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Middle schooler Eniola Shokunbi is making a significant impact in classrooms. Shokunbi, then a fifth-grade student at Commodore MacDonough STEM Academy in Middletown, CT, was tasked with developing a solution to address future pandemic challenges in collaboration with her classmates, Shoppe Black reports . This inspired the creation of an air filter system designed to combat COVID-19 and cold viruses within classrooms, as reported by NBC Connecticut. “The air goes through all the sides,” Shokunbi explained to NBC Connecticut. “And it comes out of the top, so it filters in and out.” Her device, which cost $60 to make, is composed of a box fan, four furnace filters, duct tape, and cardboard. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in North Carolina further validated the invention. “It showed that the air filter removed over 99% of viruses in the air,” Shokunbi told NBC Connecticut. “And that it was effective.” Shokunbi and her classmates installed the air filters, which have been in...
Dr. Elizabeth Clayborne is gaining traction in the investment world for her medical device known as the “Band-Aid for nosebleeds.” As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Dr. Clayborne is the founder of NasaClip, which was inspired by her time in residency in Washington, DC. Various patients were coming into the emergency room for an issue professionals in the medical field described as a “lower acuity issue.” “Nosebleeds are most common in kids age 2 to 10, older adults 55 to 80, who might be on blood thinners, it’s really the least likely population to manage it well. So when they can’t get that bleeding to stop, they show up to me in the ER, and they want me to treat them right away. They’re bleeding all over the waiting room demanding to be seen. But for us as ER docs, this is a lower acuity issue, but it happens to be really kind of time-consuming and cumbersome to deal with,” she said over a Zoom webinar held on Oct. 31, 2024. She continued, “I was frustrated as a resident. Often...
HBCU alum Dr. Anthony Harris is leading the future of medicine at Amazon. From An HBCU To Disrupting The Medical Space Dr. Harris, a 2002 graduate of Florida A&M University with Senegal roots, had early intentions of improving the healthcare industry. According to information shared with AFROTECH™, he even filed his first patent, a biomedical device, while in college. Upon receiving his undergraduate degree, he transitioned to a five-year dual degree program at Indiana University, obtaining a doctor of medicine degree and an MBA, his LinkedIn mentions. He also wore the hat of student body president at the university, becoming the first Black individual in this post. Harris’ early career trajectory led him to work in general surgery for 10 months, and then he pivoted into entrepreneurship. 2009 marked the launch of one of his first companies, Adroit Motion, which offered an articulating hand instrument with ergonomic hand control for minimally invasive surgery. That same year,...
Khalifa Aminu, at 18 years old, is reportedly behind a groundbreaking invention. It all started in Aminu’s childhood when he grew interested in building things after watching movies, he explained to DailyNews24 TV. That led him to build his first project, a canoe, and it opened his eyes to building intentionally to help out his community. Born in Kano, Nigeria, he cites other works, including a radio station, a bomb detector, and an automatic water spray for farmers. “All these inventions were made by me alone, without any support or materials provided for mass production,” Aminu told the outlet. Aminu’s next invention is now sensory glasses, which can help the visually impaired navigate their steps safely and unassisted. Infrared sensors attached to the glasses are able to detect approaching objects, according a video shared on TikTok by The 77 Percent. “I grew up in an area where there’s visually impaired people, and I understand what they’re going through. This is why I began the...
Bright mind Heman Bekele has been named TIME’s 2024 Kid of the Year. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Bekele, who was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, developed the idea to create a Skin Cancer Treating Soap (SCTS), which resulted in a “compound based bar of soap charged with different types of cancer-fighting chemicals.” According to TIME, the soap incorporates imiquimod, which is a drug used in treating one form of skin cancer as well as other skin-related issues. “It’s supposed to help heal the skin internally, which will then show results externally because the skin cancer will slowly start to fade away,” Bekele explained in 2023. This led to him being recognized that year as “America’s Top Young Scientist” in the 3M Young Scientist Challenge, the nation’s premier middle school science competition created by 3M and Discovery Education. Bekele became the first Black scientist to receive the honor at 14 years old. “It’s incredible, and it’s definitely a once-in-a-lifetime type of...
At just age 14, a New Orleans, LA, native has created an innovation for the medical field. When Naya Ellis was 7 years old, she supported her mother who was battling breast cancer, The74 reports. Merging her passion for helping others and for science, she went on to design WingItt, a stroke-detecting watch for adults. The outlet details that WingItt works to detect nerve impulses and heartbeats to identify strokes apart from the physically visible signs. After learning that the medical condition greatly affects people who are 55 and over, Ellis created the device with that age group in mind. What’s more, she aims for WingItt to be more on the affordable end in comparison to other smartwatches currently on the market. “I want to do something I’m interested in, that will also change the world,” Ellis said. The John F. Kennedy High School student’s inspiration for the invention came while attending STEM NOLA’s STEM Saturday. In a last-minute decision, she switched from creating a watch...
Black excellence was on full display this weekend as Kerby Jean-R aymond, the first Black American designer to present at Paris Haute Couture Week , showcased the Pyer Moss Fall 2021 Couture Collection at the estate of the late Madam C.J. Walker . AfroTech was invited to the Villa Lewaro to witness this historic event and it was nothing short of breathtaking. The ambiance was set from the minute guests arrived. With an all-Black live band decked out in all-white attire, it was as if you walked into a Harlem Renaissance party set in the digital age. However, the most jaw-dropping moment of all was the fashion. Embed from Getty Images The Pyer Moss Fall Couture Show paid homage to Black inventors in the most ingenious way. As the show began, models were met with gasps and awe as they walked the runway outfitted in garments resembling peanut butter (George Washington Carver), a traffic light (Garrett Morgan, 1923), a mop (Thomas W. Steward, 1863), a hot comb (Madam C.J. Walker), a...
Life’s circumstances don’t have to be the defining point in your life. Freddie Figgers is a testament to this after finding out at the age of eight that his biological mother had abandoned him as a newborn next to a dumpster, reports BBC News . “Listen I’m going to shoot it to you straight, Fred. Your biological mother, she threw you away, and me and Betty Mae, we didn’t want to send you through foster care and we adopted you, and you’re my son,” Freddie recalls his father revealing to him. After the news that he had been discovered by his adopted parents near a dumpster, he shares the thoughts that ran through his mind. “When he told me that, I was like, ‘OK I’m trash,’ and I felt unwanted,” said Freddie. “But he grabbed my should and he said, ‘Listen, don’t you ever let that both you.'” Thankfully, Freddie continued to persevere, although the circumstances of his adoption continued to follow him throughout his youth. “Kids used to bully me and call me, ‘Dumpster baby,’ ‘Trash can...
Initially, elevators were manual. The doors had to be opened and closed by passengers or elevator operators, a feature that came with a number of associated safety risks. The elevators we use today have automatic doors thanks to Alexander Miles, an African American inventor who received a patent for his invention in 1887, according to BlackPast. Alexander Miles was born in 1838 in Duluth, Minnesota. Before his work on elevator door mechanisms, Alexander Miles found success as a barber and real estate developer. With a $500,000 net worth, he was recognized as the wealthiest Black man in Minnesota in the local Minneapolis paper Star Tribune — opening a real estate office, building a brownstone, formulating hair products, and becoming the first Black member of Duluth Chamber of Commerce. The ups and downs of business is what led to Alexander Miles’ most notable accomplishment. Inspired by an elevator ride with his daughter in which the doors remained open as the car traveled through...
Many people in medtech credit inventor Earl E. Bakken as the creator of pacemakers and cardiac rhythm devices, but without the technology innovated by American inventor Otis Boykin those inventions would fail to exist today. Otis Frank Boykin, a Dallas native and electronic inventor, is the individual responsible for inventing the wire precision resistor — a type of technology that “enabled manufacturers to accurately designate a value of resistance for an individual piece of wire in electronic equipment,” Black Past reports. Before pursuing a life-long career as an inventor, Boykin attended Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee where he graduated from in 1941, Black Inventor notes. He later took a job as a laboratory assistant with the Majestic Radio and TV Corporation in Chicago, Illinois and left shortly after to start his own company, Boykin-Fruth Inc. At the same time, he also decided to go back to school and pursue his graduate studies at the Illinois Institute of...
Home security systems today use some of the most advanced surveillance technology known to man, and to think they didn’t come to exist until the late 1960s. Thanks to inventor Marie Van Brittan Brown, the idea for a home surveillance device transformed into building the foundation for what we now consider our modern-day security systems. Brown — who’s also credited for inventing the first closed circuit television — pioneered the very first first home security system and filed the patent that has influenced the kind of security technology installed in millions of today’s single-family homes, apartment buildings, and office buildings for small businesses around the world. According to Face2Face Africa, Brown took an unconventional path as an inventor. In fact, she began her professional career as a nurse who worked odd hours outside of the traditional 9-5 job. Her husband Albert Brown also worked many late nights away from home as an electronics technician. Brown often worried about...
The son of two escaped slaves from Virginia, Lewis Howard Latimer was raised in Massachusetts. Latimer’s father was found by his owner and tried, though he was eventually allowed to purchase his freedom in Massachusetts. However, the outcome of the 1857 Dred Scott v. Sandford U.S. Supreme Court case, which held that slaves must be freed from the state in which they were enslaved to be free, caused the elder Latimer to fear for his safety. His father fled to protect his family, and Lewis Latimer and his family split up, with the male children living on a farm and his sisters staying with a family friend. At 16-years-old, Latimer joined the Navy for two years, and after receiving an honorable discharge, he went to work at a patent law firm, eventually becoming a draftsman. In 1873, Latimer married Mary Wilson Lewis; they later had two daughters. A year after his marriage Latimer, co-patented a new toilet system for railroad trains. Two years later, he was hired directly by Alexander...
You may not have heard of Percy Lavon Julian, but chances are you’ve used a product his groundbreaking research was responsible for. Julian was a twentieth-century research chemist whose work in chemical synthesis laid the groundwork for synthesizing estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone used to treat those with hormone deficiencies. He also developed process improvements in the production of cortisone, used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, and corticosteroids used to treat various illnesses. Despite his substantial accomplishments, Julian faced considerable racism throughout his career. Born in 1899 to a postal worker, James Julian, and a schoolteacher, Elizabeth Adams in Montgomery, Alabama, the younger Julian and his five siblings were steered toward education at a young age. However, upon attending DePauw University in Indiana, Julian could not live in the dormitory at his own college due to segregation. In fact, it took days for him to find a place to eat. Nevertheless, he...
Valerie Thomas is a retired scientist and inventor known for her contributions to aerospace engineering at NASA and her patented Illusion Transmitter. Thomas was born in Maryland in 1943. According to Biography, Thomas was interested in science as a child. However, as a young woman raised within the social constructs of the 1950s, she was unable to explore her interests and talents until she left for college. As a student at Morgan State University, she was one of only two women to major in physics, according to Biography. Thomas excelled in her studies and was hired into NASA upon her graduation. While at NASA, Thomas helped develop the technology behind the first satellite that allowed images to be sent to Earth from space as a part of the Landsat program. She became internationally known as an expert contact for Landsat data, according to NASA.gov. Thomas held several positions within NASA before her retirement in 1995. She led a team of 50 scientists for the Large Area Crop...
On Feb. 14, 2020, Africa recorded its first confirmed COVID-19 case in Egypt. According to the World Health Organization (WHO ), the virus reached the continent via travelers from Asia, Europe, and the U.S. As of last week, WHO reports that cases in Africa have risen to over 30,000 with nearly 1,400 deaths. While some doctors saw Africa as nothing more than a testing lab for COVID-19 vaccines, citizens of Africa have honed their intelligence and innovation to create inventions that aid in the reduction of the virus within their continent. Check out these three Africa-based inventions that are contributing to COVID-19 solutions. RESPIRE-19 Portable Ventilator According to Face2Face Africa , Usman Dalhatu, a 20-year-old mechanical engineer student at Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria, invented and built a local ventilator. With the help of his partners, Dr. Yunusa Muhammad Garba of the Human Anatomy Department, Gombe State University, and Aliyu Hassan, a graduate of Mechatronics...