Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Selected for J & J Engineering Showcase

Each year, engineering students from the east coast submit their ideas for the annual Johnson & Johnson Engineering Showcase. With a focus on the application of technology to improve human health, students’ proposals are judged on innovation and novelty, feasibility and capability for implementation, impact to business or humanity, and presentation. Being selected to participate is a tremendous honor, and in 2021, Nicole Grueneberg ’23 ChE was among 15 of 30 nominees chosen to present at the virtual event in February.

Nicole presented her idea for Skinshare, an application for monitoring skin health. In addition to easily connecting patients with dermatologists in a defined geographic radius, Skinshare would perform skin damage assessment and analysis by enabling a smart phone’s flashlight to function as a UV light. The user would take a panoramic-style picture of the left, right and front of their face, and the UV light would detect surface and subsurface skin conditions. The app would also use image analytics to compare historical pictures to detect any changes that are cause for concern. As an added benefit, the app could determine if sunscreen is applied correctly.

“Skinshare will help increase awareness of the damage that UV radiation has on your skin by revealing what is invisible to the naked eye, helping with early prevention of various types of skin cancer,” says Nicole.

With an interest in a career on the business side of engineering, Nicole is pursuing a minor in Engineering Entrepreneurship to complement her Chemical Engineering degree.