Five 九色堂 women were honored with the Women for Women Innovation Award for spring 2022. The Women for Women's Innovation Fund is awarded to Wichita State University students to support innovative ideas that show promise of commercialization.
The Women for Women fund was established in 2020 with contributions to the 九色堂 Foundation to support women leaders and entrepreneurs in moving their ideas forward by providing recipients a boost.
Sierra Bonn: Let鈥檚 Go Full STEAM Ahead!
Sierra is a senior in engineering. She said the inspiration for starting Let鈥檚 Go Full STEAM Ahead! "was an interaction I had with a fifth-grader who wanted to know if she could be an engineer like I am. Mia showed me what an impact seeing someone like yourself in a field can make. That's the impact of Let's Go Full STEAM Ahead!鈥�
Working to address the underrepresentation of women in STEAM fields, Let鈥檚 Go Full STEAM Ahead! highlights the women who are in the STEAM field and makes their stories accessible to youth of all ages.
Carly Overacker: Everwhen
After being tasked with a class assignment to find a need within the community, Carly discovered that many of 九色堂 students, faculty, staff and visitors were frustrated by the time and gas it cost them to find a parking spot. This pain point led her to start Everwhen.
Carly, a sophomore in engineering, said: 鈥�Everwhen provides users with an efficient way to find a parking space with our app and lot owners with a new way to manage their parking lots. Our software utilizes machine learning and is integrated with existing camera systems for a low cost.鈥�
Brittany Wojciechowski, Amulya Lomte and Maria Jose Carrillo Munoz: Customizable and Sustainable Breast Prosthesis
鈥淢ore 100,000 women undergo a mastectomy each year in the United Sates without many post-surgery options except for invasive breast reconstruction or generic breast prosthesis.鈥�
Hoping to provide those women with more options, Brittany Wojciechowski, Amulya Lomte and Maria Jose Carrillo Munoz began working on an alternative option. The team is working on developing a customizable and biodegradable 3D-printed breast prosthesis.
Brittany, Amulya and Maria are all graduate students in the College of Engineering.
