Nathi Magubane, Penn Today
Having spent years as a child patient requiring surgeries, chemotherapy, and hospital stays, Melanie Herbert, a fourth-year student in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, intimately understands what it means to rely on caregivers for basic needs. This firsthand experience, combined with her engineering expertise at Penn, inspired her to develop Sync Labs, an AI software solution for the senior-care industry that addresses a growing crisis in eldercare.
According to industry projections cited by Herbert, by 2029, one caregiver will be responsible for eight seniors, a ratio that limits the quality and personalization of care. Sync Labs offers a privacy-centric AI system that aims to reduce staff exhaustion, fill caregiving gaps, and enable seniors to maintain their independence while receiving personalized care.
“Aging is something most of us will all go through, and it is an experience where people can unfortunately lose their independence, something I can understand from being a patient myself,” says Herbert, an electrical engineering major from Short Hills, New Jersey. “Caregivers need our support in meeting the growing number of seniors so they can always give the best, most personalized care.”
Manual data capture and time-consuming processes keep caregivers from doing what they do best: supporting our seniors’ health and wellness. And Sync Labs is making that a priority. The trio are recipients of the President’s Innovation Prize. They will receive $100,000 for Sync Labs and a $50,000 living stipend each.
Awarded annually, the President’s Innovation Prize and President’s Engagement Prizes empower Penn undergraduates to design and undertake post-graduation projects that make a positive, lasting difference in the world. The Prizes are the largest of their kind in higher education.
The idea for Sync Labs began about two years ago, with Herbert going “all in” on building the company in the fall of 2023. The team has since expanded to include Nami Lindquist, a dual-degree student in computer science and economics in the Jerome Fisher Program in Management & Technology from Bellevue, Washington, and Alex Popescu, a systems engineering major in Penn Engineering from Easton, Connecticut.