The first-place prize of $30,000 was awarded to Ultratech, from UTSA, for their “Ultra Sleeve,” which combines ultrasound imaging technology with a deep learning neural network to monitor the health of an athlete’s anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) by detecting the presence of microtears. In addition to the first-place prize, Ultratech was also named the fan-favorite team by the audience, winning the students an additional $5,000.

“It was very shocking to win, but we’re very grateful for it,” said Ultratech’s Chief Technical Officer, Arnob Haque, a senior biomedical engineering student.

The team’s chief executive officer, Yohannes Akiel, also a senior biomedical engineering student, added, “All the other teams did an amazing job as well. It was really fun to compete against the other teams.”

The Ultratech team also includes three other senior undergraduate students: Ikram Ahmad and Tristan Pepper, both biomedical engineering majors; and Josh Klopfenstein, a computer science major. Akiel, Haque, Ahmad and Pepper, who already knew each other, met Klopfenstein two years ago. From there, the five students conceived the idea behind Ultratech and have been working on it for the last year.

“It was very nice to see it all come together, each of our parts that we put into it,” Haque said. “Coming from where we are in the sciences, you tend to see people specialize and then shut themselves off into their individual labs, but to see our various interest come together, that was nice.”