Mosha He (SEAS PhD'10) doesn’t play golf, but the PhD candidate still intends to make a significant contribution to the popular pastime. Along with Vipin Gupta (SEAS '08) and Vincent Wei (SEAS '08) Mosha founded "Movement Quantifier," a team that is developing a pressure-sensing technology that records and measures golfers' foot movements in this year’s PennVention competition. The team’s efforts were bolstered earlier this week when they were awarded a $1,000 grant by the Weiss Tech House Innovation Fund.

Four months ago, Mosha was an engineering student with a lot of good ideas. Today she is an inventor, actively learning how to turn her "big idea" into a viable product. The process began last September when Mosha stopped by the Weiss Tech House for a cup of free coffee.

"I overheard a student meeting with one of the in-house MBA mentors and realized there was a lot more to the Weiss Tech House than I thought," said Mosha.

Since then, Mosha has taken full advantage of all the resources the campus' hub for technological innovation makes available to student inventors. First, she scheduled a meeting with MBA mentor Christine Lee (WG'08) to sort through her ideas and decide on the best option. As it turns out, the idea they focused on was initially inspired by a different sport.

"I was watching a race on TV, and I thought there should be a more precise and reliable way to catch [false starts] than just using a camera," said Mosha. "I thought, maybe we could create a technology to track the runner’s foot movements."

After considering the consumer market and potential for commercialization, Mosha decided to develop this technological concept as a training product for golfers.

Once she knew the direction she wanted to head in, the next step was to find a way to protect her idea. So, she met with the in-house Law student mentor, Iman Lordgooei (L'07), who guided her through the process of applying for a provisional patent.

It was during Innovation Week in November, when Mosha decided to enter her idea in the PennVention competition. She recruited her teammates, had them sign a non-disclosure statement and registered "Movement Quantifier" in the competition, gaining instant access to industry experts and other resources.

Mosha represented the team at the Mini-Mentoring Marathon in December, and also wisely sought advice from the co-captain and Coach of the University’s Golf Team.

Last week the team applied for a grant from the Weiss Tech House Innovation Fund and went before the student-run committee to make their pitch, an experience Mosha describes as "relaxed yet formal." For its innovative concept, the Innovation Fund Committee awarded Movement Quantifier $1,000, which the team will use to conduct additional market research and manufacture a prototype of their product for PennVention.

According to Mosha, if the team presents well at PennVention, they will likely continue to develop the product, but the future depends on time, energy and resources.

"As an engineering PhD candidate, my research load is quite heavy," said Mosha, "I'm trying to find a balance." This includes maintaining her GPA, working on her product, and perhaps, if time permits, learning to play golf.