FIU Engineering Team Advances to Hult Prize Nationals with Preterm Birth Detection Device

TL;DR: Three FIU engineering students have reached the national finals of the Hult Prize with a handheld imaging device aimed at predicting preterm birth, a condition that affects 10‑15% of pregnancies and is the top cause of infant death.

The Hult Prize, often called the “Nobel Prize for students,” challenges teams to create scalable solutions for global issues. After winning FIU’s campus competition, graduate students Jenny Pei and Amanda Sanchez and undergraduate Abiel Vasallo Veliz moved on to the national stage. Their project builds on the PPRIM (Portable Preterm Imaging) device developed in the Medical Photonics Laboratory under mentor Jessica Ramella‑Roman. PPRIM captures rapid polarized images of the cervix, analyzing how light interacts with tissue to detect collagen remodeling that precedes labor.

Pei focuses on identifying specific optical markers of premature cervical change, Sanchez handles optical design and simulation, and Vasallo works on hardware improvements for eventual mass production. The team hopes the tool will allow clinicians to intervene earlier—using medications to accelerate fetal lung maturity or other measures to prolong pregnancy—thereby reducing neonatal morbidity and mortality.

Vasallo said, “I truly do believe that it is something that could revolutionize neonatal health.” No peer‑reviewed randomized controlled trial or cohort study results for PPRIM have been published yet; the technology remains in the research and development phase. Practical takeaway: if validated, a low‑cost, point‑of‑care scanner could expand preterm‑birth screening in underserved clinics and rural settings.

Winning the Hult Prize would provide up to $1 million in seed funding to refine the device, pursue regulatory approval, and begin pilot studies. The team will enter a digital incubator in June‑July, followed by an accelerator in August, with the final pitch for the grand prize scheduled for September.

What to watch next: the team’s progress through the Hult incubator and accelerator phases, which will determine whether they advance to the final round and secure funding for further validation and potential market launch.