"The device Adnan is working on will allow heart and lung patients to monitor their conditions at their convenience from their homes," said Dadi Setiadi, chief technology officer for New Jersey Microsystems, a company that employs Gundel. "And better monitoring at home by patients," Setiadi added, "means fewer medical emergencies and lower overall health costs."
Thanks to the commission's new Fellows Program, Setiadi was able to hire Gundel to work as an integrated-circuit design engineer for New Jersey Microsystems. The small firm is based at the Enterprise Development Center (EDC), a business-incubator program at NJIT that helps technology companies establish themselves. The commission started the Fellows Program to place post-doctoral students from New Jersey colleges with early-stage technology companies. The commission is paying Gundel $50,000 to do research for the company.
Gundel, of Montclair, a post-doctoral student in electrical and computer engineering at NJIT, was one of nine graduate students in the state to be named a Fellow. Gundel will complete his dissertation in the fall and graduate from NJIT in 2006.
New Jersey Microsystems is working with NASA to develop a cardiopulmonary device that astronauts will be able to tape to their upper bodies. The device, which looks like a small stethoscope, has sensors that measure the heartbeats and breathing rates of astronauts. Data about their heart rates and breaths will be displayed on computer monitors visible to the astronauts or sent back to Earth for review by physicians. Gundel will design the integrated circuits for the sensors.
Gundel will also research whether the device can be used for another, broader application: to help cardiac and lung patients monitor their conditions at home. For this use, outpatients can either wear the device all day, using adhesive tape to attach it to either their back or chests. Or they can leave the device at home and use it a few times a day to check their conditions. The device will alert them if their conditions worsened and they could then send the data, via a wireless, Internet-based system, to their doctors. The device will allow doctors to monitor patients without them having to visit the office.
The New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology, established in 1985, is responsible for the development and oversight of policies and programs promoting science and technology research and entrepreneurship in New Jersey.
New Jersey Institute of Technology, the state's public technological research university, enrolls more than 8,300 students in bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in 100 degree programs offered by six colleges: Newark College of Engineering, New Jersey School of Architecture, College of Science and Liberal Arts, School of Management, Albert Dorman Honors College and College of Computing Sciences. NJIT is renowned for expertise in architecture, applied mathematics, wireless communications and networking, solar physics, advanced engineered particulate materials, nanotechnology, neural engineering and eLearning.