(L-R): University of Illinois System Associate Vice President for Economic Development and Innovation Kyle Harfst, Falling Walls Lab Illinois third place finisher Neddy Byron, Caterpillar Emerging Technologies Program Leader Tazio Grivetti, Falling Walls Lab Illinois winner Bhargavee Gnanasambandam, EnterpriseWorks Associate Director Cynthia Faullin.
Bhargavee Gnanasambandam, a second-year student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)’s Carle Illinois College of Medicine, won the Falling Walls Lab Illinois competition sponsored by Caterpillar Inc., today to earn the title of Illinois Young Innovator of the Year. Gnanasambandam also won an all-expenses-paid trip to Berlin, to compete at the global Falling Walls Lab finale on Nov. 7.
Alexander Kosyakov, a senior in materials science engineering at UIUC, was the competition’s runner-up, and Neddie Byron, a second-year student at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, placed third.
Falling Walls Lab Illinois was presented by the Illinois Innovation Network, a group of 15 hubs across the state that aims to boost Illinois’ economy through entrepreneurship, research and workforce development. Most of the hubs are located at public universities.
“I was really shocked because I thought everyone’s presentations were amazing,” Gnanasambandam said. “This is a project that I’ve spent a lot of time working on, and I have a huge team of medical students and undergraduates working alongside me. It’s really great to see work like this move forward and it’s amazing that I get to present this project internationally.”
Gnanasambandam earned the top prize with her presentation “Breaking the wall of gynecological cancers,” in which she discussed a new way to detect human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer with a simple test that provides results within 15 minutes. A panel of judges made up of leaders from Illinois’ public universities selected Gnanasambandam’s presentation out of a field of 14 young researchers and entrepreneurs.
“I am thrilled for Bhargavee and see her plan as tremendously innovative,” said Jay Walsh, University of Illinois System vice president for economic development and innovation, whose office is the administrative home of the IIN. “As a bioengineer who has spent much of his career in development of medical diagnostics, I love how she is leveraging well-understood technologies in an innovative way to create a platform that has the potential to meet the needs of patients and greatly reduce gynecological cancers. There is no doubt that Bhargavee will represent the University of Illinois System, the IIN and the entire state very well at the global Falling Walls Lab finale.”
The competition, which solicited applications from early-career researchers, entrepreneurs, and students across Illinois, had entrants from Illinois Wesleyan University, the University of Illinois Chicago, UIUC, and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
“All 14 of our finalists at Falling Walls Lab Illinois did an incredible job,” said Kyle Harfst, U of I System associate vice president for economic development and innovation. “They presented a rich diversity of ideas that showed the wealth of knowledge and innovation that exists throughout our state.”
Falling Walls Lab is a fast-paced contest where competitors have just three minutes to propose a research-based solution to a global problem. The winners of the 78 Falling Walls Lab satellite contests will be entered into the global Falling Walls Lab finale on Nov. 7 – the eve of the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. All finalists receive a scholarship, which allows them to participate in the Falling Walls conference in Berlin.
