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Hahn Family BME Design & Innovation Challenge

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Double Your Impact. Shape What’s Next in Healthcare Innovation.
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Senior BME student holding a device her group designed for Georgia Tech's Capstone Expo in April 2023
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Driven To Heal

Rooted in the Georgia Tech and Emory University partnership, the Hahn Family BME Design & Innovation Challenge is a strategic fundraising initiative designed to expand student innovation and advance the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering’s mission to improve human health through engineering. Through experiential learning and industry-connected design projects, students develop the skills and mindset needed to translate ideas into real-world healthcare solutions.

Made possible through the generosity of the Hahn Family, this challenge provides a dollar-for-dollar match for new gifts of $5,000 or more, up to $100,000, supporting the BME Design and Innovation Fund.

The campaign directly strengthens the department’s student-centered, hands-on learning environment by investing in:

  • The Capstone Design program
  • The Design Garden makerspace
  • Additional design-focused educational and innovation priorities 

By participating, donors play a vital role in advancing discovery, supporting translational research, and preparing the next generation of biomedical engineers to solve pressing health challenges and shape the future of healthcare.

WHY THIS MATTERS
Innovation Starts with Experience

At Coulter BME, students learn by doing. Through hands-on design experiences, they work at the intersection of engineering and medicine to solve real-world healthcare challenges.

Your support strengthens:

  • The Capstone Design program, where students develop solutions to real clinical and industry needs
  • The Design Garden, a dynamic makerspace for prototyping, testing, and innovation
  • A collaborative ecosystem that connects students with faculty, clinicians, and industry partners

Every project, every prototype, and every breakthrough begins with an opportunity—one that your gift helps make possible.

ABOUT THE CHALLENGE
A Match That Multiplies Impact

Thanks to the generosity of the Hahn Family, this Design & Innovation Challenge invites alumni, friends, and corporate partners to enhance design and innovation opportunities for BME students. The Hahn Family established this match to encourage participation and investment in the student design experience, which is central to how students learn engineering by doing. Their support helps ensure that Coulter BME continues to serve as a model for innovative experiential learning.

Through this challenge, new gifts of $5,000 or more to the BME Design and Innovation Fund will be matched dollar for dollar, up to $100,000, doubling the impact of philanthropic support for high-priority improvements to the Design Garden and for programmatic initiatives that strengthen the Capstone Design experience and related student design and innovation priorities.

This challenge is funded by a generous commitment from the Hahn Family: Joan Stanescu, Eileen Hahn, Jocelyn Hahn BMED 2024, Rene Hahn ME 2024, and Terrence Hahn.

Making Your Gift

Your Impact
Your Gift Makes A Difference

By participating in the Hahn Family BME Design & Innovation Challenge, donors help:

  • Double the immediate impact of their philanthropy
  • Support applied, industry-connected design projects for students
  • Create a more dynamic, modern, and accessible environment for student innovation

Every matched gift accelerates Georgia Tech’s ability to prepare the next generation of biomedical engineers to solve pressing health and technology challenges, while strengthening the ecosystem of hands-on learning that connects students, faculty, and industry.

All support raised through this initiative counts toward Transforming Tomorrow: The Campaign for Georgia Tech, the Institute’s $2 billion+ campaign to advance education, research, and innovation.

Hahn Family
Photo of the members of the Hahn Family
Hahn Family Commitment

Through the generous contributions of the Hahn family (Joan Stanescu, Eileen Hahn, Jocelyn Hahn BMED 2024, Rene Hahn ME 2024, and Terrence Hahn), this Challenge encourages additional investment in the Department—particularly in support of the capstone design experience and significant upgrades to the Design Garden to expand what is possible for our students and support their creativity, collaboration, and innovation. 

This approach has received strong support from the Department Chair, Board leadership, and Capstone faculty, who see meaningful potential to:

  • Engage a broader base of BME alumni and advisory board members
  • Stimulate corporate and industry support, especially from early-stage or emerging medtech partners
  • Build momentum around hands-on, industry-aligned design education
Questions
GIFT AND SPONSORSHIP QUESTIONS

Please contact Luke O’Connell, Director of Development, with questions about the challenge or your gift at luke.oconnell@bme.gatech.edu or 404-385-0471.

For inquiries about sponsoring a Capstone project and student team, contact Chris Revell, Professor of the Practice, at chris.revell@bme.gatech.edu or 404-385-1267. You can also learn more by visiting the webpage for the BME Capstone Program:

https://bmecapstone.gatech.edu/