Industrial Design Senior Wins Regional IDSA Student Merit Award

Demonstrating excellence in creativity, problem-solving and design brilliance, industrial design senior Jessica Monteleone has won the Industrial Designers Society of America’s (IDSA) Student Merit Award for the Northeast region.

She will present her design portfolio alongside the four other regional winners at the International Design Conference this September in Seattle.

At Jefferson, Monteleone has assembled a rich body of design work across a range of product categories. Her double-walled drinking glass for French tableware giant Luminarc won first place in last year’s Drinkware of the Future Competition and was displayed at the International Home and Housewares Show in Chicago. Monteleone then partnered with Luminarc to present the project to marketing teams and executives from Bed Bath & Beyond and Macy’s.

In addition, her wearable device—GaitMate—that reduces freezing of gait episodes in Parkinson’s patients earned second place at the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America’s International Design Competition.

For her senior capstone project, she developed an assistive breathing device that reduces the severity and duration of panic attacks.

“I’ve learned how to step out of my comfort zone and use new skills to execute each design in a unique way,” says Monteleone, who hopes to work in the medical device design industry after graduation.