Five Wichita State University women were honored with the Women for Women Innovation Award for spring 2022. The Women for Women's Innovation Fund is awarded to Wichita State University female students to support innovative ideas that show promise of commercialization.

The Women for Women fund was established in 2020 with contributions to the Wichita State University Foundation to support women leaders and entrepreneurs in moving their ideas forward by providing recipients a boost to “Shock the World.” 

Sierra Bonn: Let’s Go Full STEAM Ahead!

Sierra is a senior in engineering. She said the inspiration for starting Let’s Go Full STEAM Ahead! “…was an interaction I had with a fifth-grader who wanted to know if she could be an engineer like I am. Mia showed me what an impact seeing someone like yourself in a field can make. That's the impact of Let's Go Full STEAM Ahead!”

Working to address the underrepresentation of women in STEAM fields, Let’s Go Full STEAM Ahead! highlights the women who are in the STEAM field and makes their stories accessible to youth of all ages.

Carly Overacker: Everwhen

After being tasked with a class assignment to find a need within the community, Carly discovered that many of WSU students, faculty, staff, and visitors were deeply frustrated by the time and gas it cost them to find a parking spot. This pain point led her to start Everwhen.

Carly, who is a sophomore in engineering, said “Everwhen provides users with an efficient way to find a parking space with our app and lot owners with a new way to manage their parking lots. Our software utilizes machine learning and is integrated with existing camera systems for a low cost.”

Brittany Wojciechowski, Amulya Lomte, and Maria Jose Carrillo Munoz: Customizable and Sustainable Breast Prosthesis

“More 100,000 women undergo a mastectomy each year in the United Sates without many post-surgery options except for invasive breast reconstruction or generic breast prosthesis.” Desiring to provide those women with more options, Brittany Wojciechowski, Amulya Lomte, and Maria Jose Carrillo Munoz began working on an alternative option. The team is working on developing a customizable 3D printed breast prosthesis that is biodegradable.

Brittany, Amulya, and Maria are all graduate students in the College of Engineering.

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Wichita State University serves as the Kansas urban-based research university, enrolling more than 16,000 students from every state in the U.S. and more than 100 countries. Wichita State and WSU Tech are recognized for being student centered and innovation driven.

Located in the largest city in the state with one of the highest concentrations in the United States of jobs involving science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), Wichita State University provides uniquely distinctive and innovative pathways of applied learning, applied research and career opportunities for all of our students.

The Innovation Campus, which is a physical extension of the Wichita State University main campus, is one of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing research/innovation parks, encompassing over 120 acres and is home to a number of global companies and organizations.

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