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Kuniko Hunter of Chester, RPI team, awarded medical patent

2011 Green Mountain Union High School graduate and Chester resident Kuniko Hunter has been awarded a U.S. patent as one of a team of five inventors of Elefoot, a device for monitoring and documenting a patient’s compliance to doctor’s orders — such as keeping the affected foot elevated — following orthopaedic surgery.

The system includes a spatial orientation sensor, a processor adapted to compute ambulation data and a wireless interface to communicate with smart devices.  A method of real-time monitoring for prosthetic or orthotic devices is also included.

The aim of the device is to reduce the incidences of post-operative complications ranging from infections to amputations by monitoring limb elevation and ambulation.

The five-member team is made up of graduating seniors at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, who developed Elefoot at the request of an orthopaedic surgeon. It is a capstone project fulfilling the requirements of a bachelor of science in Biomedical Engineering.

Besides a BS in Biomedical Engineering, Hunter holds a BS in Design, Innovation and Society Studies and a master of science in Quantitative Finance and Risk Analytics, all from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y.  She is currently a PhD candidate in Biomedical Engineering at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, where she is part of a team developing an implantable bioartificial kidney.

Magic Mountain named Best in Snow for 2nd year

Magic Mountain in Londonderry has been named among Liftopia’s Best in Snow in North America for the second year running.

Liftopia is a ski and snowboard ticketing portal that takes reviews from thousands of skiers who use its services to see which resorts are best in a number of categories including beginner friendly, family friendly, most challenging and least crowded among others. The results are weighted by the number of users so smaller areas are not swamped by mega resorts.

Magic was ranked No. 4 in the beginner friendly category, No. 3 in family friendly and No. 1 in both most challenging and best value. Only two other areas in the East made it into the Top 10 overall and both are in Vermont: Mad River Glen was ranked No. 3 and Jay Peak No. 7.