At the 2026 Engineering Project Showcase , hundreds of student teams gathered in the Zachry Engineering Education Complex to present the results of months of work tackling current industry challenges. But for one team and one family, the event was a celebration of a life-changing medical advancement.
Five-year-old David Hardy was born without the lower right portion of his jaw. This made breathing difficult as a newborn, especially when sleeping. In certain positions, the left side of his jaw would move sideways and push his tongue over his airway, which caused dangerous drops in his oxygen levels. While the issue — known as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) — subsided for a few years, it returned when David was three years old.
His breathing issues stemmed from two of the most common facial differences: a cleft lip and palate, which affects up to one in 700 births, and hemifacial microsomia (HFM), which affects up to one in 3,000 births. HFM often causes more medical complications and can affect the ears, eyes or, in Hardy’s more severe case, the jaw.
After nights spent holding their son’s jaw in place by hand so he could breathe, David’s parents were eventually able to put him on a CPAP machine. Later, a surgeon conducted a rib-graft surgery to provide additional support for his lower right jaw. These actions helped Hardy, but there was still significant room for improvement.
Texas A&M answers the call
Thinking back to the nights spent holding her son’s jaw in place, Carolyn Hardy wanted to do more to help him breathe.
“I would often think, ‘I wish we could just make a facial brace that would shift his jaw to where it needs to be and give him a safe airway,’” she said. “But I didn’t know how to build this device.”
Convinced that her idea was worth pursuing, Hardy eventually reached out to 14 different university biomedical engineering departments to see if they could build it. While most gave her a generic response, Dr. Charles Patrick , director of undergraduate programs for the Texas A&M University Department of Biomedical Engineering, answered her with an enthusiastic “yes.”
As someone who had struggled with OSA in the past, Patrick immediately empathized with David’s challenges. He also spent over a decade in the MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Reconstructive Surgery Department, where he became familiar with facial reconstruction challenges.
“I was thrilled with Dr. Patrick’s incredibly warm and enthusiastic response,” Hardy said.
Patrick connected her with Zachary Bujnoch , associate professor of practice and overseer of biomedical engineering capstone projects, and Dr. Balakrishna Haridas , professor of practice and deputy executive director of the Southwest-Midwest National Pediatric Device Innovation Consortium (SWPDC).
After further communication over the summer, the project was finalized into a capstone with funding from the SWPDC for materials, supplies, prototyping and bench testing.
Building the brace
At the start of the Fall 2025 semester, a capstone team was formed, consisting of seniors Hattie Tramm, Caleb Lengefeld, Maggie Orscheln, Preston Frazier and Vibhav Jaripatke. Patrick joined the team as its faculty advisor. Over the course of the following nine months, the team floated multiple concepts, tested prototypes and hosted periodic video calls with the Hardys to discuss their progress.
Balancing comfort with functionality proved to be one of the biggest challenges, since the brace had to hold the jaw in position while being safe and comfortable enough for a child to wear during sleep.
“We spent a lot of time thinking about adjustability, safety and how to keep the design noninvasive,” Tramm said.
With no preexisting solution on the market, the team’s creativity drove the project forward.
“Knowing that this project could directly impact a child’s life was the biggest motivator,” Tramm said. “There were challenging moments but having that sense of purpose made it easier to keep going.”
Engineering Project Showcase
In a culmination of the team’s efforts, Carolyn and David Hardy flew from Connecticut to Texas to test a final prototype and attend the Engineering Project Showcase. The team presented their final project, “The JawDropper: A Pediatric Airway Support Device for HFM,” alongside 344 other senior capstone teams.
The family joined the team on stage during the showcase awards ceremony and Hardy was able to share her son’s story with the audience.
“Getting to tell the bright and dedicated seniors in the audience about what this team and department have done for my son was an honor,” she said. “Every single Texas A&M student, alumni or faculty member that we interacted with at the showcase was so excited to champion my son and the advancements on his behalf.”
The team went on to win the first place Bray International Award for first place in the biomedical engineering category, beating out 34 other teams. But the life-changing impact of the project was the true prize of the showcase.
More than an award
Patrick expressed his pride in the team and highlighted how they embodied the characteristics he seeks in biomedical engineering students.
“We want them to develop their knowledge in their head, passion in their heart, and skills with their hands,” Patrick said. “If students develop this trifecta and couple it with creativity, then we succeed in launching innovative professional biomedical engineers into the workforce.”
The project was incredibly meaningful to the team, especially as they prepare to begin their careers.
“As biomedical engineers, we often talk about helping people, but this is one of those situations where you can actually see the potential impact,” Tramm said. “Winning the top prize was rewarding, but what was even more rewarding was getting to meet David before the showcase and share what makes Texas A&M so special.”
Tramm hopes the device can move toward clinical validation through further development and help patients with similar conditions.
The time and effort put into the brace was not lost on the Hardys, nor was the device’s potential. Hardy is an advocate for furthering this technology, as her son is just one of many patients with hemifacial microsomia.
“From that very first email with Dr. Patrick, and subsequent interactions with other faculty and the members of the team itself, I felt like we were in the hands of some exceptionally special people,” she said. “I will never forget their genuine love and concern for my son, or the skill and knowledge they poured into designing this device for him. My gratitude to Texas A&M as a whole is unending.”
By David Cook , Texas A&M University College of Engineering
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