Full Title: CMPE Alumna, Angelique Johnson, recognized for new company, MEMStim

Computer Engineering Alumna, Angelique Johnson is making waves with her new company MEMStim, which recently won $27,000 in award money from the Michigan Business Challenge. According to a statement on the University of Michigan’s website, Johnson and her business partners, Christopher Cadotte and Andrew Smith, received $20, 000 for the Pryor-Hale award for best business, $5,000 for the Williamson award for Outstanding Business and Business/Engineering team and $2,000 for the Outstanding Presentation award. The team also won a $1,500 Assessment Grant from the Dare to Dream Grant Program, a Michigan University program that helps developing entrepreneurs get their businesses up and running.  

Johnson's company, MEMStim, is dedicated to developing customizable micro-fabricated stimulators. According to an article from Xconomy Detroit, this technology, which Johnson has been working on for several years, is “a platform for creating electrode leads…that can be easily integrated into devices that shoot electric pulses into a patient’s nervous system.” The platform would allow for the creation of multiple leads at a time, contrary to the current process that is expensive and slow, the article adds. This means more effective and more affordable care for those who could benefit from the technology—like patients with Parkinson’s disease.

A Meyerhoff scholar, Ms. Johnson graduated from UMBC in 2005 with a B.S. in Computer Engineering and a B.A. in Mathematics. After receiving her undergraduate degrees, Ms. Johnson attended the University of Michigan to pursue her Masters and subsequently a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering. Ms. Johnson speaks fondly about her experience at UMBC and with the Meyerhoff Scholars program here.