University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Engineering healthcare
from the ground up.

i-MADE is a student-run organization at UIUC that bridges medical innovation, engineering, and human-centered design. We don't wait to graduate to build things that matter — we do it now, in teams that think clinically, design intentionally, and ship real work.

Apply to join See our projects
70
Active members
10
Live projects
3
Cozad teams
6
EOH teams

Active work

What we're building

Each project has a clear clinical motivation, a student team that owns it, and a path to testing with real users. No shelf-ware.

Post-Surgical Recovery

AirEmbrace

A patient-controlled recovery bra for post-mastectomy healing that uses adjustable pneumatic chambers to replace one-size compression garments — giving patients direct control over their support level at each stage of recovery.

Active
Neurotechnology

Enceflow

A low-cost EEG signal processing system that makes real-time neurofeedback accessible outside clinical settings. Tracks mental states like alertness and calm to enable more accurate assessment of attention and emotional regulation than self-reporting alone.

Active
Cardiology

Heart Attack Detection

A live ECG monitoring system designed to meet medical standards for arrhythmia and heart attack detection — at a price point accessible to consumers in developing countries, where current continuous monitoring systems are out of reach.

Active
Metabolic Health

Intragastric Balloon Therapy

Reducing the cost of gastric balloon therapy from $1,500 to under $10 by engineering an effective sealing mechanism around widely available materials — targeting the same 10-week therapeutic window as current procedures.

Active
Sports Medicine & Wearables

Stealth

A wearable EMG system that monitors weightlifting form in real time and flags technique errors before they cause injury. Addresses a gap in training feedback where 60–75% of weightlifting injuries are acute and preventable.

Active
Patient Care

Intelligent Mattress Topper

An embedded sensor and microcontroller system that tracks patient pressure distribution in real time and generates a live heat map — giving nurses and caregivers a data-driven tool for preventing pressure ulcers.

Active
Wound Care & Biomaterials

PETRA

Pharmaceutically Enhanced Tissue Regenerative Adhesives — a natural hydrogel bandage combining a biopolymer scaffold with manuka honey to promote active wound healing rather than passive protection.

Active
Education & Outreach

CCIL Escape Room

A series of hands-on puzzle modules commissioned by the CCIL education team to show K–12 students how engineering drives the fight against cancer — each puzzle representing a distinct domain, from diagnostics to drug delivery.

Active
Digital Health

Treehouse Pediatric Therapy

A session management application for pediatric therapists that replaces manual task tracking with a visual, icon-based interface — reducing administrative overhead so therapists can stay focused on the patient in front of them.

Active

Who we are

Built by engineers
who think like designers.

i-MADE is not a research lab, and it's not a club that puts on panels. It's a project team — cross-disciplinary, fast-moving, and organized around the belief that meaningful healthcare innovation doesn't require a PhD or a startup check to get started.

Our members come from Bioengineering, Computer Science, Industrial Design, and pre-med tracks. What binds the team is a shared disposition: clinical curiosity, technical rigor, and an intolerance for work that doesn't go anywhere.

We ground our work in real clinical problems — researching existing literature, engaging with faculty advisors, and building with end users in mind to make sure our solutions actually fit how care gets delivered.

Clinical grounding
Every project originates from a real clinical pain point, validated with practitioners before any engineering begins.
Intentional design
We treat usability as a technical requirement — devices that clinicians won't adopt are failed devices, regardless of their specs.
Student-led execution
Faculty and advisors are involved, but students set direction, run meetings, and own outcomes end to end.

Executive board

Blake Bermingham
Blake Bermingham
Chief External Operations Officer
Sally Kim
Sally Kim
Chief Internal Operations Officer
Krishna Unnam
Krishna Unnam
VP, Finance
Akshay Baid
Akshay Baid
VP, Technological Affairs
Anissa Patel
Anissa Patel
VP, Internal Development

Applications

Come build with us.

We recruit once per semester. The process is meant to be low-friction — we care about how you think, not how your resume looks.

1
Tue, Aug 25 · 6pm
In-Person Info Session
Meet the team, tour active projects, ask anything. No RSVP needed.
2
Wed, Aug 26 · 6pm
Virtual Info Session
Can't make it in person? Join us online — same content, same team.
3
Sat, Aug 29 · 11:59pm
Application Deadline
A short form — your background, what draws you to this work, and what you want to build.
4
Mon, Aug 31
Post-App Social
Hang out with the team while we review apps. Low-key, no pressure.
5
Wed–Fri, Sep 2–4
Interviews
A 20-minute conversation. No case study, no whiteboard — just you and a problem you've worked on.
6
Following week
Offers
Decisions out within days. New members are placed on a project team from day one.

Applications open
each semester.

We're looking for engineers, designers, pre-med students, and anyone who cares about building things that work in the real world. Freshman welcome.

Fill out the interest form
Get in touch
imadeuiuc@gmail.com
@imadeuiuc
i-MADE at UIUC