Local teen headbutts concussions with invention

Abby Bishara has played soccer since she can remember. It's a dangerous sport for female athletes like herself. They suffer concussions at double the rate of their male counterparts.

"So I thought: Why not solve a problem in my every day life?" Abby recalled.

And that's exactly what this soon-to-be high school freshman is trying to do--with the help of a concussion- sensory headband she invested dubbed, 'Corona'.

What exactly is Corona? Well, let's say I headbutt the ball. It'll hit off of a sensor on the headband and that in turn, send a frequency to the app. That app will then send an alert to a parent, coach or trainer.

"After that, you can see how strong the hit was and how many hits during the game," Abby added.

And her invention is getting a lot of notice. She became involved in ProjectCSGIRLS--a place for middle school girls who have a passion for S.T.E.M.---or science, technology, engineering and math. She entered Corona in their national contest.

"Last year I entered the contest and I was a semi-finalist. I tweaked it over the year and I reentered it and became a national finalist," she said.

Abby even had the chance the work alongside two PhD students from The University at Buffalo. As for what the future holds--Abby hopes to soon patent her invention and continue computer coding more designs...going where relatively few women have gone before.

"There's a lack of females in the industry of engineering and in coding, so I think it's cool to see that our future is going to be okay."