Invent life- and limb-saving technology before leaving college? Three South Dakota Mines students are trying to do just that.

They took their first step towards a medical breakthrough when they enrolled in Mines' very first Innovation-Based Learning course in the spring of 2026.

IBL offers Mines students an advantage over many of their peers: the chance to apply classroom learning and unique skills to real industry challenges, creating solutions that matter and elevating their career readiness.

IBL courses are now open to all Mines students, as leadership at the state's STEM-focused university in Rapid City recognizes the need for students' knowledge to translate into real-world value in a world that is rapidly changing.

A different kind of classroom

Students enrolled in IBL courses at South Dakota Mines meet in a boardroom – not a traditional classroom or laboratory.

"It's much more discussion-based," said Mitchell Sueker, Ph.D., assistant research professor in Mines' Innovation-Based Learning Hub. "We treat students like colleagues and emerging professionals, rather than simply engineering students. This encourages them to confidently share their ideas while preparing them for the expectations of industry."

Typically, student teams observe an industry of interest and define a problem in it. But before pursuing a possible solution, they're asked to consider a critical question: Is this a meaningful problem that isn't being adequately solved?"

This also speaks to the business side of innovation, and throughout the course, teams discuss topics such as product viability, industry standards, funding and patents.

A 'crash course' in entrepreneurship

Laura Brunmaier, Ph.D., assistant research professor in the IBL Hub who facilitated South Dakota Mines' pilot course, describes IBL as "an entrepreneurial crash course for scientists and engineers."

Students aren't just making a product to make it; they're developing a product or process to solve a known problem. If a team determines their idea – their innovation – is worth pursuing, they move on to designing, building, and testing it.

The first IBL team at Mines investigated a problem related to peripheral artery disease, a condition caused by the accumulation of fatty tissue that narrows arteries and restricts blood flow. PAD affects more than 21 million Americans, according to the team's research, and leads to approximately 150,000 amputations per year.

Guided by Brunmaier and mentored by cardiologist and vascular specialist Dr. Bhaskar Purushottam, the group determined that PAD amputations often stem not from a lack of medical intervention but from a lack of blood flow monitoring. They began developing a wearable band, the Re-Flux EIT (Electrical Impedance Tomography), that could "close the monitoring gap."

"The EIT itself is currently fully simulated in silico, with hundreds of simulated trials run daily to optimize the technology for its benchtop testing phase," said Drake Van Steenwyk, a biomedical engineering grad student who co-founded Re-Flux Medical LLC with fellow students Logan Merriam and Christopher Tuckerman.

Re-Flux Medical will exhibit the prototype at business plan competitions and inventor expos – from South Dakota to central Florida – in the coming months.

Turning knowledge into novel value

Other IBL projects in progress at South Dakota Mines range from developing a "smart" intravenous pump to improving the portable shelters that wildland firefighters deploy when facing burn-over threats.

Sueker says students learn valuable lessons through IBL that simply can't be found in a textbook.

"We're working with diverse sets of thinking and diverse skill sets," he said. "It teaches them to work with other people, solve problems, and then resolve any conflicts that are inevitably going to arise."

IBL also allows – even expects – students to make mistakes.

"They learn from failure in a safe space before getting into industry, where failure could have larger consequences," Sueker said.

The highs and lows, successes and failures, are all part of the innovation process.

"If you have any inclination to be an inventor or start a start-up, take the IBL course," Tuckerman said. "If it isn't something you want to pursue, then you gained experience in the 'making' process – from ideation to market analysis to, potentially, a prototype."

"IBL gave me a challenge where I could set the bar … and create meaningful change, not just in my schooling but also in my professional portfolio," Van Steenwyk said. "And because I am a biomedical device specialist, my devices have immediate, real-world impact that I can feel proud of."

For more information on IBL at South Dakota Mines, visit https://sdsmt.edu/ibl