Engineers, clinicians, researchers, entrepreneurs, faculty, regulatory professionals, and industry leaders are invited to support students competing in the 2027 National Medical Device Make-A-Thon.
Help student teams strengthen their designs through mentorship, evaluate proposed solutions through judging, and engage with future engineering professionals throughout competition weekend.
Mentors guide student thinking during the engineering design process. Judges evaluate formal submissions and presentations. Professionals may express interest in either role or both.
Mentors provide guidance and professional perspective as teams develop their proposed medical devices.
Judges review engineering designs, evaluate formal presentations, and help determine which teams advance through the competition.
| Responsibility | Mentors | Judges |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Role | Advise teams during design and development | Evaluate presentations and proposed solutions |
| Student Interaction | Collaborative discussions and feedback | Presentations, questions, and formal evaluation |
| Evaluation | Informal guidance, not official scoring | Score projects using the competition rubric |
| Scheduled Involvement | Saturday morning mentoring blocks | Saturday Round 1 and/or Sunday finals |
| Can You Express Interest in Both? | Yes | Yes |
Effective medical device development requires engineering expertise, clinical understanding, and practical consideration of implementation.
Biomedical, mechanical, electrical, software, manufacturing, systems, and related engineering fields.
Physicians, nurses, therapists, clinical researchers, healthcare administrators, and other professionals familiar with patient and provider needs.
Medical device development, regulatory affairs, quality assurance, entrepreneurship, commercialization, biotechnology, and research.
We welcome professionals with experience relevant to engineering design, clinical care, technical development, regulation, business, and healthcare innovation.
Mentoring gives teams an opportunity to learn from experienced professionals while retaining full ownership of their engineering work.
Mentors should help students identify assumptions, evaluate design choices, understand clinical considerations, and recognize opportunities for improvement.
The competition includes two scheduled mentor blocks on Saturday morning. Additional involvement outside assigned sessions will depend on event procedures and volunteer availability.
Mentors are encouraged to provide constructive professional feedback without performing competition work on behalf of student teams.
All competition deliverables must remain the work of participating students. The organizing committee will provide additional guidance regarding mentorship boundaries and competition rules.
Judges assess student work using the official competition rubric, considering both engineering quality and the ability to communicate a clinically relevant solution.
Assess how clearly the team defines the healthcare problem, target population, and relevant user needs.
Evaluate the technical rationale, design decisions, user requirements, and proposed solution quality.
Consider technical feasibility, safety, usability, manufacturing constraints, and implementation challenges.
Review the proposed prototype, the evidence supporting the design, and the team's testing or evaluation approach.
Consider commercial, regulatory, operational, and practical factors affecting the proposed device.
Evaluate presentation clarity, organization, supporting visuals, responses to questions, and the team's grasp of its engineering solution.
These are anticipated evaluation considerations. The official rubric, scoring instructions, and judging procedures will be provided before competition weekend.
Volunteer assignments will be coordinated around the formal event schedule. Final arrival instructions, judging rooms, and role-specific procedures will be shared with participating professionals.
| Time | Activity | Location and Details |
|---|---|---|
| 9:00-10:00 AM | Mentor Session: Block A | REPF 200. Teams receive professional feedback on early design direction. |
| 10:00-11:00 AM | Mentor Session: Block B | REPF 200. Additional structured mentoring for participating teams. |
| 3:15-6:00 PM | Round 1 Presentations | FH 300, REPF 200, GLG 127. Teams present across multiple rooms to determine finalists. |
| 6:00-6:30 PM | Judge Review and Scoring | GLG 127. Judges review scores and prepare finalist selections. |
| 6:30-8:30 PM | Career Fair and Dinner | Gallogly Hall. Opportunities for student and professional networking. |
| Time | Activity | Location and Details |
|---|---|---|
| 1:15-2:45 PM | Final Presentations Session 1 | GLG 127. First group of finalist presentations before the final judging panel. |
| 2:45-3:00 PM | Break and Snacks | Gallogly Hall. Transition between final presentation sessions. |
| 3:00-4:30 PM | Final Presentations Session 2 | GLG 127. Remaining finalist presentations before the final judging panel. |
| 4:45 PM | Awards Ceremony | GLG 127. Competition winners and awards announced. |
We invite professionals from engineering, healthcare, research, industry, and related disciplines to express interest in mentoring or judging the competition.
The interest form allows the organizing committee to collect professional backgrounds, availability, and preferred participation roles for event planning.
Submitting the form expresses interest and does not automatically confirm a volunteer assignment. The committee will coordinate next steps with participants.
Additional role-specific instructions will be sent to participating volunteers before the competition.
Yes. You may indicate interest in both roles through the volunteer interest form. The organizing committee will coordinate assignments based on availability and competition needs, including any relevant conflict-of-interest considerations.
No. We welcome expertise from multiple fields, including clinical practice, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, software, manufacturing, regulation, quality, research, and business.
Volunteers may express their availability for specific mentoring or judging sessions. Assignments will depend on event needs, and the committee will provide the relevant schedule for each participant.
Yes. Judges will receive the official competition rubric and relevant instructions before their assigned judging sessions.
Mentors may answer questions, discuss technical considerations, and provide feedback. All engineering design, prototyping, and competition deliverables must remain student-led.
The organizing committee will provide arrival, parking, check-in, and assigned room information before competition weekend. Formal mentoring is scheduled in REPF 200, while judging uses designated presentation rooms.
Help undergraduate students strengthen their engineering solutions, gain confidence, and learn from professionals during the 2027 National Medical Device Make-A-Thon at the University of Oklahoma.