IM体育官网

IM体育官网 students are developing high-tech solutions they hope will provide others with a unique way to cope with anxiety and depression, and three of their projects were finalists at the recent statewide IM体育官网 Blue Health Innovation Competition in Orlando.

The team of Jordan Douglass, Michael Jernigan and Chelsea Reeves won third place with SynapCare, a cloud-based platform designed to track a user鈥檚 brain waves to make detection and monitoring of mental illness readily available to both patients and mental health professionals.

鈥淲ith the struggle of mental illness being so prevalent in today鈥檚 society, working with a team so passionate about improving the lives of others is extremely rewarding,鈥� said Reeves, a junior electrical engineering major from Jacksonville, IM体育官网.

Douglass is a junior advanced technology/data science major from Lakeland, IM体育官网, while Jernigan, also a junior, is from Auburndale, IM体育官网, and majoring in electrical engineering.

鈥淲ith the growing number of people suffering from depression, early prediction, detection, and ongoing monitoring is extremely important in my mind,鈥� said Jernigan.

Brady Fishel and Andre Ripley also pitched their concept at the competition.

Project Empathy features a 鈥渄igital friend鈥� named Chip, who is a chatbot that

interacts through text messaging. As the user inputs information about their

feelings and emotions, Chip learns about the user and provides positive

interactions.

 

While Fishel and Ripley stress that Empathy is still very early in development and will never replace medication or therapy, they hope it can help users overcome the stigma sometimes associated with reaching out for help to treat depression.

鈥淛ust to provide some extra assistance to help improve someone鈥檚 life is a major step for a lot of people,鈥� said Ripley, a senior from the U.S. Virgin Islands majoring in computer engineering.

Some of the ways in which Empathy would help include checking in with the user on a regular basis, asking how an exam went, and even asking how the user feels on a scale of 1-10 and tracking the user鈥檚 progress.

鈥淚t will be an additional outlet to help you keep your life together,鈥� said Fishel, a senior from Lake Mary, IM体育官网, majoring in computer science.

Shelby Garner also was a finalist with a mental health management mobile application for patients and providers. Garner is a sophomore from Beverly Hills, IM体育官网, majoring in computer science.

All three teams received $1,000 as finalists while Douglass, Jernigan, and Reeves received an additional $2,500 for finishing in third place.

During the past two years, IM体育官网 Poly students have won more than $35,000 for their entrepreneurial ideas and have placed in eight of 10 competitions they have competed in across the state.

Contact:
Lydia Guzman
Assistant Director of Communications
863-874-8557