grip contour on the upright rectangular body provides space for fingers to naturally rest on and creates a weak point on the packaging for easier dispensing. Inside, a medical grade silicon balloon liner holds the ophthalmic solution and keeps a constant internal pressure ready for the user to apply pressure during drop installation. Upon applied pressure, a dose of solution will exit through an angled dispensing nozzle that reseals to prevent dripping. This allows the user to instill eye drops by keeping one’s head upright and pulling down the lower lid to expose the palpebral conjunctiva, creating a pocket for the drop. The cap follows the same upright rectangular shape with flat edges to increase grip zone and prevent slippage when twisting the bottle open; this will have a circular internal thread to align with the round neck bottle at the base of the nozzle.
These components together create a system where one can instill eye drops in an accessible manner without the requirement of having full mobility and strength.
Michelle Shang
Class of 2026
Redefining Keratoconus Care: Noninvasive RNA Delivery for Corneal Repair
Keratoconus progressively distorts the cornea, threatening vision and quality of life; yet current treatments only address symptoms, not the underlying cellular dysfunction. I propose a noninvasive solution: a hydrogel contact lens that delivers RNA-based medicines directly to the cornea. Overnight, nucleic acid drugs encapsulated in nanoparticles in the lenses could target both epithelial cells and stromal keratocytes, reducing inflammation and promoting healthy tissue remodeling. By addressing the root causes of progression, this approach could provide sustained benefit with minimal patient burden. Unlike existing therapies such as corneal crosslinking or specialty lenses, this design could be accessible to more patients and improve adherence through a simple, overnight treatment. While dosing and treatment frequency would require optimization, even intermittent application could meaningfully modulate disease processes. The concept is grounded in established hydrogel lenses and ocular nanoparticle delivery technologies, making it a scientifically plausible and adaptable platform. Furthermore, this approach could be extended to other corneal disorders, offering a versatile pathway for precision ocular therapeutics. By combining advanced RNA therapeutics with a familiar, everyday device, this innovation presents a practical and transformative strategy to redefine keratoconus care and inspire next-generation treatments for the eye.
Daniel Zhou
Class of 2029
MindfulMi: Smart Pupillometry for Lifelong Vision Wellness
Digital eye strain affects over 69% of heavy screen users, and as screen time rises, from work, study, and entertainment, across all ages, the line between eye health and cognitive fatigue blurs. Hence, an adaptive, non-intrusive system is a solution: MindfulMi, a focus on me and the eye–‘i’; one that tracks users’ pupil dilation patterns, blink metrics, and micro-saccades, utilizing artificial intelligence algorithms and our standard webcam to estimate our visual stress and mental fatigue in real time.
In light of NECO’s mission–to change the way people see the world—especially for its community and youth, we often neglect that maintaining our personal vision is a lifelong journey too. MindMi aims to support that vision by giving users, clinicians, and educators an accessible tool to quantify and intervene early in screen-induced ocular stress.
Leveraging published findings that pupil dynamics align with mental load, we will train a lightweight neural model to map features for fatigue and strain scores. The system offers feedback such as “micro-break suggestions,” ambient light adjustments, or adaptive focus exercises.
Considering Figma, Mediap, and PyTorch for building its early-fidelity prototypes, MindMi can be both scalable and hardware flexible–from our regular smartphones or laptops. Next steps include securing an annotated dataset, validating against standard eye strain questionnaires, and pilot testing in student and clinical settings.
In essence, MindfulMi bridges optometry, neuroscience, and AI to transform our screen time into actionable insights—helping users and ourselves sustain healthy vision across a lifetime, not just when it’s too late.
