Since he was a child, Nikhil Bhimireddy has always been a tinkerer.
Now, as a graduate of Olentangy Orange High School, Bhimireddy is leaving school with a novel biomedical development of his own before he enters college.
Bhimireddy, 18, created a prototype cap for infrared brain scans that solves a problem he discovered while interning at Nationwide Children’s Hospital: that the existing caps used for non-invasive brain scanning aren’t very effective for people with darker skin or thicker hair.
When he tried use the brain scan on himself during the internship, the calibration of the device failed.
“I was really shocked to have that experience because how many other children and individuals are being left out or having data that isn’t fully representative of what their brain is actually going through,” he said. “It wasn’t that this was intentional; it’s just that it wasn’t built with people of all sorts in mind.”
So working out of his home in Lewis Center, Bhimireddy developed the cap using a special fabric, 3D-printed parts and part of a children’s shoe. He created one that would be more effective when used on someone with darker skin or with thicker hair by trapping more light inside the system and allows the cap to be tightened to fit a head evenly. He said he was able to develop his prototype for around $10.60, whereas the product typically sells for $500.
After developing a prototype, he was able to test it at the hospital and on fellow lab members and others at the hospital. Then he emailed photos and schematics to the CEO of a German company that produces the caps and said that the CEO responded and said he had designed something similar on a post-it note but had never gotten around to developing it.
“It was a super cool experience to contribute to someone who was so experienced in the field,” Bhimireddy said. “I’m really grateful for that opportunity of just trying to solve it; I think that goes back to my identity – trying new things, and I was able to show value to someone who is just so high up in the field.”
Bhimireddy credits his experience at Olentangy Local Schools for fostering a sense of curiosity and learning outside of the classroom and the importance of diversity that helped him recognize the problem.
“Having students from all backgrounds and socio-economic status, and with that diversity, there’s just so many things you can learn and problems you can uncover,” he said. “But also there are beautiful things you can discover as well.”
Bhimireddy also plays tennis at Olentangy Orange and is competing in the Ohio state tournament starting May 28.
In the fall, Bhimireddy will be attending Brown University, where he hopes to concentrate on neuroscience and engineering. Eventually, he said, he wants to start his own biomedical engineering company or start-up.
Reflecting on his time at Olentangy, he said it was important to himself to try new things.
“Having that mindset … set me up in so many different positions that I would have never expected,” Bhimireddy said. “And some of those unexpected positions have been the most meaningful to me and what that really means is putting yourself in uncomfortable situations because you never know what you could learn or end up loving.”
Cole Behrens covers K-12 education and school districts in central Ohio. Have a tip? Contact Cole at cbehrens@dispatch.com or connect with him on X at @Colebehr_report.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Meet the Olentangy Orange senior who developed a neuroscience device
Reporting by Cole Behrens, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
