History

Established in the Fall of 2022 by an alumnus of the Florida Conference Innovation Lab (FCIL) at Forest Lake Academy (FLA), the OU (Oakwood University) Create Innovation Lab’s mission is to provide a destination for alumni of the FCIL program and to equip STEM majors attending OU with STEM skills, career opportunities as well as providing them with a forum to showcase the talents.

Seeds for the creation of OU Create were planted during a STEM symposium hosted on the campus of OU during the Winter of 2019. In attendance were representatives from Loma Linda University, Andrews University, Southern Adventist University, OU, NASA, and Minimally Invasive Solutions. Robert Henley, FCIL at FLA appealed for a K-20 stem pipeline that would provide a destination for his biomechatronics students.

Shortly after the meeting, Dr. Vanterpool, chair of the OU Biological Science Department, launched the Biomedical Engineering concentration to serve as the next step for students enrolled in FCIL studying biomechatronics. This led to the creation of the OU Create innovation lab. The first project that the lab undertook was a continuation of collaborative biomechatronics research with Dr. Michael Davidson, director of Loma Linda University Medical Center Orthotics and Prosthetics Department, started while the students were attending FLA, which was submitted and accepted to be presented at the annual Emerging Researchers National Conference in March.