The competition will take place on April 3, 2025, and offers a unique platform for students and teams to propose their ideas for combating the spread of inaccurate or misleading health information among college students. Participants will have the opportunity to showcase their strategies in front of a distinguished panel of judges, including experts in public health, media and business innovation.

“We are living in an era where misinformation can have serious, even life-threatening consequences,” says Alexandra Punch, director of the Lerner Center. “This competition is not just about raising awareness but driving real, actionable ideas and solutions that can be implemented on a community or even national scale.”

Submissions for the upcoming competition will be judged based on four key criteria: creativity, feasibility, impact potential and scalability. The top team will be awarded cash prizes, mentorship opportunities and access to valuable resources to further refine and implement their project. Finalists will also gain the opportunity to connect with influential stakeholders in the fields of public health and entrepreneurship, opening doors for potential partnerships and ongoing support.

The Lerner Center and Blackstone LaunchPad are hosting information sessions for prospective participants. The next session will be , and will provide detailed guidance on the competition, offering tips on crafting an effective pitch and outlining the submission process.

The Social Impact Pitch Competition, which aims to attract both students and professionals, will focus this year on combating misinformation—an issue that has gained prominence in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, as misleading health narratives have proliferated on social media and other platforms. The competition seeks to inspire innovative solutions to the growing public health challenge.

For those interested in more information or to sign up for updates, visit the Lerner Center’s or attend one of the upcoming information sessions.

• First place ($1,500) was awarded to Celes Buffard ’27 (School of Information Studies), founder of Return 2 Reality, an entertainment company focusing on a podcast for entrepreneurs around navigating and getting past the hurdles and challenges throughout the entrepreneurial journey.
• Second place ($1,000) was awarded to Olutosin (Tosin) Alabi G’25 (Whitman School of Management), founder of Diabetech, a med-tech venture for a diabetic foot ulcer wearable.
• Two third-place prizes ($500 each) were awarded to Alie Savane ’25 (College of Arts and Sciences), founder of Bete Kola, a health and wellness venture focusing on kola nut food and beverage products; and Mian Hamid ’26 (School of Information Studies), founder of Chai YEAH, a beverage venture offering authentic Indian chai tea to the U.S. market.

The six recipients are the following:

• Dominique Camp ’24 (David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics), founder of clothing brand Camp Collective, will use the funds for the organization’s first collection inventory, photo shoot and mockup designs.
  

  Dominique Camp

• Olutosin (Tosin) Alabi G’25 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), founder of Diabetech, will use the grant to develop a proof-of-concept prototype for the smart sensor/bandage for diabetic foot ulcer monitoring.
• Aidan Turner ’25 (School of Architecture), founder of clothing brand Grater Things, will use the grant for legal services, including project and membership agreements and privacy policy, as well as website development and product research expenses.
• Antonio (Tony) Goncalves ’27 (College of Engineering and Computer Science), founder of fitness app GymIn, will be using the grant to incorporate and other legal business processes.
• Lars Jendruschewitz ’27 (Whitman School and S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications), founder of Photos by Lars, will use the funds for equipment.
• Ania Kapllani ’25 (College of Visual and Performing Arts), founder of Sunset Music, will use the grant to register as an LLC and to create a logo and website.

Applications must specifically define the need with identified outcomes to be achieved within a set time. Initial money in the fund was provided by Jeffrey Rich L’67, partner at Rich Michaelson Magaliff LLP, and a member of the ���ϲ����� Libraries Advisory Board. Rich provided a multi-year pledge of $25,000 per year for five years from 2020 to 2025. “I wanted to contribute in a way that directly supports student new ventures and removes any obstacles to startup development,” Rich says.

Phloat co-founders Nathan Thor Brekke ’26 (left) and Malak Aljerari ’27 (right) with LaunchPad program manager J Wess (middle)

���ϲ����� Libraries’ Blackstone LaunchPad (LaunchPad) hosted its annual ’Cuse Tank entrepreneurial competition on Friday, Sept. 27, during Family Weekend in Bird Library. More than 35 student entrepreneur teams from various schools and colleges across campus participated in a “Shark-Tank” style business pitch to win $20,000 in cash prizes. The panel of judges consisted of University parents and affiliated family members. The judges selected two first-place teams, which each won $10,000 and two honorable mention runners-up:

• Iconnic.Cloud, founded by Waqar Hussain, G’25 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), won first place for the second year in a row. Iconnic.Cloud is a fully managed cloud hosting platform, engineered with proprietary software, that crafts tailored hosting solutions.
  

  Iconnic.Cloud founder by Waqar Hussain G’25 (left) with LaunchPad program manager J Wess

• Phloat, founded by College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) students who participated in the 2024 Invent@SU program, Elijah Alexander ’27, Joshua John Varkey ’26, Malak Aljerari ’27 and Nathan Thor Brekke ’26, also tied for first place. Phloat is a phone case that has a super compact, deployable flotation feature that triggers in the event of a phone falling and sinking into deep water.
• Gym-In, another startup from Invent@SU and founded by ECS students Alexander Hamza ’26, Antonio Goncalves ’27, Jack Friedman ’27 and Armani Isonguyo ’25 tied for runner-up. Their invention provides gym users with an app to determine how full a gym is and what machines are being used in live time.
• Papa Box, co-founded by Aleks Djordjevic G’25 (Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs) and Amos Kiplimo Bungei G’25 (College of Engineering and Computer Science) was also tied for runner-up. The company aims to provide and scale a battery-charging infrastructure through its interoperable PAPA Boxes swapping stations in transportation hot zones in Kenya.

This year’s group of “family” judges included:

• Todd Arky, executive vice president, Sharebite and co-founder/CEO of TipOff Sports
• Anthony Campagiorni ’91, vice president, Central Hudson Gas & Electric Company
• Melinda Dermody, associate dean of academic success, ���ϲ����� Libraries
• Melissa Gwilt ’15, G’22, director of budget and administration, ���ϲ����� Libraries
• Corey Lieblein ’93 , CEO of CP8 Capital
• Ajay Nagpal, president and COO Millenium
• Alice Villafana, retired
• Tonya Villafana, global franchise head, research and development, for Astra-Zeneca
• Mark Wassersug, former COO Intercontinental Exchange

Nearly 100 people registered to watch the competition, many of whom were attendees of Coming Back Together, the Black and Latine triennial alumni reunion on campus.

Student winners of 2024 Ideas Fest include:

• Olutosin (Tosin) Alabi G’25 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management)
• Nathan Thor Brekke ’26 (College of Engineering and Computer Science)
• Nicolas Philippe Courbage ’26 (Whitman School)
• Mario Antonio Escobar Jr. ’26 (Whitman School)
• Aphrodite Ruby Gioulekas ’25 (College of Visual and Performing Arts)
• Ania Kapllani ’25 (College of Visual and Performing Arts)
• Sandy Lin ’25 (College of Engineering and Computer Science)
• Omar Mohammed ’27 (College of Engineering and Computer Science)
• Clara Dorothy Gienapp Olson ’25 (S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications)
• Emeka Christopher Ossai G’25 (Whitman School)
• Elizabeth E Paulin ’24 (Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs)
• Briana Alexis Salas ’27 (Newhouse School)
• Avery Byrd Shelley G’25 (Newhouse School)
• Olivia Venezia Simons ’26 (Newhouse School and Whitman School)

Ideas Fest judges included subject matter experts, many of whom were SU alumni:

• Jacqueline P. Grant ’84, founder and CEO of The Management Academy, LLC and TrainTheTrades, LLC. Grant generously donated five marketing packages from The Management Academy and TrainTheTrades companies to winning student teams;
• Shade Akande, founder and CEO at OneX League;
• Joe Brooks ’87, retired senior banking executive with over 25 years of experience leading sales and service teams at JP Morgan Chase Bank;
• Gina N. Brown ’89, co-founder of myBKlife, a successful “hip” streetwear and lifestyle clothing brand;
• Simone Brown, CBT guest and registered nurse;
• Tyrin Fernandes ’20, food entrepreneur;
• Cristina Hatem ’92, director of strategic planning, marketing and communications at ���ϲ����� Libraries;
• Natalie Hewitt ’84, an independent human resources consultant;
• Kyra A. James ’07, professional food educator, certified cheese professional, and former ���ϲ����� track and field captain and student-athlete president;
• Erika L. Morant ’07, Washington, D.C. area-based project management professional;
• Cydavia Patterson, specialist in cultural competency, content creation and community curation;
• Shamieka Preston ’97, lead business execution consultant and vice president at Wells Fargo;
• Monica Randolph, senior director of merchandising for Barnes & Noble;
• Danielle Shavonne Reed ’98, bilingual event planner, entrepreneur and publicist; and
• Kate Washington ’75, managing partner of Enterprise Solutions International (ESI), a consulting firm that focuses on small and mid-cap business growth.

is a prestigious annual global competition that challenges student entrepreneurs to address the world’s most pressing social issues through innovative startups, aligning with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Each year, students from over 120 countries participate, with finalists pitching their solutions to a panel of experts for a chance to win $1 million in funding to bring their idea to life, driving positive global change through social enterprise. Teams can choose the problem they want to solve and develop a business solution to tackle it,

Aditee Malviya will serve as the ���ϲ����� campus director for the 2024-2025 Hult Prize competition.

As campus director, Malviya will organize the local campus qualifier competition on campus. Winners from the campus qualifiers advance to national competitions, followed by a digital incubator for further refinement. The best teams then join the global accelerator in London, with the top six startups competing in the global finals for the grand prize.

Malviya’s background is in web development, backend systems and process automation. Her work as a research assistant has led to improvements in data management and real-time analysis for financial research projects, while her role as an innovation nentor in the LaunchPad has helped guide numerous student startups to success. She has also served as the comptroller of the Graduate Student Organization at ���ϲ�����, managing significant financial responsibilities.

���ϲ�����’s Hult Prize campus qualifier will be held on Feb. 21 in the LaunchPad in Bird Library. Last year’s Hult Prize campus qualifier competition winner was Moody Magazine, founded by Emma Leuders ’24 and Jennie Bull ’24.

Traci Geisler

, director of (LaunchPad), presented a keynote address and served as an entrepreneurship competition judge at the first-ever Kenya-USA Global Launchpad Initiative (KUGLi) Innovation Summit, held at Kibabii University in Bungoma, Kenya, Aug. 15-16. The KUGLi Summit was the culmination of a technology innovation and entrepreneurship program focused on fostering multi-national ventures among science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) students to address global issues through entrepreneurship and creative opportunities.

The program was started in Winter 2023 by Churchill Saoke with support from the U.S. Embassy to promote entrepreneurialism and facilitate partnerships between Kenyan universities and ���ϲ�����. Throughout the Winter and Spring 2024, 131 students from Kenya and the United States participated in virtual and hybrid training sessions to identify unexploited areas for micro-multinational ventures using STEAM-focused solutions. ���ϲ����� student entrepreneurs in the LaunchPad partnered with Kenyan student entrepreneurs to advance several Kenyan student ventures. The Kenyan entrepreneurs were also invited to participate in virtual support and services from ���ϲ�����’s LaunchPad, including one-on-one advisory sessions with Traci Geisler, participation in LaunchPad workshops and presentations, and entrepreneurship ideation classes offered by , professor of entrepreneurship in the School of Information Studies.

The culmination of that budding partnership resulted in the invitation to Geisler to deliver a keynote speech, at the Summit in Kenya, to student entrepreneurs from five Kenyan universities. The Summit was also attended by Drew Giblin, the USA cultural attaché in Nairobi; Bungoma County Deputy Governor Jannipher Mbatiany; university officials and faculty from Kabibii University, JKUAT University and Great Lakes University of Kisumu; and other business leaders. Geisler spoke to the entrepreneurs about how to avoid and address cash flow problems, market misalignment, and team communication challenges during the initial growth phase of a startup. Geisler and other Kenyan subject matter experts also participated in the judging panel for the 14 student teams’ business pitches.

“The project is an intensive experience training of U.S. and Kenyan university students to develop micro-multinational ventures that employ entrepreneurial solutions to address and resolve global issues,” said Saoke.

The students’ business venture ideas addressed social impact initiatives and “wicked” problems, such as infant malnutrition, financial illiteracy, plastic pollution, water scarcity, inadequate markets for local produce, teen pregnancy, food insecurity and crime, among others.

Group photo of KUGLi Innovation Summit participants, including Traci Geisler, at Kibabii University in Bungoma, Kenya on Aug. 16.

Anthony J. Thomas and Fatim Cisse

Thomas’ entrepreneurial endeavors include building websites/web design, information security systems and home security systems. He has experience working in retail as a technology associate on both hardware and software.

Cisse’s entrepreneurial experience includes owning Womb’s Yoga, an organization that provides mindfulness workshops and support groups for Women of Color. Cisse is passionate about maternal health care and women’s wellness. She also previously served as a researcher in Health and Wellness Services through the office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

The Todd B. Rubin Diversity and Innovation Scholars is funded by a multi-year gift from Todd B. Rubin ’04 (School of Architecture) to directly support employment of entrepreneurial students focused on innovation, diversity and inclusion at the LaunchPad. Rubin was the recipient of the University’s 2014 Generation Orange Award for philanthropy and is a member of the ���ϲ����� Libraries Advisory Board. Todd serves as the minister of evolution (president) for The Republic of Tea, founded in 1992 as a premium tea company dedicated to enriching people’s lives through great-tasting premium teas and herbs, education, and innovation.

Aidan Turner

Turner is a fifth-year architecture student minoring in real estate (Martin J. Whitman School of Management). A member of the Blackstone LaunchPad since 2021, Turner’s entrepreneurial endeavor includes a premium garment design and supply company called Grater Things Threads, which supports his two clothing brands. He was awarded Whitman’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2022 and 2024.

The LaunchPad Watson Scholar is a paid position for students passionate about innovation, entrepreneurship and venture development. Funded through a gift from the Hunter Brooks Watson Memorial Fund, the Watson Scholar honors the life, passion and entrepreneurial spirit of Hunter Brooks Watson, who passed away in 2016 after a car accident.

Xheneta Sopjani (left), Emeka Ossai (center) and Natasha Brao are among the recipients of the Spring 2024 Orange Innovation Fund grant.

���ϲ����� Libraries is accepting fall 2024 applications for the grant now through Friday, Sept. 27, at 5 p.m. Interested applicants should plan to attend one of the information and proposal/grant writing workshops on Sept. 10, 11 or 12.

The Orange Innovation Fund supports student research initiatives emerging from campus innovation programs. The grant ‘concept to commercialization’ fund is designed to help move graduate and undergraduate student research or scholarly projects from ideation to proof of concept to commercialization. Initial funding from the program came from a gift to the Libraries from Raj-Ann Rekhi Gill ’98, a member of the University Board of Trustees.

Grants up to $5,000 per award will be made, with a total of up to $50,000 per academic year based on the merit of applications.

The program is administered through ���ϲ����� Libraries, in collaboration with the University’s research and commercialization programs such as the�� (SOURCE), the��,��, ,��, the��, the����at ���ϲ�����,��,��, the����(NYSTAR designated Center for Advanced Technology) and the��. Applicants can also come directly through research classes, labs or independent study programs across the University.

Student applicants must identify specific tangible needs related to the product, service, technology or creative work they are developing. Grants will support defined projects over a clear timeframe with identified outcomes that will help move a research project or innovative venture toward proof of concept toward commercialization.

A prerequisite to applying is attendance at one of the proposal writing workshops being offered by Linda Dickerson Hartsock, advisor, strategic initiatives ���ϲ����� Libraries, and former founding director of the Blackstone LaunchPad. Students should attend one of the following workshops to create a successful application:

• Tuesday, September 10, from 3 to 4 p.m. in Bird Library
• Wednesday, September 11, from 3 to 4 p.m. in Couri Hatchery, Whitman Room 116
• Thursday, September 12, from 3 to 4 p.m. Hybrid in Bird Library or via

Dickerson Hartsock is also available to help coach applicants through the process and can be scheduled for sessions on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons by emailing ldhart01@syr.edu.

Applications are due Friday, September 27, by 5 p.m. to ���ϲ����� Libraries. For a link to the application or to register for a workshop, please e-mail orangeinnovation@syr.edu to indicate your interest in the program.

Following a cross-campus committee review process, announcements and award letters will be made in October.

Nine student teams were the

The symposium included a networking breakfast and panel discussion with young startup founders who have successfully raised funds: Sean Lattimore ’23, founder of Suptho; Aidan Meany, founder of Found Surface; Ben Haber, founder of Monark Markets; and Matt Schneider, founder of e-States.

The panel was followed by an open session where student entrepreneurs learned about the various types of early-stage investors, including a distinguished panel from across the country, including Libraries Advisory Board member and angel investor, Yvonne Hyland; Andrew Schwartz ’20, Zenyatta Capital co-founder; Andy Reed, ESD–NY Ventures director; Sashi Tripathi, Nurture VC managing director; Dustin Doucette, director of Upstate Venture Connect; and David Tsung, co-founder of Oculus VC, a local venture capital firm. The symposium wrapped up with a lightning round of elevator pitches by current LaunchPad student founders to the panelist judges.

Student startups competed for the People’s Choice Awards during the Blackstone LaunchPad’s first Investor-Ready Symposium.

The following student startups were the People’s Choice awardees for the event:

• First place: Sam Hogan, founder of HireBird, from SUNY Albany’s Blackstone LaunchPad
• Second place: Natasha Brao ’22 (College of Visual and Performing Arts), G’23, G’24 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), founder of Shooka Sauce
• Third place (tie): Frank Marin ’24 (College of Engineering and Computer Science), founder of Marhold Space Systems; and Yaneeka Nichols ’26 (School of Information Studies), founder of SNDER
• Honorable mentions: Motolani Oladitan ’24 (College of Arts and Sciences), founder of Tá Beautie; Neil Adams ’25 (S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications), founder of Band Launch Media; and Chris Cherniakov, founder of Telemetree, from Colgate University.

Funds for the awards were generously donated by Andrew Schwartz ’20.

Prior to the symposium, the LaunchPad hosted a series of workshops designed to prepare students to meet potential investors on the topics of contract negotiation; due diligence-data room preparation; term sheet overview; and financial instruments review.

Motolani Oladitan ’24 (College of Arts and Sciences), left,��founder of Tá Beautie, and Natasha Brao ’22 (College of Visual and Performing Arts) G’23, G’24 (Whitman School of Management), founder of Shooka Sauce.

Natasha Brao ’22, (College of Visual and Performing Arts) G’23, G’24 (Whitman School of Management), founder of Shooka Sauce, won the 3^rd place prize of $1,000 in the food and agriculture track. Shooka Sauce is a Mediterranean-spiced tomato sauce based on the dish Shakshuka, inspired by mixing and melding cultural flavors to promote creative cooking.

Motolani Oladitan ’24 (College of Arts and Sciences), founder of Tá Beautie, was awarded the Concept Stage Award of $500 in the software and services track. Tá Beautie is a virtual marketplace connecting African beauty and wellness brands with the diaspora, making it easier for consumers to discover and purchase high-quality, authentic African products.

Five Launchpad student start-up teams attended the 2024 New York Business Plan Competition. Other student teams to reach the finals include Frank Marin ’24 (Marhold Space Systems), Adya Parida ’25 (Scale Sense), and Dylan Bardsley ’26 and Mark Leaf ’27 (Clarity).

The NYBPC attracts some of New York state’s best student entrepreneurs. The competition promotes entrepreneurial opportunities for college students from across the state to pitch their business plans to seasoned investors. They also receive the opportunity to engage with mentors and judges from the business community. The finals event connects students with business professionals, provides experiential learning opportunities through competitions, connects entrepreneurs with resources at the Entrepreneurship Expo and awards up to $100,000 in cash prizes to help seed new ventures.

Traci Geisler, director of Blackstone LaunchPad at ���ϲ����� Libraries, and Bruce Kingma, professor of entrepreneurship in the School of Information Studies and Whitman School of Management, co-organizers of the 2024 RvD iPrize and Spirt of Entrepreneurship Award.

Winners of the Raymond von Dran (RvD) iPrize for Student Entrepreneurship competition and the Hunter Brooks Watson Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award were announced at the student entrepreneurship competition held April 12 at Bird Library. The competition was coordinated by the Blackstone LaunchPad at ���ϲ����� Libraries (LaunchPad) and Bruce Kingma, professor of entrepreneurship at the School of Information Studies (iSchool) and Martin J. Whitman School of Management.

The following 10 student startup teams each won $2,000 in RvD funding:

• Brielle Young ’26 (iSchool), founder of Aggregate, an online platform that enables small-scale farmers to sell directly to customers via the Internet.
• Olutosin “Tosin” Alabi G’24 (Whitman School), founder of DiabeTech, a healthcare startup developing an innovative smart bandage solution for managing diabetic foot ulcers.
• Mariah Brown ’25 (Whitman School) and Fernanda Kligerman, founders of Dormbank, a used goods store which specializes in supplying college students with reduced cost dorm goods, appliances and home electronics.
• Jonah Wassersug ’26 (S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications), Alexa Shoiock ’25 (College of Visual and Performing Arts) and Tomoyoshi Takita ’26 (iSchool), founders of GEN, an AI-powered personal stylist and shopper.
• Waqar Hussain G’24 (Whitman School), founder of Iconic.cloud, offering small to medium enterprises a streamlined cloud server management solution, enabling them to easily deploy and scale their digital products on dedicated cloud platforms.
• Motolani Oladitan ’24 (College of Arts and Sciences), founder of Latita Wellness (Tà), a virtual marketplace connecting African beauty and wellness brands with the diaspora by making it easier for consumers to discover and purchase high-quality, authentic African products.
• Elizabeth Paulin ’25 (Arts and Sciences), founder of Paulin Ventures, a venture capital firm uniquely focused on investing in early-stage startups founded by diverse and disabled entrepreneurs—an underserved market with immense untapped potential.
• Xheneta Sopjani G’24 (Whitman School), founder of Revive, a powerful skincare device that combines advanced technologies to stimulate collagen, tighten facial muscles and reduce wrinkles.
• Natasha Brao G’24 (Whitman School), founder of Root & Seed Brands, which launched its first product, Shooka Sauce, a commercially packaged good brand that celebrates the mixing and melding of cultural cuisines to promote creative, adaptable cooking and bringing new experiences to the modern table.
• John Bol Ajak Deng G’25 (Newhouse School), founder of The HumBol Fund, which aims to give academically gifted South Sudanese students from Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya a sense of hope through scholarships and a network of private school partners to pursue their education in the U.S.

The Hunter Brooks Watson Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award is awarded to students who best exemplify the spirit of entrepreneurship. Prizes honor the memory of Hunter Brooks Watson, an SU student who died tragically in a distracted driving accident. The winners of $2,000 each are:

• Adya Parida ’25 (College of Engineering and Computer Science) and Ryan Brouchoud ’25 (Maxwell School), founders of AdaptEd, a technology company that offers AI-powered adaptive learning software designed to support students with different learning styles.
• Bintou Manneh ’24 (iSchool), Maram Ahmed ’24 (iSchool), Marangelis Uben ’24 (iSchool) and Ashley Romero ’24 (Arts and Sciences), founders of BearBot, a stuffed toy that acts as a reading tool for children, fostering a safe and comforting learning environment.
• Mariah Brown ’25 (Whitman School) and Fernanda Kligerman, founders of Dormbank, a used goods store which specializes in supplying college students with reduced cost dorm goods, appliances and home electronics.
• Za’Tozia Duffie G’25 (Newhouse School), founder of MirrorZ60, an innovative mirror designed to revolutionize personal hair care, providing users with visibility to the back of their heads.
• Jordan Pierre G’25 (Whitman School), founder of VOICE, fostering a community that empowers and uplifts marginalized students, enabling them to unearth their voices, recognize their collective agency in effecting change, and harness their platforms to cultivate community solidarity—all through the medium of storytelling.

��The award competition highlights the University’s entrepreneurial focus. Raymond von Dran, who served as dean of the School of Information Studies from 1995 until his passing in 2007, was a longtime academic entrepreneur and staunch supporter of student innovation. Gisela von Dran, Raymond’s wife and the former director of the School of Information Studies’ library and information science master’s program, served as one of this year’s judges.

The Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award began in 2018 through the Hunter Brooks Watson Memorial Fund. Speaking on behalf of Hunter’s memory was John “Jack” Rose ’24 (Whitman School) of Management), this year’s Hunter Brooks Watson Remembrance Scholar, along with Hunter’s parents, Jerry Watson and Judith Fister, who joined from McLean, Virginia.

���ϲ����� students at 2018 New York Business Plan Competition. From left, Charles Keppler and Serena Ogie Evah Omo Lamai, co-founders of Fibre Free, Kayla Simon and Elizabeth Tarangelo, co-founders of In-Spire, and Julia Haber, founder of WAYV and Home From College.

The , powered by Upstate Capital, is currently accepting applications through Friday, March 1, from graduate and undergraduate students across Central New York colleges and universities for the regional qualifier in Central New York. This year the regional competition will be held at SUNY Oswego’s downtown ���ϲ����� campus on Friday, March 22. The two top regional teams, as selected by regional business and community leaders, will progress to compete in three rounds of finals, leading to the final competition on Thursday, April 25, in Albany.

The competition promotes entrepreneurial opportunities for college students from across the state who pitch their business plans to seasoned investors. They also receive the opportunity to engage with mentors and judges from the business community. The finals event connects students with business professionals, provides experiential learning opportunities through competitions, connects entrepreneurs with resources at the Entrepreneurship Expo, and awards up to $100,000 in cash prizes to help seed new ventures.

Students will compete in one of the following tracks:

• food and agricultural technology;
• health and wellbeing;
• learn, work and live;
• safety, power and mobility;
• products and hardware; and
• software and services.

Aditee Malviya G’25, studying in the School of Engineering and Computer Science, was selected as a student ambassador to share entrepreneurial resources at the Blackstone LaunchPad and spread the word about the competition on the ���ϲ����� campus.

Students from regional colleges and universities should and indicate Central New York as the region.

Josh Aviv ’15, G’17, CEO of Sparkcharge, the 2018 NYBPC Grand Prize winner, said “…Through winning the New York business plan competition, we were able to develop one of our first ever prototype charging stations that has now evolved into a multimillion-dollar business. We also received a ton of mentorship guidance… We now have offices across the United States…”

Since 2010, the NYBPC has helped to launch more than 200 student-led ventures and generated more than $150 million in economic impact.

The competition was organized by two students in the , Motolani Oladitan ’24 and Brandon Henry ’24, with support from other Blackstone LaunchPad student employees and founders.

Tosin Alabi took first place in the recent Afropreneurship Pitch Competition. (Photo by Mariah Brown)

Olutosin “Tosin” Alabi G’25, an MBA student in the , won first place in the 90-second pitch competition with her proposed health tech startup, DiabeTech Nexus, a sensor-detecting diabetes wound bandage.

Whitman undergraduate student Mariah Brown ’26 won second place with Dormbank, a proposed reseller of college residence hall items like appliances and small electronics. Third place winner Justin Diaz ’24, also a student in the Whitman School, is founder of Eco Bamboo Living, a company that would create tiny homes made of bamboo for more sustainable living.

Judges for the pitch competition also spoke to students during a panel discussion on being an innovator, entrepreneur and creative of color. Panelists/judges included:

• Brianna Howard G’21, founder of Faithful Works, which offers virtual assistant and grant consulting services to nonprofits, small business owners and startup;
• Derrell Smith ’10, retired NFL player turned chef and founder of a meatball company named Amazeballs, who has cooked on stages around the world and stars in his own TV show on Tastemade;
• Damaris “Koi” Munyua G’22, founder of the marketing agency Koi and Company, which specializes in copywriting, graphic and website design;
• Ana Catalina Rodriguez Botello, a diversity and social impact professional with a master’s degree in public and social Policy from Universitat Pompeu Fabra and a LEAD Certificate from Stanford University, currently serving as global social impact senior manager at Marsh McLennan;
• Phahsa Ras, co-founder of UMi, the world’s first “Conscious Attention Economy,” capitalizing on the impact of such emergent technologies as generative AI on jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities; and
• Kofi Addai, associate director of bias education and response in .

Katy Arons

Katy Arons ’24, founder of Continual Consent and a student in the School of Information Studies, won first place at the 2024 campus qualifier competition for the on Feb. 1 held at ���ϲ����� Libraries’ Blackstone LaunchPad. She and her team will now advance to the national competition being held March 26-27 at Florida State University and televised on PBS.

Continual Consent is a health and safety mobile application designed to revolutionize conversations about consent and intimacy. As the winner of the ���ϲ����� competition, Arons will receive an expense paid trip to compete in the ACC InVenture Prize finals from March 26-28 in Tallahassee, Florida. The televised finals feature one team from each of the 15 colleges and universities in the ACC Academic Consortium who compete for ��$30,000 in prizes.

ACC InVenture campus qualifier runners up included Justin Diaz ’24, founder of EcoBamboo and a student in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, and Brendan Murty ’24, Ryan Mussaw ’24 and Ian Storrs ’24, founders of Concurrent and students in the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

The ���ϲ����� ACC InVenture Prize is supported by the Provost’s Office and is hosted by ���ϲ����� Libraries and the .

serves as the University’s entrepreneurship and innovation hub, partnering with academic programs and entrepreneurial centers across campus and beyond to connect students to local, regional and national networks of alumni entrepreneurs, company founders, subject matter experts and venture partners.

Administered by ���ϲ����� Libraries and located in Bird Library, the LaunchPad hosts classes, speaking events and workshops and offers a mentoring program. In addition, LaunchPad hosts each year.

Winning Startups

Three businesses developed by graduate students recently claimed the top prizes in the ’Cuse Tank competition, one of the University’s premier business plan competitions. Here, the winners offer advice for other graduate-level students who have an entrepreneurial spirit.

Natasha Brao

developed , inspired by the Mediterranean dish Shakshuka. The MBA student says she plans to run the business full time after she graduates this spring. Brao recently began production runs and is forming relationships with small local retailers. She will expand the business by hiring staff and ramping up marketing and sales and hopes it will soon be investor ready.

“Creating a food product and brand has been something I have dreamed of doing since I was a kid, and now I owe it to myself to give it all I’ve got,” she says. She encourages others to pursue their startups while still in school. “If you have an idea you want to explore or that is ready and has a place in the market, this is the best time for that. Starting a business while being in grad school has made me more passionate and driven me to absorb as much as I can from my classes. They provide invaluable tools to learn as I go and I can immediately apply those lessons to the real world.”

Waqar Hussain

founded , a cloud-hosting platform engineered with proprietary software that offers streamlined cloud server management solutions. He is on track to earn an MBA with a concentration in entrepreneurship and marketing next year. Now, he’ll use his ’Cuse Tank prize to fund product development, improved technology, automation, marketing and the infrastructure and operations teams, he says. He encourages graduate students to take on startup ventures.

“[The experience] allows grad students to start building while they’re studying. These programs help you think more holistically when you’re competing—from writing to pitching to financing. You find there’s a whole world of things you can put into practice to build your real-world skills.”

heads , which uses engineering analysis software to design systems for active space debris removal, on-orbit satellite servicing and in-space manufacturing missions. He is in his final year of the H. John Riley dual engineering/MBA program.

Marin’s interest in creating a space company began in high school after a military representative at a science fair thought his passion could become something more. He credits a first-year entrepreneurship course with helping him better understand how to solve problems and seek opportunities. “Explore the connection between your passion and problem-solving while there’s time for it,” he suggests. “If you find something worth doing, do it.” He says he will enter his company in additional competitions this semester, then look for longer-term sources of funding.

Additional Resources

Students can also find entrepreneurship opportunities in their home school or college.

: The (New Explorations in Information and Science) Lab is a research lab where student innovators initiate IT projects, work with peers and explore emerging technologies. Students work on independent projects that advance the fields of information science, engineering and technology. The school also hosts workshops and hackathons.

: The ��provides information about patents, trademarks and copyrights. Student entrepreneurs can meet with law student experts regarding questions on intellectual property, regulatory compliance and commercialization resources as well as the technical, legal and business aspects of bringing new technologies to market. The center also hires graduate students from a wide range of disciplines to assess and analyze proposals submitted by real-world clients.

: The is an entrepreneurial workspace that partners with new media startups and offers tailored services to help students’ companies grow and succeed. The coordinates co-op internships that allow students to work with some of the world’s fastest-growing media startups.

: The graduate degree program in offers specialized tracks in four areas: new venture, social, corporate and family entrepreneurship. The school presents several competitions each year, including , the and . Whitman is also home to the , a student-centered co-working space and mentorship program, and the

: Veteran or military-connected students will find many at IVMF. help students get their ideas off the ground. The annual focuses on the opportunities and challenges faced by growth-stage businesses that are actively scaling or ready to scale. is a one-day entrepreneurship training event, offered in cities across the U.S., for veterans, active-duty military and military spouses or life partners who are just beginning to explore the opportunity of small business ownership as a post-service career path.

Among the activities planned for the week:

• 

  ���ϲ����� Libraries’ Blackstone LaunchPad is celebrating National Entrepreneurship Week Feb. 10-17.

  The�� is a crowdsourced list of books on topics related to innovation and entrepreneurship. It includes both print and eBooks on the following topics: autobiographies and biographies; creativity; design; empowerment; funding patents and business law; history and economics; leadership and teams; marketing; social entrepreneurship; strategy and planning; and technology and data.

• On Feb. 12 at 9 a.m., Anthoni Pope and Jordan Davis of New York Life will present a workshop on “How to Create Generational Wealth for Small Businesses.”
• On February 13 at 9 a.m., alumni Luke Cooper, managing partner at Latimer Ventures, and Kevin Whittaker, chief legal and compliance officer at Ripcord, will present an “Ask Me Anything” workshop on “.”
• On February 14 between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., the LaunchPad is hosting a event to match student venture opportunities with other students’ skills. This is an opportunity to meet staff and other LaunchPad students, learn about ventures and find potential business partners.
• On February 16 at 3 p.m., LaunchPad Innovator-in-Residence Sai Bolla ’23 will present a workshop in the LaunchPad on .”
• are available to help entrepreneurs bring their ideas to life.
• One-on-one advisory sessions and alumni and peer mentors are available to consult with entrepreneurs (it’s free to join) throughout their entrepreneurial journey.

Gianfranco Zaccai ’70, H’09 (pictured on screen), donor for Intelligence ++, and Kai Patricio G’23 (College of Visual and Performing Arts) cohosting a workshop.

The competition was created to harness the power of design thinking, user experience (UX)/ user interface (UI) research and design, and rapid development technology. Traditionally taught and practiced in silos, these skills and tools hold the potential for unparalleled innovation when combined. Intelligence ++ aims to bridge these gaps by providing students with a holistic experience working alongside top alumni industry professionals.

The hybrid weeklong event will commence with an intensive workshop on Feb. 2, 2024, from 2 to 5 p.m. in the Whitman School of Management. It is being led by Kai Alexander Patricio G’23 (College of Visual and Performing Arts), a design consultant in research and experience design at Matchstiix in Brooklyn, New York. Patricio is renowned for his expertise in design processes utilizing no and low code. He is also the author of the published methodology “Design Led No Code” and consults businesses ranging from start-ups to mature companies.

Patricio will be joined by industry professionals Samantha Calamari (senior learning experience designer, Microsoft), Quentin Fletchall (senior design researcher, Conifer Research), Andrew Tsao (founder, Codeless Coach) and Max Mirho (founder, Make with Max), as collaborators in the design sprint.

The workshop will guide students through the process of testing an idea and building a fully functional prototype or MVP (Minimum Viable Product). Activities will include multi-level mind mapping, empathy structuring, journey sketching, no-code wireframing, API binding, back-end creation and business logic creation.

Teams interested in participating can . Selected teams will be assigned a design challenge related to the Intelligence ++ initiative. For those aspiring to develop platforms beyond the design brief, an opportunity to apply for an exception for a prototype build based on their own research will be provided.

The competitive sprint will culminate on Friday, Feb. 9, 2024, at 2 p.m., with a pitch event at the Whitman School of Management. Teams will present their prototypes to a distinguished panel of successful ���ϲ����� alumni judges working in the field. The winning team with the best prototype will be awarded a $500 grand prize and $5,000 in AWS credits from AWS Activate.

Intelligence ++ is a collaborative program involving the College of Visual and Performing Arts School of Design, the School of Education’s InclusiveU initiative of the Taishoff Center for Inclusive Higher Education, ���ϲ����� Libraries and the Blackstone LaunchPad. The Whitman School of Management is hosting the event in partnership with the Couri Hatchery.

This initiative represents a significant step toward fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and preparing students for the dynamic challenges of the ever-evolving technological landscape.

The competition is open to undergraduate students or students who have received their undergraduate degree within the past year and who are the original creators, inventors or owners of the intellectual property underlying their invention. Alumni and industry leaders from around the country will serve as judges to select the “top inventor” to represent ���ϲ����� at the ACC Conference finals.

Aidan Mickleburgh, founder of Intervea, won second place in the 2023 ACC InVenture Prize competition.

The winner of the ���ϲ����� competition will receive an expense paid trip to compete in the ACC InVenture Prize finals from March 26 to 28 in Tallahassee, Florida. The televised finals feature one team from each of the 15 colleges and universities in the ACC Academic Consortium who compete for ��$30,000 in prizes. Teams with generated revenue or venture capital funding of more than $100,000 are ineligible. This includes funding from both institutional and non-institutional sources such as contests, grants, friends and family, bank loans, etc.

Student startup teams or researchers are invited to submit ��of a venture idea to participate in the ���ϲ����� campus qualifier.�� All campus qualifier finalists will also be invited to apply for LaunchPad Innovation Fund grants as well as , both available through gifts to ���ϲ����� Libraries. Competitive applications typically include technology or research that is being commercialized in areas such as agriculture, biology, life sciences, medical, climate, consumer electronics, education, finance, sports, hardware, software, artificial intelligence, augmented or virtual reality, big data, autonomous devices, robotics, advanced materials, Internet of Things, 5G and more. Digital platforms or services should have an underlying novel technology and ideally should be past the idea stage with some customer discovery and design drawings.

The ���ϲ����� ACC InVenture Prize is supported by the Provost’s Office and is hosted by ���ϲ����� Libraries and the . Past ���ϲ����� contestants who participated in the PBS-televised finals included: Kate Beckman ’17 G’18 (S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications), founder of FreshU; Kayla Simon ’19 (College of Engineering and Computer Science) and Elizabeth Tarangelo ’19 (College of Engineering and Computer Science), co-founders of In-Spire; Alec Gillinder ’20 (College of Visual and Performing Arts) and Quinn King ’20 (College of Visual and Performing Arts), co-founders of MedUX (they captured second place in the conference finals); Russell Fearon ’20 G’21 (College of Engineering and Computer Science) and Ricardo Sanchez ’21 (College of Visual and Performing Arts), co-founders of SugEx; Noah Mechnig-Giordano ’23 G’23 (College of Engineering and Computer Science and Martin J. Whitman School of Management), founder of Happy Loose Leaf Tea; and Aidan Mickleburgh ’23 G’23 (College of Engineering and Computer Science and Martin J. Whitman School of Management), founder of Intervea (who captured second��place in the conference).

“Representing ���ϲ����� at the ACC InVenture competition is both an honor and an opportunity,” says David Seaman, dean of ���ϲ����� Libraries and University Librarian. “Past ���ϲ����� representatives have benefited from learning and networking at a national level, going on to pursue their innovations or careers in the tech sector. And the chance to earn up to $30,000 in prizes can have a tremendous impact to a startup.”

��

• 

  Emma Leuders (left) and Jennie Bull

  1st Place: $5,000 awarded to Moody Mag, founders Emma Lueders ’24 (College of Visual and Performing Arts [VPA]) and Jennie Bull ’24 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management). As first prize winner, Moody Mag will be representing the University at the in Boston.

• 2nd Place: $4,000 awarded to EcoBamboo Living, founders Justin Diaz ’24 (Whitman School) and Keif Timmins ’25 (SUNY ESF).
• 3rd Place: $3,000 awarded to Continual, founder Katy Arons ’24 (School of Information Studies).
• Runner-Ups: $1,000 awarded to each of the following: Marhold Space Systems, founder Frank Marin G’24 (Whitman School); Ta, founder Motolani Oladitan ’25 (College of Arts and Sciences); and Scale Sense, founders Oliver Raycroft ’25 (College of Engineering and Computer Science [ECS]) and Adya Parida ’25 (ECS).
• Up and Coming Awards: $250 each awarded to: Queen’s Wellness Institute, founder Fatim Cisse G’24 (David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics); Dormbank, founder Mariah Brown ’26 (Whitman School); Shelstie, founder Shelstie Dastinot ’24 (VPA); and GbaAôndo (GBA) Energy, founders MoAde Jagusah ’24 (Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs), Adam Youngs ’26 (Whitman School), Court Watson ’26 (Whitman School), Nicole Mazzeo ’25 (Maxwell School) and Semirat (Bushrah) Balogun G’24 (School of Information Studies).

• 

  Shooka, founded by Natasha Brao ’22

  Shooka, founded by Natasha Brao ’22 () G’24 (). Shooka is a consumer-packaged goods brand that celebrates the mixing and melding of cultural cuisines to promote creative, adaptable cooking, bringing new experiences to the modern table. Inspired by the classic dish Shakshuka enjoyed in many Mediterranean cultures, Shooka makes creative variations that allow you to experience the dish at home. Brao has solidified the contractual relationship with her co-packer and is hoping to launch her first line by the end of the fourth quarter with the funds awarded from ‘Cuse Tank.

• 

  Marhold Space Systems, founded by Frank Marin ’23

  Marhold Space Systems, founded by Frank Marin ’23 () G’24 (Whitman). Marhold Space Systems, LLC is a space manufacturing company that is developing technology to assist in building long-term, in-space sustainable growth. They will be providing services through novel methods for active debris removal, on-orbit servicing and in-space manufacturing. Through designs and novel methodology, Marhold Space Systems promotes safer interactions with debris by minimizing contact with uncooperative objects. They will utilize the prize money for astrodynamics software to validate their debris removal methodology.

• 

  IconnHost, founded by Waqar Hussain G’24

  IconnHost, founded by Waqar Hussain G’24 (Whitman). IconnHost is a fully managed cloud hosting platform, engineered with proprietary software that crafts tailored hosting solutions with one click. They offer subject matter experts a streamlined cloud server management solution, enabling them to easily deploy and scale their digital products on dedicated cloud platforms. IconnHost will use the prize money to invest in product development, performance-improving technology, scalability, automation and marketing, and to build out their infrastructure and operations team.

This year’s prizes were generously donated by: Corey Lieblein ’93, parent Ajay Nagpal and Andrew ’79 and Linda Schwartz.

This year’s judges included:

• Jack Adler ’23, CEO of Out2Win Sports
• Melinda Dermody, associate dean of academic success, ���ϲ����� Libraries
• Ana Gil, owner, Ana Gil Studios
• Corey Lieblein, CEO of CP8 Capital
• Ajay Nagpal, president and COO of Millenium
• David Reed ’83, Champion Products
• Kira Crawford, technology consultant
• Tyrin Fernandes ’20, entrepreneur
• Karla Lellis JD’25, legal compliance specialist
• Lee McKnight, faculty, School of Information Studies
• Kate Oja, associate director of ERIE21, Le Moyne College
• Mark Wassersug, former COO of Intercontinental Exchange

About ���ϲ����� Libraries’ Blackstone

The is ���ϲ�����’s innovation hub, connecting the campus resource-rich ecosystem with a global network that provides support for aspiring entrepreneurs, inventors and creators. The program serves faculty, staff, students and recent alumni across all disciplines who are interested in entrepreneurship, venture creation and innovation careers. The program supports a key pillar of ���ϲ�����’s academic strategic plan to give students experiential opportunities that help prepare them to be trailblazers in an entrepreneurial world.

Jason Kuperberg (left) and Matt Shumer

The awards have spotlighted the duo of ��and ’18, founders of OthersideAI, who got their start at the . The two entrepreneurs were selected in the highly competitive consumer technology category.

Their journey began during the pandemic when, as participants in the LaunchPad’s 2020 SummerStart Accelerator program, Shumer, who was a student in the Whitman School of Management, and Kuperberg, who was a student in the College of Arts and Sciences, conceptualized and brought to life OthersideAI. Shumer, CEO of the company, attributes their initial success to the invaluable support of the Blackstone LaunchPad network. Both are still volunteer entrepreneurs in residence at the LaunchPad and regularly mentor student startups. As students, they were both LaunchPad Global Innovation Fellows and Rubin Family Mentors and winners of various campus student startup competitions.

OthersideAI stands out as one of the first commercial products entirely built on GPT-3, OpenAI’s powerful and versatile AI model. The company has been actively engaged with OpenAI, being among the first to gain access to the OpenAI API to contribute to refining the groundbreaking technology while adhering to stringent safety standards.

The company gained significant recognition for its innovative use of artificial intelligence, particularly its reliance on OpenAI’s GPT-3 model. The company has been actively working with OpenAI, collaborating closely to test and refine the capabilities of GPT-3. Their involvement extends to contributing to the development of safety standards for the technology, showcasing a commitment to responsible and ethical AI usage.

OthersideAI specializes in leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance and streamline various aspects of online communication and productivity. The company has developed a unique product that embeds generative AI into websites, helping with writing and simplifying tasks associated with web browsing. It can also assist with tasks such as drafting emails, writing articles, or generating other forms of written content (including, for example, this article).

The technology developed by OthersideAI extends its capabilities to help users complete simple web browsing tasks. For example, users can use technology to facilitate activities like placing a food delivery order or navigating websites more efficiently. OthersideAI operates on a subscription-based model. Users can subscribe to access the benefits of the AI-powered assistance provided by the platform.

OthersideAI has attracted significant attention and financial support. It has received funding from various sources, including such firms as Madrona, WndrCo and Hustle Fund. Angel investors, including Siqi Chen, Andrew Farah and Kendrick Lamar, have also contributed to the company’s financial backing. The company operates on a subscription model and claims to have nearly two million users benefiting from its AI-powered services.

Forbes reports that OthersideAI is on track to generate $1 million in revenue in 2023, indicating a substantial financial milestone for the young startup.

The recognition from Forbes in the consumer technology category of the 30 Under 30 awards underscores OthersideAI’s impact and innovation in the technology sector. OthersideAI’s journey from its inception at a university accelerator program to being featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 showcases the dynamic nature of the startup landscape and the transformative potential of AI technologies.

Forbes, known for its prestigious 30 Under 30 awards, selects winners from thousands of online submissions, industry sources and recommendations from alumni. Shumer and Kuperberg earned their spot through an evaluation process considering factors such as funding, revenue, social impact, scale, innovation and growth potential.

Shumer and Kuperberg follow in the footsteps of previous ���ϲ����� LaunchPad alumni who made it to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, including AJ Damiano ’18 and Michael Paris ’20, original co-founders of PowerSpike, who have moved on to leadership roles in new ventures; Kelsey Davis ’19, G’20, founder of CLLCTVE; and Dylan Kim ’16, co-founder of Brevité—who were all elected for the 2021 Forbes 30 Under 30 list.

LaunchPad Program Manager Indaria Jones ’14, founder of The Creators Lounge, was previously named to the 2018 Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Social Impact.

“The Forbes 30 Under 30 award recognizes 30 outstanding leaders across twenty industries. This year’s list comprises a global community of young, innovative leaders reshaping the landscape of business and society,” notes Forbes. “With up to 20,000 annual nominations, being featured on this prestigious list is a testament to Shumer and Kuperberg’s remarkable contributions to the tech and AI sectors.”

For more information on this year’s Forbes 30 Under 30 winners, visit .

“The Intelligence++ Ventures initiative is a concept to assist student research initiatives emerging from the Intelligence++ program or other campus innovation programs. The initiative helps move student research, scholarly or creative projects from ideation to proof of concept and commercialization,” says David Seaman, dean of the libraries and university librarian. “Students can come from any school or college and need not take DES 400/600 to apply. In fact, students with an idea for the intellectual disability community could apply for this initiative in addition to funds the libraries administers, like the Orange Innovation Fund or the Student Innovation Fund.”

The program will be administered through ���ϲ����� Libraries, in collaboration with the University’s existing research and commercialization programs such as the , the , , , the , the at ���ϲ�����, , , (NYSTAR designated Center for Advanced Technology), and the .�� Applicants can also come through research classes, labs or independent study programs across campus.

Applicants must identify specific tangible needs related to the development of a product, service, technology or creative work in the discovery, testing, building and/or launching of their initiative. Applications can be submitted through orangeinnovation@syr.edu.

“I am pleased to continue to support this important program and enhance it through the creation of Intelligence++ Ventures, a new competitive program for student innovators to help commercialize products, services and technologies that will help people with intellectual disabilities,” says Zaccai. “This initiative can accelerate the transfer of inclusive design research to the marketplace. It will help students create innovations that can be used by early customers, get real world feedback on product design, and introduce products to the people who will benefit from their ingenuity.”

Zaccai envisions the initiative attracting even more students from across academic disciplines who are interested in pursuing design and development focused on breaking down barriers to accessibility. “From AI to digital and other emerging technologies, this field is poised for rapid growth,” says Zaccai. “Participating students can become part of the leading edge.”

Ford was part of an inaugural cohort of twelve innovative startups selected from a pool of more than 1,000 global applicants and will begin the program later this month.

Ben Ford

Ford began the program at in San Francisco in early October and then transitioned into the hybrid accelerator program based in Oakland, California. During the three-month accelerator program, founders are supported through a global network to prepare for a Demo Day with top Silicon Valley investors on January 11, 2024.

The program connects founders to successful entrepreneurs, other founders, mentors, universities and potential investors to foster connections. It focuses on transformative technologies at the intersection of artificial intelligence, financial technology, health technology, education technology, climate technology and social impact.

Ford is the sixth ���ϲ����� alumni founder to bridge into Techstars, considered the most prestigious accelerator program in the world. He joins Josh Aviv ’15 G’17, founder of SparkCharge (Techstars Boston); AJ Damiano ’18, co-founder of Dropyacht and Michael Paris ’20, product leader at Everyrealm, both former co-founders of PowerSpike before it was acquired by Live Current Media Inc. (Techstars Atlanta); Kelsey Davis ’19 G’20, founder of CLLCTVE (Techstars LA); and Shawn Gaetano ’20, founder of Solace Vision (Techstars LA). Both Aviv and Davis were recently named inaugural , recognizing the top 50 fastest growing ���ϲ����� alumni companies.

“Selection into the Techstars program is a very high bar,” said , Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives and Executive Dean of the Whitman School. “That said, I know firsthand that Ben Ford is someone who understands that successful entrepreneurs seek out and embrace opportunities to have their ideas challenged and tested by others who have navigated the entrepreneurial journey, and this is exactly what the Techstars initiative is all about. I couldn’t be prouder of Ben for his selection into this prestigious program and more excited for what’s ahead for Fundwurx.”

“I am grateful for the support we received through ���ϲ�����. We are appreciative of our advisors, mentors and close supporters who have been with us on this journey from the beginning and who have played a role in helping us reach this milestone. We’re so excited to become part of the Techstars family,” Ford says. “Being accepted into Techstars has been a goal of ours for quite some time. We are most excited to learn new frameworks and ways to think about the business when it comes to customers, product and financials, as well as to collaborate with a cohort of other great founders from around the world.”

Ford’s company Fundwurx is a business-to-business software platform that empowers human resources and social impact teams within companies to create and manage their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives more efficiently, as well as engage employees with nonprofits to donate and volunteer. Fundwurx enables businesses to streamline and automate outdated, decentralized and time-consuming CSR processes, such as conducting nonprofit due diligence, approving corporate gift match requests, and tracking and reporting on key social impact data. The platform provides a robust product suite that includes a real-time analytics dashboard as well as a tool to make it easier for company administrators to approve gift match requests in one click through their innovative backend payment infrastructure.

“At Fundwurx, we believe that every company can and should be a positive force for good in the world. That is why we are on a mission to empower companies with the tools and technology to drive positive impact easier than ever before. We fundamentally believe that CSR can be accessible for every business to implement and are excited to begin integrating the solution with real businesses,” Ford says.

Ford launched Fundwurx as a ���ϲ����� student studying marketing and data analytics, while working closely with the Blackstone LaunchPad at ���ϲ����� Libraries and LaunchPad founder Linda Dickerson-Hartsock. He also worked in the LaunchPad as Rubin Family Innovation Mentor, providing insight and support for other University startups throughout his college career. Ford is a member of the LaunchPad’s Founders Circle, an alumni group of ���ϲ����� students who started ventures as students and give back as alumni mentors.

Ford’s entrepreneurial journey started when he was eighteen with his first company, Jersey Boy Apparel. Jersey Boy Apparel was a clothing brand that sold sports jerseys to male and female college students across the country. The products infused the traditional sports jersey aesthetic with a new modern approach. As a solopreneur, Ford designed a product with foreign and domestic manufacturing and supply chains, managed a brand ambassador program of over 150 college students throughout the country, and collaborated with small celebrity influencers.

After embracing his enthusiasm for startups, Ford transitioned to working for an advertising technology startup based in San Fransisco called Omneky. While still in college, he worked with the sales and marketing team, helping source and close customers and lead various corporate strategy projects with other team members.

After these two enriching experiences, Ford then worked as a summer analyst for the Blackstone Charitable Foundation. This provided him with a firsthand view of the significant impact that a for-profit company can have in effecting positive change at a large scale.

While at ���ϲ�����, Ford won over $35,000 in non-dilutive funding for Fundwurx from business pitch competitions, including first place in the 2023 Whitman Panasci Business Plan Competition and top wins in ‘Cuse Tank, Impact Prize, Raymond vonDran iPrize, Intelligence ++ and the statewide finals of the Global Student Entrepreneurship Awards. He also secured two LaunchPad Innovation Fund awards to help incorporate his venture and build his platform to test.

“Ben Ford is an outstanding example of what the Blackstone LaunchPad at ���ϲ����� Libraries was designed to do, namely provide an opportunity for students to launch into the world as engaged citizens and leaders,” says , Dean of the Libraries and University Librarian. “Ben is the sixth student and LaunchPad alumni accepted into the competitive Techstars program. We’re thrilled to see his success and delighted we had a part in his and his company’s development.”

As he developed his venture, Ford grew by raising angel investment to develop his prototype, which officially launched in September 2023, and onboarded several pilot companies including , one of the nation’s leading providers of mission-driven capital. He currently has a waitlist of more than 550 nonprofit organizations and has officially signed up over 100 nonprofits on the platform.

“I had the privilege to meet Ben about two years ago and become his advisor. His passion, creativity, work ethic and intelligence has created the foundation for an amazing company. I’m so proud to support and be an investor in this company. I can’t wait for the next chapter,” says Marc Synderman, one of Ford’s external advisors, a Philadelphia-based attorney, investor and entrepreneur.

Techstars Silicon Valley programs are led by Neal Sáles-Griffin, an entrepreneur, investor and educator who is managing director of Techstars San Francisco (), Oakland ( and Techstars . Over the past four years, he has made 100+ investments in early-stage technology startups. Ford will be working closely with Sáles-Griffin on the next stages of Fundwurx.

Gill

The Orange Innovation Fund is a concept to commercialization seed fund for student research initiatives emerging from the Blackstone LaunchPad and other campus innovation programs. The fund is designed to help move student research, scholarly or creative projects from ideation to proof of concept and commercialization by helping overcome some financial barriers students face.

The program will be administered through ���ϲ����� Libraries, in collaboration with the University’s existing research and commercialization programs such as the , the , , , the , the at ���ϲ�����, , , the (NYSTAR designated Center for Advanced Technology) and the . Applicants can also come through research classes, labs or independent study programs across the University.

“It’s been wonderful to see ���ϲ�����’s Blackstone Launchpad and its other innovation programs be so enthusiastically embraced by students across all disciplines. I hope this new fund will help remove any barriers student entrepreneurs might encounter as they develop their products for market. The U.S. economy depends on the tenacity of entrepreneurs to keep its edge,” says Gill. The Orange Innovation Fund supports the University’s goal to distinguish ���ϲ����� for excellence in research, scholarship, student experiential learning and innovation.

“We are so grateful for Raj-Ann’s commitment to ���ϲ�����, the Libraries and most importantly to the students we serve,” said David Seaman, dean of ���ϲ����� Libraries and university librarian. “Through her generosity, students will have the opportunity to apply for grants that will help bring their ideas to fruition, removing barriers to development of their products, services, technology and creativity.”

Each semester graduate and undergraduate students engaged in commercialization projects will have an opportunity to apply for grants up to $5,000 per award, with a total of up to $50,000 per academic year awarded over five years.

Applicants must identify specific tangible needs related to the development of a product, service, technology or creative work in the discovery, testing, building and/or launching of their initiative. Prospective applicants are encouraged to attend two proposal/grant writing workshops on Sept. 13 and 14 at 3 p.m. in the Peter Graham Scholarly Commons in Bird Library. The workshops will be offered by Linda Dickerson Hartsock, advisor, strategic initiatives at ���ϲ����� Libraries, and former founding director of the Blackstone LaunchPad.

The first application round will close Sept. 29. Applications for funding will be directed to the Libraries and reviewed by a cross-campus committee. For additional information email�� orangeinnovation@syr.edu.

About Forever Orange: The Campaign for ���ϲ�����

Orange isn’t just our color. It’s our promise to leave the world better than we found it. Forever Orange: The Campaign for ���ϲ����� is poised to do just that. Fueled by more than 150 years of fearless firsts, together we can enhance academic excellence, transform the student experience and expand unique opportunities for learning and growth. Forever Orange endeavors to raise $1.5 billion in philanthropic support, inspire 125,000 individual donors to participate in the campaign, and actively engage one in five alumni in the life of the University. Now is the time to show the world what Orange can do. Visit����to learn more.

Temerte with ���ϲ����� Libraries Dean David Seaman (right) at a reception at the Chancellor’s House

During her tenure at ���ϲ�����, Temerte was very engaged with the Blackstone LaunchPad at ���ϲ����� Libraries and the libraries in general, working as a Global Fellow and as Hult Prize campus director. She served as a mentor, helped organize events and tutored for the Center for Learning and Student Success as a peer facilitator. Additionally, she co-founded Pathway Prep, an international education company that paves the road for students around the world to attend U.S. universities.

As a student researcher, Temerte’s work focuses on the role cross-cultural identity plays in the life of an individual and the negotiation that comes with being in-between cultures, drawing from her own personal experiences. Born in Uzbekistan and growing up in rural Pennsylvania, she negotiated cultural identities while becoming fluent in several languages. Temerte also participated in several ���ϲ����� Abroad programs—as a Discovery Scholar in Madrid and a semester studying in Florence. She serves as a global ambassador for ���ϲ����� Abroad.

As a University Scholar, Temerte follows in the footsteps of:

• Saniya More ’19, former LaunchPad Global Fellow and founder of the Globalists and now head of content at SEDA in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
• Nick Barba ’20, former LaunchPad Global Fellow and LaunchPad program manager, now program manager at Future Founders in Chicago
• Patrick Linehan ’21, former LaunchPad Global Fellow and founder of The Out Crowd, ���ϲ�����’s LGBTQIA magazine (which also operated out of the LaunchPad), now an investigative journalist for ABC News in New York City

���ϲ����� Libraries helps students pursue pathways as successful innovators and entrepreneurs. This honor reinforces that students like Temerte are also student scholars, launching ventures, lives and careers from the Libraries. LaunchPad alumni go into the world intent on making a difference, equipped with unparalleled academic and experiential opportunities that are unique to ���ϲ�����.

Story by Linda Dickerson Hartsock, strategic initiatives advisor for ���ϲ����� Libraries and founder of the LaunchPad

Justin Gulska ’23 (center) was awarded the inaugural 2023 Innovator for Change Award, presented by Linda Dickerson Hartsock (left) and Claire Howard ’23 (right).

They were selected in recognition of launching or leading ventures at ���ϲ����� while students, as well as contributing to building the Blackstone LaunchPad. Founders Circle members serve as alumni role models and mentors for future student entrepreneurs who exemplify a passion for innovation and entrepreneurship. The group was inducted by LaunchPad Founder Linda Dickerson Hartsock, Director Traci Geisler and David Seaman, dean of libraries and interim dean of the School of Information Studies.

The Founders Circle Class of 2023 and their ventures include:

• Jack Adler, Martin J. Whitman School of Management, Out2Win
• Sai Krishna Bolla, School of Information Studies, Cognition X
• Raul Chakraborty, School of Information Studies, Athletify
• Season Chowdhury, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Athetify
• Alexandria Cianfarani, School of Information Studies, Clubmatch
• Bailey Davis, S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Zeal
• Kelly Davis, Whitman School and Newhouse School, Womanly
• Benjamin Delmarsh, College of Visual and Performing Arts, Afterlife AR
• Adore Amore Ellis, College of Visual and Performing Arts, MadebyAdore
• Benjamin Ford, School of Information Studies, FundWurx
• Justin Gluska, College of Engineering and Computer Science, BusPoint and ChatGPT Promptbook
• Nicholas Graham, Whitman School and College of Law, LaunchPad Venture Associate
• Robert Goldblatt, Whitman School, Tree-Spun
• Sydnee Grosso, David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics and Maxwell School,�� LaunchPad Global Fellow
• Samuel Holland, Whitman School and Newhouse School, Innovator in Residence
• Claire Howard, Maxwell School, LaunchPad Global Fellow
• Murray Lebovitz, Whitman School, Keep Coffee Casual
• Carlos Magdaleno, Newhouse School
• Zebedayo Masongo, College of Law, Grnwood
• Jordan Pierre, Newhouse School, Voice
• Gabriel Ruoff, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Zorse Cyber Inc.
• Alexandra Santangelo, College of Visual and Performing Arts, Launch Star
• Maya Tsimmer, Newhouse School and Whitman School, Bethel Sweet Honey
• Zachary Stahl, College of Engineering and Computer Science
• Connor Tarpey, School of Information Studies, Immersive Media
• Alesandra Temerte, College of Arts and Sciences, Pathway Prep

Founders Circle Class of 2023 members who will pursue graduate degrees at ���ϲ����� include:

• Natasha Brao ’22 (College of Visual and Performing Arts), G’23 (Whitman School), Holy Egg and Natasha Lauren Design
• Noah Mechnig-Giordano ’22, G’23 (Whitman School and College of Engineering and Computer Science, Happy Loose-Leaf Tea
• Vanessa Lora ’18, G’23 (Newhouse School), Vanessa Lora Music
• Aidan Mickleburgh ’22, G’23 (Whitman School and College of Engineering and Computer Science), Intervea
• Kai Patricio ’23 (College of Visual and Performing Arts), Farm Loop and Remend
• Jack Ramza ’22, G’23 (Whitman School), Rubin Family Innovation Mentor
• Rabia Razza ’23 (College of Visual and Performing Arts), Remend

Dean of ���ϲ����� Libraries and Interim Dean of School of information Studies David Seaman and Alexandra Cianfarani ’23, founder of Clubmatch.

“���ϲ����� is proud of these innovative, industrious and successful young people as they go out into the world,” says Seaman. “The Libraries has provided them a space in which to work, staff expertise and a rigorous set of programming to help develop their ideas, and they have created a community of innovation that continues to grow. We look forward to having them come back to campus as young alumni and staying in touch with us–and each other–through the Founders Circle.”

During the program, LaunchPad Global Fellow Claire Howard ’23 introduced the inaugural Innovator for Change Award, in honor of Linda Dickerson Hartsock, to recognize one student who has embodied fearlessness and tenacious in their pursuit of change, disruption or innovation for the greater good. Nominated by their peers, Justin Gluska ’23 was the recipient.

Runners-up were the teams of Carolyn Fernandes ’23 and Cassia Soodak ’25; Chase Coleman ’27 (InclusiveU), Domenic Gallo ’23 and Bella Young ’23; and Kate Allyn ’26 (InclusiveU), Jillian Castle ’25 (InclusiveU) and Wyatt Gillespie ’23.

Intelligence++ competition winners took home a combined $10,000 in prize money.

Optimal Assessment, Levy’s and Schreiber’s winning design, is a course planning application that takes instructors through steps that encourage them to think about the different ways they can facilitate learning and assessment, helping them design courses that meet the individual learning styles of students, guided by data.

A collaboration among , the , and , is an interdisciplinary initiative focused on inclusive entrepreneurship, design, and community. The project is available to both undergraduate and graduate students across the University, including students with intellectual disability from , a Taishoff Center program.

The 2023 competition was judged by Erik Geizer, CEO of The Arc New York; Chris Kennedy McKelvy, founder, K Ventures, vice chair, Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation, and former head of partnerships, Oculus VR; and Matthew Van Ryn, founder, law office of Matthew Van Ryn PLLC, and business counselor, New York State Small Business Development Center. Program donor Gianfranco Zaccai ’70, H’09, was on hand to offer teams advice about intelligent, inclusive innovation by design.

Also providing comments were Professor , program coordinator, MFA in design and industrial and interaction design in VPA; , founder, Blackstone LaunchPad; , interim dean, Whitman School; Professor , executive director, Taishoff Center; and , dean, ���ϲ����� Libraries and interim dean, School of Information Studies.

The competition’s showrunner was Ben Ford ’23, a previous Intelligence++ winner and founder of , an all-in-one platform to automate and streamline corporate social responsibility efforts.

Intelligence++ Competition 2023 Inclusive Designs and Teams

DoorWays App
Zhengrong Chai, Yajie Lan ’23, Jonathon Rossi ’23, and Noah Soliman ’26
An AI-powered app that addresses social challenges faced by individuals, particularly neurodivergent students, in large community contexts. It provides personalized recommendations for activities and friends based on the user’s interests and personality.

Wear-it Fidgit Cuff-it
Carolyn Fernandes ’23 and Cassia Soodak ’25
A collection of fidget devices for neurodivergent people working in professional environments, designed to provide stimulation for the hands. The discrete fidgets are attached to a cuff, hidden by fabric matching the sleeve.

Optimal Assessment
Alex Levy ’24 and Sam Schreiber ’25
A course planning application that takes instructors through steps that encourage them to think about the different ways they can facilitate learning and assessment, potentially helping them design courses that meet individual learning styles of students, guided by data.

Sensory Pod
Riley Blumenthal ’23, Wyatt Gillespie ’23, and Jessica Mitchell ’23
A small enclosure which combats the effects of sensory processing disorder. This product aims to serve as a space for children who are overwhelmed, agitated, or upset.

FlipACC
Chase Coleman ’27 (InclusiveU), Domenic Gallo ’23, and Bella Young ’23
A design research project that explores the implementation of emerging technologies into Augmentative and Alternative Communication tools. The research aims to create generalized translation tools for people who rely on nonverbal speech methods to allow for seamless adaptation to verbal conversation.

AdaptED
Ryan Brouchoud ’25 and Adya Parida ’25
AI-powered adaptive learning software to support children with disabilities. This software offers personalized learning experiences based on individual needs and abilities, while incorporating multiple teaching methods to accommodate different learning styles.

Sense
Kate Allyn ’26 (InclusiveU), Jillian Castle ’25 (InclusiveU), and Wyatt Gillespie ’23
Sensory-friendly clothing that promotes comfort and well-being for individuals with Sensory Processing Disorder. The Sense Hoodie is designed with the four primary drivers of SPD discomfort in mind: auditory, tactile, visual, and proprioceptive.

Never Sew Alone
Kate Allyn (InclusiveU), Christina Alicia May, and Vineet Narayan ’25 (InclusiveU)
A non-profit that empowers individuals to create their own vision of art through textiles. Through a series of creative workshops, neurodivergent community members are guided through projects that merge artistic expression with the development of skills such as sewing, embroidery, quilting, and similar crafts.

To learn more about Intelligence++, visit .

Aidan Mickleburgh ’23 G’23 holding the second place prize in the 2023 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) InVenture Prize competition.

Mickleburgh is founder of Intervea, an AI-powered patient medication compliance platform that can help avoid recurrent and preventable emergency room visits. “Over 700,000 patients are readmitted to the hospital each year due to prescription compliance problems like access, affordability and the ability to get answers to questions about usage,” says Mickleburgh. “These readmissions cost hospitals over $58 billion a year and are largely preventable but happen because of a lack of continuity and follow-ups after discharge. Intervea creates a unified platform between previously siloed components of the American healthcare system, lowering healthcare compliance barriers for patients of all demographics. These innovations are all possible because of the recent advancements in natural language processing models and economical last-mile delivery services which can allow for a more cohesive patient experience.”

Intervea provides three core services: facilitating prescription delivery so that patients can get their medication delivered the same day they are discharged; using artificial intelligence to create a 24/7 SMS service that can answer patient questions about medication use with regular follow up to ensure that the patient is following treatment protocol; and accessing available patient records and prescription data to help prevent conflicting medication interactions.

Mickleburgh is commercializing his idea with assistance from Libraries’ Blackstone LaunchPad (LaunchPad). He is supported by an advisory team of alumni and community mentors who include Health Protection and Promotion Act (HPPA) and data security experts, hospital and pharmacy professionals, and product and business development executives. Mickleburgh is also pursuing a Certificate in Technology Licensing and Entrepreneurship through the College of Law. He is a Rubin Family Innovation Mentor at the LaunchPad, where he helps other student startups with the venture development. He is also a graduate of the Invent@SU summer accelerator program offered by the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

“I’m absolutely thrilled to have been able to represent ���ϲ����� on a televised national stage. Receiving this award is a validation of the importance of this problem to millions of patients just like me and a catalyst to push Intervea to new heights as we work to deliver our new care model to hospitals nationwide. Thank you to all my incredible advisors and mentors and to the LaunchPad Community. This is our win!” says Mickleburgh.

The LaunchPad coordinates the campus qualifier and mentors teams that compete for the coveted title of top ACC innovator. LaunchPad teams have been to the finals each year of the program. ���ϲ�����’s participation is supported by the Office of Academic Affairs.

Traci Geisler ’90

Prior to joining the LaunchPad, Geisler served in an investment, program and contract management role at The Tech Garden since 2016. There she provided business development services to incubator member companies and managed procurement, funding programs and the investment portfolio of the incubator. Geisler also has more than 25 years of experience in corporate and finance law in 10 countries. She began her career in communications and sports/entertainment after graduating with a dual degree from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and the College of Arts and Sciences. She obtained her master’s in business administration from the City University of New York and her juris doctorate from New York Law School.

In her role as director of the LaunchPad, Geisler will be responsible for creating programs and services that support ���ϲ����� students, faculty, staff and alumni across all disciplines. This includes entrepreneurship resources for those who want to build and create, as well as intrapreneurship resources for those who want to strengthen leaderships skills. The LaunchPad is dedicated to inspiring, coaching and empowering the world’s future innovators through connections with subject matter experts, co-working space, individualized coaching, alumni and peer mentoring, workshops, professional networking events, demo days and talent fairs, competitions for seed funding, toolkit resources, technology platforms, access to accelerators and innovation grant funding.

“We’re thrilled to have someone with Traci Geisler’s experience and skills join ���ϲ����� Libraries’ Blackstone LaunchPad as the new director. Linda Dickerson Hartsock created a communal hub for student entrepreneurs that is well known across the region and has allowed the Libraries to serve ���ϲ�����’s schools and colleges in their various innovation programs, bringing new energy and capacity to entrepreneurship,” says David Seaman, dean of the Libraries, University Librarian and interim dean of the School of Information Studies. “Having Traci now in this role will ensure the LaunchPad continues to evolve and grow organically. Traci’s background and connections will add another layer of depth that will translate to more opportunities for our student entrepreneurs, innovators and creatives.”

About ���ϲ����� Libraries’ Blackstone LaunchPad

The is ���ϲ�����’s innovation hub, connecting the campus resource-rich ecosystem with a global network that provides support for aspiring entrepreneurs, inventors and creators. The program serves faculty, staff, students and recent alumni across all disciplines who are interested in entrepreneurship, venture creation and innovation careers. The program supports a key pillar of ���ϲ�����’s academic strategic plan to give students experiential opportunities that help prepare them to be trailblazers in an entrepreneurial world.

The competition is the culmination of an innovative accessible design and entrepreneurship program, , which supports a key pillar of the campus academic plan around accessibility. An innovative, interdisciplinary initiative at ���ϲ����� focused on inclusive entrepreneurship, design and community, the project is available to all students across the University, including those with intellectual disabilities from InclusiveU, a program of the for Inclusive Higher Education. The project is a partnership between , the and the .

The foundation of the Intelligence++ program is an inclusive entrepreneurship and design course, DES 400-600, taught by , professor in VPA’s School of Design, with support from , assistant professor of inclusive education in the School of Education and executive director of the Taishoff Center, and , adjunct faculty member in the Whitman School, founder of Blackstone LaunchPad and advisor for strategic initiatives at ���ϲ����� Libraries. The courses and studio workshops are taught in Bird Library.

The program focuses on three main concepts: accessible design, disability and inclusion, and innovation and entrepreneurship. It was launched in 2020 through a generous donation by Gianfranco Zaccai ’70 H’09 and the . It is one of the only programs of its kind in the country.

Zaccai, a ���ϲ����� alum with an undergraduate degree in industrial design and an honorary doctorate in fine arts and industrial and interactive design, is a renowned global innovator and designer. He was co-founder of Continuum, now EPAM Continuum, a global innovation by design consultancy with offices in Boston, Milan, Seoul and Shanghai. He will be attending the April 21 event and offering advice and feedback to the students. He is a renowned champion of holistic and interdisciplinary innovation research, design and development.

Winning team and judges from Hult Prize Competition Qualifier: Chris Thomas, a judge; Tree-Spun team members Nicole Byrnes, Rob Goldblatt and Paul Sausville; Caeresa Richardson, a judge; Cjala Surratt, a judge; and organizer Sasha Temerte

, a student in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management and co-founder of Tree-Spun, and his teammates, Paul Sausville and Nicole Byrnes, both from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, won the 2023 ���ϲ����� Libraries’ Blackstone LaunchPad Hult Prize campus qualifier competition. The competition was held at the LaunchPad in Bird Library on Feb. 17.

��is a prestigious global business competition started by a partnership between the����and the��. The competition challenges students to present products, services, technologies and other solutions to societal problems.

This year’s challenge is Redesigning Fashion, which asks student teams to pitch a for-profit business venture in the fashion/clothing industry that positively impacts people and the planet.

Rabia Razzaq ’23, a student in the College of Visual and Performing Arts and founder of Re-mend, and Sahitya Sampath ’25, a student in the Whitman School and founder of Block Threads, were runners-up.

Winners of the campus competition will advance to a regional competition for a chance to compete with international student teams for the opportunity to work with world class mentors and pitch at the United Nations for $1 million in investment. Past ���ϲ����� winners have gone on to compete in Toronto, Boston and San Francisco.

This year’s Hult Prize Competition qualifier was organized by Alesandra (Sasha) Temerte ’23, a student in the College of Arts and Sciences and Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and a LaunchPad Global Fellow.

Aidan Mickleburgh ’23 G’23, founder of Intervea and first place winner of ���ϲ����� Libraries’ Blackstone LaunchPad 2023 ACC InVenture Prize competition campus qualifier

, student in the and , founder of Intervea, was the first place winner of ���ϲ����� Libraries’ Blackstone LaunchPad (LaunchPad) 2023 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) InVenture Prize competition campus qualifier. The competition was held at Bird Library on Feb. 10. Cherry Kim ’24, student in the College of Engineering and Computer Science and founder of Conformabelt, was the runner-up. Mickleburgh will represent ���ϲ����� in the national competition at Florida State University, while Kim will serve as a backup in the event Mickleburgh cannot participate.

The is a televised student start-up pitch competition open to teams from the 15 colleges and universities in the ACC Academic Consortium. The ACC InVenture finals feature a $30,000 prize package and is open to undergraduate students or students who have received their undergraduate degree within the past year and who are the original creators, inventors or owners of the intellectual property underlying their invention.

“I didn’t think this was how today would go, but I couldn’t be happier. I get to represent ���ϲ����� at the ACC InVenture prize amongst the best student innovators on the east coast. I am thrilled at the opportunity to share my vision of improved continuity in healthcare with Intervia,” says Mickleburgh. “As always, I stand on the shoulders of my supporters: everyone at the LaunchPad who has helped me refine my vision and keep pushing when it gets tough, my long-time mentor Linda Dickerson Hartsock, and my good friend (and last year’s ACC rep) Noah Mechnig-Giordano for his bullish optimism.” Mickleburgh’s business idea, Intervea, is a prescription compliance platform and health-tech company, building a solution to hospital readmissions caused by prescription non-compliance. Non-compliance costs over $57B and affects 700,000 lives annually. To tackle this problem, Intervea deploys artificial intelligence models to engage directly with patients and organizes the filling and delivery of their prescriptions to support them after a hospital discharge, facilitating better health outcomes.

About the Blackstone LaunchPad at ���ϲ����� Libraries:

The is the University’s innovation hub, connecting the entire campus resource-rich ecosystem with a global network that provides support for aspiring entrepreneurs, inventors and creators.��The program serves faculty, staff, students and alumni across disciplines who are interested in innovation, invention, entrepreneurship, venture creation, careers, entrepreneurial skills, diversity, equity, inclusion and taking ideas from concept to commercialization. The program supports a key pillar of ���ϲ�����’s Academic Strategic Plan to create an innovation ecosystem across the institution that prepares participants to be trailblazers in an entrepreneurial world.

2022 Panasci Business Plan Competition winners

The 2023 competition will be held on April 14. The Panasci Business Plan Competition, hosted at the Whitman School of Management at ���ϲ�����, is a campuswide student event made possible by a longtime Whitman supporter, the late , founder of Fay’s Drugs.

Competing gives collegiate entrepreneurs real-world experience to pitch their startups, enhance their business strategies and learn what it takes to launch successful companies. The Panasci competition is open to all students at ���ϲ�����. Applicants will write and submit a business plan for the chance to advance to the finals on April 14, 2023, at the Whitman School.

Key Dates

• Dec. 2, 2022, 7-8 p.m.: First information session, Q&A to learn about the competition and hear from past winning teams. .
• Jan. 30, 2023, 7-8 p.m.: Second information session, Q&A to learn about the competition and hear from past winning teams. .
• Jan. 31, 2023, midnight: Submission of due—not mandatory to compete but useful to stay up-to-date on the competition.
• Feb. 18-19, 2023: Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises 458—Business Plan Laboratory weekend course offered to learn how to write a business plan (1 credit). It is not a pre-requirement to compete but useful to write a better business plan. For information about the course, email Professor of Entrepreneurial Practice Ken Walsleben at kpwalsle@syr.edu.
• March 26, 2023: Deadline to submit business plan��to compete.
• April 14, 2023: , Whitman School of Management.

A Few Items to Get You Started

• Review the .
• If you need help preparing for the competition, reach out to the Blackstone LaunchPad at ���ϲ����� Libraries by email.
• .

2019 Hult Prize winners

���ϲ����� Libraries’ Blackstone LaunchPad is currently accepting and the . Applications for both competitions are due by Feb. 1, 2023.

Hult Prize Competition

��is a prestigious global business competition that challenges students to present products, services, technologies and other solutions to societal problems. This year’s challenge is “Redesigning Fashion.” All ���ϲ����� students are invited to pitch their idea on launching an innovative social venture in the clothing and fashion industry to make it more sustainable.

Competitors will be asked to align their business pitch with one or more of the , in the fashion industry’s value chain, form a team of 3-5 people (with no more than one team member from another university) and propose a solution with a measurable positive impact on people and the planet. Competition participants will give a five-minute pitch of their idea followed by questions from the panel of expert and innovative business professional judges at the University’s competition, being held the afternoon of Friday, Feb. 17, 2023.

Winners of the campus competition will advance to a regional competition for a chance to compete with international student teams for an opportunity to work with world class mentors and pitch at the United Nations for $1 million in investment. Past ���ϲ����� winners have gone on to compete in Toronto, Boston and San Francisco.

ACC InVenture Prize Competition

The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) InVenture Prize is a live televised student start-up pitch competition open to teams from the 15 colleges and universities in the (ACC) Academic Consortium. The ACC InVenture finals feature a $30,000 prize package and is open to undergraduate students or students who have received their undergraduate degree within the past year and who are the original creators, inventors or owners of the intellectual property underlying their invention.

���ϲ����� student startup teams can submit of a venture idea to participate in the ���ϲ����� campus qualifier, which will be held in Bird Library on Feb. 10, 2023, from 2 to 5 p.m.

Up to ten teams will be selected to participate in the ���ϲ����� campus qualifier. The winner will receive an all-expense paid trip to participate in the PBS-televised event held at Florida State University on March 29-30, 2023. ��They will also be invited to apply for LaunchPad Innovation Fund grants available through a gift to ���ϲ����� Libraries.

For more information on either competition, email LaunchPad@syr.edu.

Jones, of the Seneca Wolf Clan, is the founder of TornJersey Media and has a passion for sharing his Haudenosaunee history and culture through his film and video works, gaming, virtual reality projects and acting, finding a balance between entertaining and educating his audiences.

He graduated from the College of Visual and Performing Arts with a bachelor’s degree in film, and he is currently pursuing an M.F.A. in film at York University in Toronto.

The event, in celebration of Native Heritage Month, is being curated and organized by Ethan Tyo ’17, G’22, who earned a bachelor’s degree from the School of Information Studies and a graduate degree from the Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics. He is this year’s Blackstone LaunchPad’s Todd B. Rubin Diversity and Inclusion Scholar at ���ϲ����� Libraries. It is part of an initiative to expand opportunities and engagements with student entrepreneurs and the broader university community. Tyo, of the Mohawk Wolf Clan, has been working with the Native Student Program on a series of events incorporating Haudenosaunee knowledge and foodways into academic programming through collaborative experiential events.

Tyo grew up on the Mohawk reservation of Akwesasne, and as a ���ϲ����� student, came to re-appreciate the rich and long-established cultural traditions of the Mohawk people to plan, harvest, and prepare their food from the earth, he says. As an undergraduate he published his first cookbook, building on his interests in food and lifestyle have been with him for a long time.

The cookbook led to Tyo reengaging with his heritage, establishing a traditional Three Sisters Garden at��Pete’s Giving Garden and returning Onondaga seeds to ancestral land for the first time in ���ϲ�����’s history. The garden was the culmination of the graduate practicum for his graduate food studies degree. Tyo recognized an opportunity to grow food not only in a sustainable manner, but in a way that honors the traditions and culture of the Onondaga Nation, firekeepers of the Haudenosaunee, the Indigenous people on whose ancestral lands ���ϲ����� now stands. The “three sisters”–corn, beans and squash—are foundational foods that gave rise to the strength and resilience of the Haudenosaunee people.

This led him to curating this event with Jones, which will also feature traditional food and drink paired with two short films on Nov. 9: “Savage Future” and documentary “Soup for My Brother.”

Jones’ films have screened worldwide and have won several festival awards, including “Soup for My Brother,” which earned best documentary at the 2016 Liverpool International Film Festival in the United Kingdom. In 2020, he completed the Open Immersion II – Creative Doc VR Lab, which was produced by the National Film Board of Canada and in partnership with the Canadian Film Centre and imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, supported by the Ford Foundation. In 2021, he was part of a gaming team that was awarded Best Concept at imagineNATIVE’s Land Jam+, a game jam made for and by Indigenous creatives where participants from different disciplines work in collaborative teams to create video games and interactive media from scratch.

During the summer of 2022, Jones made his stage debut as an actor in Tuscarora playwright Vicki Ramirez’ stage play “Pure Native in San Francisco.” The play is being produced by AlterTheater, which is based in San Rafael, California. Most recently, he was the curator and host of the Haudenosaunee Micro-Short Film Program, which screened at the Burchfield Penney Art Center in Buffalo, New York, in September. The program featured 14 micro-short films by Haudenosaunee filmmakers.

Jones is a filmmaker, educator and storyteller empowering future Indigenous creative entrepreneurs by leading with his values, community and culture.

The competition is designed to catalyze social entrepreneurship for students interested in pitching products, projects, services or technologies that are practical, innovative and sustainable solutions to societal problems around the globe. Applications will be accepted through Nov. 1 via . The Impact Prize competition, with $15,000 total in prizes, will take place at Bird Library on Friday, Nov. 11 from 2 to 5 p.m.

The Impact Prize is a gateway to other LaunchPad competitions in the spring, like the Hunter Brooks Watson Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award. Examples of business or project ideas include:

• Arts and culture
• Community revitalization
• Disability and accessibility
• Diversity, equity and inclusion
• Employment and training
• Energy and climate change
• Environmental sustainability
• Food access and nutrition
• Health and mental health
• Literacy and education
• Poverty
• Sustainability
• Transportation and mobility
• Underserved populations
• Youth leadership and empowerment
• Other public policy challenges

This year’s competition is supported through a $15,000 gift from ���ϲ����� Libraries Advisory Board Member Carl Armani and his wife, Marcy, made in honor of Linda Dickerson-Hartsock, retiring LaunchPad executive director. Dickerson-Hartsock created the Impact Prize in 2017 and has inspired the next generation of founders and makers to aspire toward opportunities that benefit the greater good. This sixth annual competition, created to champion venture development that help solve “wicked problems” in communities around the world, is important to Dickerson-Hartsock personally and professionally, and she has championed social entrepreneurship throughout her career.

Previous Impact Prize competitions funded by the Armani family have honored Gay Culverhouse, a pioneer in education, sports and medicine who served as president of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1988 to 1994. She was the voice for retired players with brain disorders that might have resulted from on-field concussions.

For more information on the Impact Prize competition, e-mail LaunchPad@syr.edu.

Indaria Jones

Indaria Jones ’14 recently joined the Blackstone LaunchPad at ���ϲ����� Libraries as new program manager. Jones is a seasoned ���ϲ����� community builder and business development specialist who has been active with the LaunchPad as an alumna.

In her new role, Jones will be responsible for oversight of various programs at the LaunchPad, including liaising between subject matter experts and prospective entrepreneurs, coaching and mentoring programs, workshops and professional networking events, student talent fairs and competitions, toolkit resources for LaunchPad members and management of the LaunchPad’s technology platforms.

Jones is founder and chief executive at The Creators Lounge, a co-working and innovation space for creatives in the City of ���ϲ�����. Prior to this role, Indaria served as an economic development specialist responsible for citywide revitalization initiatives to increase investment through the ���ϲ����� Industrial Development Agency, ���ϲ����� Economic Development Corporation and Coronavirus Relief Programs.

Jones also served on a New York State Regional Economic Development Council Advisory Group to accelerate economic investment for minority developers and the City of ���ϲ����� Mayor’s Office communications team. Prior to that, she was engaged with St. Joseph’s Health on community initiatives. Her leadership has been recognized by Forbes Under 30, National Black Caucus, Central New York Business Journal 40 Under 40, ���ϲ�����.com, CNYCentral, ���ϲ����� Blackstone LaunchPad and CenterState CEO Business of the Year Finalist, among others.

Jay Golden

A climate-smart commodity is an agricultural commodity that is produced using farming, ranching or forestry practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions or sequester carbon. As project partner, ���ϲ����� will lead one of the four primary focus areas. Over the next five years, ���ϲ����� researchers will develop and expand existing markets and develop new markets for climate-smart commodities produced in New York State—benefiting the environment, farmers and manufacturing sectors alike.

“Both governments and industry around the world are rapidly committing to a net-zero carbon economy, and in order to meet these grand challenges, the industries of today will need to find low carbon and green-tech alternatives for which biobased feedstocks and products will play a critical role,” says Jay Golden, Pontarelli Professor of Environmental Sustainability and Finance in ���ϲ�����’s Maxwell School and director of the Dynamic Sustainability Lab, who is the project’s principal investigator from ���ϲ�����.

The interdisciplinary team from ���ϲ�����, working in collaboration with Cornell University, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, New York State agencies and additional public and private partners, includes faculty and student researchers from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, School of Information Studies, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and�� Whitman School of Management. In addition, the team will work in partnership with ���ϲ����� Libraries’ Blackstone LaunchPad to develop a pipeline of new green tech and climate-smart innovators with a focus on developing new climate-smart businesses in underserved communities.

Faculty from ���ϲ����� include:

• Principal Investigator: Jay Golden, Pontarelli Professor of Environmental Sustainability and Finance in ���ϲ�����’s Maxwell School and director of the Dynamic Sustainability Lab
• Investigators:
  • Carmen Carrión-Flores, research assistant professor,��; senior research associate, Center for Policy Research
  • Peter Wilcoxen, Ajello Professor in Energy and Environmental Policy; professor of public administration and international affairs; director, Center for Environmental Policy and Administration
  • Lee McKnight, associate professor, School of Information Studies
  • Todd Moss, chair, Department of Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises and
    associate professor of entrepreneurship, Whitman School
  • Jason Davis, research professor, Newhouse School; co-director, Real Chemistry Emerging Insights Lab
  • Regina Luttrell, associate dean for research and creative activity; co-director, Real Chemistry Emerging Insights Lab; associate professor of public relations, Newhouse School
  • Erika Schneider, assistant professor of public relations, Newhouse School

“Our ���ϲ����� team will be at the global forefront of this effort by providing public and private decision makers the ability to track and verify low and zero carbon feedstocks through the value chain; to develop important incentives and polices to support market demand; and to model the environmental, climate and economic/jobs benefit to New York and America,” Golden says. “The anticipated climate-smart commodities will serve as a platform for a new generation of low-carbon chemicals, fuels and energy sources, as well as building and construction materials and a vast array of consumer products to support the transition to a net-zero carbon economy.”

The competition was designed for students with no prior experience as an opportunity to explore entrepreneurship. With a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, competition organizers encourage students from underrepresented and under resourced communities to apply.

Students who have observed problems to solve or imagined creative solutions or opportunities will be coached by current LaunchPad peer mentors to develop their ideas. Students will then have a one-minute 30-second opportunity to pitch that idea to judges. Four winners will be selected, one each in the categories of climate impact, health and life sciences, consumer products services, and general, to receive a $1,000 cash prize. The winners will then have the opportunity to progress to a subsequent national round of the competition for a chance to win $10,000.

About ���ϲ����� Libraries’ Blackstone LaunchPad

The is ���ϲ�����’s innovation hub, connecting the campus resource-rich ecosystem with a global network that provides support for aspiring entrepreneurs, inventors and creators. The program serves faculty, staff, students and recent alumni across all disciplines who are interested in entrepreneurship, venture creation and innovation careers. The program supports a key pillar of ���ϲ�����’s academic strategic plan to give students experiential opportunities that help prepare them to be trailblazers in an entrepreneurial world.

Aviv, who launched SparkCharge in 2017 to provide portable electric vehicle (EV) chargers, is a respected entrepreneur, innovator and inventor who has played a critical role in developing easy-to-find and easy-to-use charging stations for electric vehicles.

Josh Aviv ’15, G’17 (right) introduces President Joseph R. Biden Jr. L’68 (left) during a ceremony at the White House before the president signed off on the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act.

Aviv was invited to introduce President Biden before the president signed off on the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, which promises to “boost American semiconductor research, development, and production, ensuring U.S. leadership in the technology that forms the foundation of everything from automobiles to household appliances to defense systems,” according to a .

“I was extremely nervous and yet extremely happy to have the honor of introducing President Biden. It was such a surreal moment, two ���ϲ����� alumni at the White House. It was a huge honor, not only for me but for my family. Knowing that the story of my company and the work we’re doing would be heard was absolutely amazing,” Aviv says of his second trip to the White House during the Biden presidency.

It was during that first trip to the White House, at an event last year, when Aviv discussed with President Biden and his staff the need to address the troubling shortage in semiconductor chips and the supply chain issues that were both driving up the cost and the wait times to receive the chips.

Last Thursday, two weeks after the bill was passed, a White House staffer called Aviv to deliver the news that he would be delivering remarks and introducing President Biden.

The CHIPS and Science Act will increase the country’s production of semiconductors while fueling efforts to reduce dependence on foreign suppliers. While America created the semiconductor, today the country relies on East Asia for 75 percent of its advanced semiconductor chips.

Josh Aviv ’15, G’17 (left) greets President Joseph R. Biden Jr. L’68 (right) during a ceremony at the White House before the president signed off on the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act.

Aviv was an ideal choice to introduce his fellow Orange alumnus. Thanks in part to the passage of the bill, Aviv says SparkCharge will double the productivity at its Buffalo, New York, factory over the coming months, part of its commitment to create jobs and opportunities that will “lead our economy’s transition to clean, electric transportation.”

“I believed in the power of my product, and I believed in the American dream. For years, my industry has been at the mercy of supply chains, making semiconductors that are critical to our chargers, and I wanted to change that,” Aviv told the audience. “This is a country where innovation thrives, with the most capable and creative workforce on Earth.”

President Biden said the bill will unlock hundreds of billions of dollars in private sector semiconductor investment across the country, including production essential to national defense and critical sectors.

The ceremony was a homecoming of sorts for Aviv, who was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up admiring the entrepreneurial spirit of his grandfather, Hubert Dade, who for more than 20 years ran a freight logistics company that shuttled airplane parts between Dulles International Airport and the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

Those days spent watching his grandfather instilled in Aviv the drive and work ethic required to be an entrepreneur, and inspired Aviv to launch SparkCharge, the world’s first mobile, ultra-fast EV charger, in 2017, when he was still a ���ϲ����� student.

“This new law gives people like me a chance and the opportunity to grow our businesses, to be proud of what we do, to be proud of our country. I’m honored to introduce a president who understands that. Mr. President, from one proud ���ϲ����� alumnus to another, thank you for your leadership,” Aviv said while welcoming President Biden to the podium.

Before turning the press conference over to his Orange counterpart, Aviv made a special ask of the president.

“If you ever need a charge for your electric corvette one day, I’ve got your back,” said Aviv, drawing laughs from the crowd.

“Josh, thank you for the introduction,” said President Biden. “Josh loves electric cars, he graduated from ���ϲ�����, he’s my kinda guy, what more do you need? ���ϲ����� and electric cars.”

Josh Aviv ’15, G’17 poses with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo at the White House during the signing of the CHIPS and Science Act.

At the press conference, which featured Aviv, President Biden, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, Aviv was hailed as the next generation of American entrepreneurs by Raimondo.

While Aviv says he was nervous to introduce the president, his nerves were calmed when the two Orange alums reminisced about their alma mater before the press conference. President Biden asked Aviv which residence halls he had stayed in during his time on campus—Booth Hall and Haven Hall—and President Biden commented on how much he enjoyed his time on campus as a College of Law student.

“We just had a great conversation, and he was a great, down-to-Earth guy who was extremely warm and welcoming to me and my family. President Biden bleeds Orange as much as any other alumnus, and it was just such a cool moment to have two ���ϲ����� alumni on the stage talking about electric vehicles,” Aviv says.

Aviv launched SparkCharge as a ���ϲ����� student, working closely with the��to develop his business roadmap.��He incubated after graduation at the��, where he built his prototype, and his company is valued at more than $100 million, with operations across the country.

SparkCharge’s application, Currently, brings EV charging directly to drivers whenever they need a charge, regardless of location. The app is part of the company’s pledge to enable EV drivers, companies and entire cities to become greener places by delivering convenient, easy access to EV charging.

Aviv earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the��and the��, and a master’s degree in information management from the the School of Information Studies. He is a member of the LaunchPad’s Founders Circle and serves as a LaunchPad Entrepreneur in Residence. During Orange Central 2019, Aviv was honored as a recipient of the Generation Orange Award, which recognizes graduates of the last 10 years for their continued commitment to ���ϲ�����.

Peter DePasquale ’12

Creative business coach Peter DePasquale ’12 (dual B.F.A. in arts education and printmaking), as well as an M.F.A. (printmaking from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago) will be leading a four-week intensive boot camp accelerator to help students and recent alumni learn how to commercialize their creative endeavors. Space is limited and will be open on a competitive basis to those pursuing professional pathways in all aspects of the visual and performing arts, writers, musicians, designers and aspiring NFT producers, as well as creatives who are fabricators and makers.

Fortunately, DePasquale is an expert in this arena. He is eager to share that expertise with fledging artistic professionals across all disciplines, sole proprietors and small business startups, and creative arts students alike via this program, which he will host virtually at the Blackstone Launchpad in July and August. The four-week program starts on Monday, July 11, and runs until Wednesday, Aug. 3, with sessions held each week on Monday and Wednesday nights from 6 to 8:30 p.m. ET via Zoom. The program is open to a maximum of 14 people, so apply early before seats fill up.

DePasquale is co-owner and production director of MINIMA-MAXIMA, a gender-inclusive wearables company that specializes in crafting bolo ties and ear jackets that incorporate stunning geometrical patterns in their design philosophy. He serves as the primary technician for small-batch manufacturing of in-house merchandise—creating, editing and producing laser-cut components for their handcrafted wooden and acrylic products. He also trains studio assistants on production methods and manages the day-to-day operations, including accounting and tax preparations, client correspondence, shipping and receiving, and e-commerce maintenance and expansion.

He has also been a professional printmaker, visual artist, jewelry maker and expert NFT artist. Additionally, he provides creative business consulting services out of Pittsburgh, where he now resides, and has been supporting creative businesses in this way for nearly five years.

DePasquale’s program, like his consulting work, is designed to educate and coach artistic entrepreneurs on the core essentials of starting, running and maintaining a successful art-based business that sells to retail and wholesale clients in spaces both physical and digital. This program will help create a community of support for artist business owners moving forward—aiming to foster collaboration and local assistance in tackling the daunting task of launching and maintaining a professional artistic endeavor.

Participants in DePasquale’s program will learn the principles of creating thoughtful work; selling it at in-person events and through an e-commerce platform; managing the production of items and keeping an inventory system; managing customer service; ordering sustainable materials and supplies; customizing shipping procedures and operating on a shipping platform; meeting legal requirements of state and federal standards; social media account management; fundamentals of bookkeeping; and financial management for creatives and artists.

The Blackstone LaunchPad is pleased to support this intensive summer accelerator. Nearly 40% of LaunchPad participants are creatives such as artists, photographers, filmmakers, animators, illustrators, authors, illustrators, fashion designers, graphic designers, musicians and makers. “Creatives are the quintessential entrepreneurs,” says Linda Dickerson Hartsock, director of the LaunchPad, who is also an arts entrepreneur, as one of the co-founders of the Center for the Arts of Homer. “Creative economies help build strong communities, and these professions are increasingly primary career paths and side-gigs for many members of Gen Z.”

Serving as peer mentor and program support for the accelerator will be John (Jack) Rose ’24, a writer and entrepreneurship student at ���ϲ�����. Rose is founder of Bladepoint Media and a passionate storyteller who is working on his first book. His goal is to combine his love of writing and creativity, combined with his knowledge of the business world, in a meaningful way to bring positive impact and value to others. He will be available to work with students throughout the program.

The cost to participate is $125 per individual for the entire four-week virtual program, paid directly to DePasquale. Interested parties should email Peter DePasquale directly at peter@minima-maxima.com and include the following information:

• Full name
• Contact information (email, phone)
• Student/alumni status
• Employment status
• Primary artistic or creative medium
• History of owning/running a business (if applicable)

Story by Jack Rose ’24

���ϲ����� alumni Joshua Aviv ’15, G’17; Kelsey Davis ’19, G’20; Shawn Gaetano ’21; and Dayanna Torres ’06, G’09.

The Blackstone Charitable Foundation is joining forces with ���ϲ����� Libraries’ Blackstone LaunchPad (LaunchPad) to host Black Tech Panel on Friday, June 17. Powered by , a company founded by ���ϲ����� alumna Kelsey Davis ’19, G’20, the event will be hosted by , a Tulsa-based investment firm focused on underrepresented minorities and women, and funded through a relationship with the George Kaiser Family Foundation.

The Black Tech Panel will feature three renowned Black business owners who are alumni of ���ϲ����� and the Blackstone LaunchPad and Techstars networks. Together, they have raised more than $25 million in venture capital to commercialize the ideas they launched as students.

Along with Davis, panelists will include Joshua Aviv ’15, G’17, founder and CEO of , and Shawn Gaetano ’21, founder and CEO of . ���ϲ����� alumna Dayanna Torres ’06, G’09, director of the Blackstone Charitable Foundation, will serve as the moderator.

Separately, the Blackstone LaunchPad at ���ϲ����� is sponsoring College of Law student Zebedayo Masongo L’23, founder of the , a digital media platform inspired by the historic Greenwood district, to participate in Black media programming as part of Tulsa’s Juneteenth Festival. The Greenwood district was part of America’s ‘Black Wall Street’ in Tulsa where Black businesses thrived in the early 1900s.

Linda Dickerson Hartsock, executive director of ���ϲ����� Libraries’ Blackstone LaunchPad (LaunchPad), curated and will attend the Black Tech Panel event. The program is another example of the LaunchPad’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), along with several other ongoing programs, such as Todd B. Rubin LaunchPad DEI Scholars and Afropreneur programming. The LaunchPad focuses on impact entrepreneurship and inclusion that reflects the rich diversity of the global world.

“The LaunchPad is excited to support this event showcasing inspiring Black founders who are alumni of our program,” says Hartsock. “It will be an engaging conversation with actionable ideas about how to leverage resources to catalyze innovation in life, career and community. Kudos to CLLCTVE for driving partnerships, empowerment and entrepreneurial spirit that are at the heart of a new economic boom in Tulsa.”

“‘The legacy of Black Wall Street presented opportunities for entrepreneurs a hundred years ago in the name of freedom. They had an ecosystem. Belonging. Economy. My mission is to reignite that alongside the work that’s already happening here,” says Davis.

“Quite simply being a Black leader in clean tech means you must hustle harder, and do so with 10 times the tenacity of those around you,” says Aviv. “That tenacity creates a path for others to follow. The more of us that push through the hurdles in front of us, the wider that path becomes for those that follow us. It’s an honor to be a part of the Tulsa Juneteenth Festival Black Tech Panel. To take the stage with other leaders of color and share our stories will help us all blaze more paths forward.”

“I’m ecstatic to be speaking on the Black Tech Panel,” adds Gaetano. “As a Black founder of a technology startup, I know first-hand how difficult it is to build a company in a space where I look different from my counterparts. My goal for the panel is to motivate and assist other Black entrepreneurs breaking into the technology industry by sharing my personal insights, experiences and resources that have helped me navigate the space and build a venture-backed, Black-led technology company. Tulsa’s minority-led startup ecosystem is growing at an unprecedented rate, and I’m grateful to take part in this pivotal moment in history.”

The panel is part of a larger Tulsa Juneteenth Festival, from June 16-19, designed to help identify systems, structures, policies and gaps that are in place that widen the economic gap for Black Americans. It is largest Juneteenth celebration in the nation and is expected to attract more than 50,000 people to Tulsa. Juneteenth was established in 2021 as a federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery and celebrating African American culture. It originated in Galveston, Texas, and was informally celebrated in various communities until the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act was enacted into law.

At the turn of the 20th century, the Greenwood district in Tulsa, Oklahoma was a Black economic and cultural mecca, proudly known as Black Wall Street. In 1921, a 40-square-block area was destroyed in what is considered one of the most horrific acts of racial violence in American history. After the massacre, Black business owners focused on education and entrepreneurship as tools for recovery and resilience, as they rebuilt the 1,000 homes and businesses that had been destroyed. describes the “revival of Black entrepreneurial spirit” as part of Tulsa’s New Black Wall Street.

2019 iPrize student winners

The School of Information Studies (iSchool) with support from the Blackstone LaunchPad at ���ϲ����� Libraries (LaunchPad) are now accepting through March 15 for the Raymond von Dran (RvD) iPrize pitch competition and the Hunter Brooks Watson Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award. The concurrent competitions are open to all full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students at ���ϲ�����. The combined event will be held on Friday, March 25, at Bird Library from 2 to 5 p.m.

��through a simple common application that includes a�� of a proposed product, service, technology or creative venture that could become a for-profit or non-profit enterprise. Prizes totaling $40,000 will be awarded to top performing students across various categories through the RvD Fund. An additional $10,000 will be awarded to student teams through the . Top place winners will also be able to move on to the New York State Business Plan competition. Mentors from the LaunchPad will work with applicants on formulating a five-minute pitch and preparing for a question-and-answer session from a distinguished panel of judges. To prepare for the competition, the LaunchPad is offering a ��on March 4.

The RvD Fund is named after former iSchool dean Raymond von Dran, who served from 1995 until his passing in 2007. Von Dran was a longtime academic entrepreneur and staunch supporter of student innovation. He started several innovative programs in higher education. To honor his memory and ensure that her husband’s infectious spirit for innovation continued, his wife Gisela generously created the RvD Fund.

“We’re proud to support this competition as part of our ongoing investment in innovation and student entrepreneurship,” says Raj Dewan, dean of the iSchool. “This program is an excellent reflection of dean von Dran’s legacy, and we look forward to seeing what exciting ventures come out of this year’s class.”

The Hunter Brooks Watson Spirit of Entrepreneurship Awards are funded through a gift to the iSchool from the Hunter Brooks Watson Memorial Fund to celebrate the life of Hunter Brooks Watson. Watson was a ���ϲ����� student studying information management at the iSchool who tragically lost his life as a passenger in a distracted driver automobile accident in 2016. Watson demonstrated a strong gift and enthusiasm in music, computer technology, performance art and entrepreneurship. The awards recognize students who have passionate interests in areas comparable to those that motivated Watson but may not have the financial means to bring their ideas to life.

“Each year the excitement around these entrepreneurial and innovation competitions grows, and the caliber of applications is always impressive,” says David Seaman, dean of ���ϲ����� Libraries. “Cross-campus partnerships, like our strong collaboration with the iSchool, is what makes the Blackstone LaunchPad at ���ϲ����� Libraries such a successful program.”

For more information or to schedule coaching, email LaunchPad@syr.edu.

Winners of the campus competition will advance to a regional competition. Regional winners will then compete with international student teams for the opportunity to work with world-class mentors and pitch at the United Nations for $1 million in investment. Past ���ϲ����� winners have gone on to compete in Toronto, Boston and San Francisco.

All students are invited to pitch their idea for how to use business for employment or social good. is available, along with the . The deadline for the Hult Prize application is February 26.

Competitors will be asked to give a five-minute pitch of their idea with a four-minute question and answer from the judges. For additional information about the Hult Prize, contact Claire Howard at .

Students from regional colleges and universities should and indicate Central New York as the region. ���ϲ����� students for all campus competitions, including the RvD iPrize and Hunter Brooks Watson Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award competition, which will be held concurrently with Compete CNY.

Student teams applying for the competition cannot include those whose cumulative public and private capital raised exceeds $100,000, excluding research funding that may have supported the development of the technology in an academic setting.

���ϲ����� students at the 2018 New York Business Plan Competition.

The Central New York regional qualifier is open to students from:

• Bryant and Stratton Business College
• Cazenovia College
• Cayuga Community College
• Colgate University
• Crouse-Irving Memorial Hospital School of Nursing
• Keuka-Onondaga Community College
• LeMoyne College
• Onondaga Community College
• Joseph’s College of Nursing
• SUNY Cortland
• SUNY ESF
• SUNY Morrisville
• SUNY Oswego
• SUNY Upstate Medical University
• ���ϲ�����
• Wells College

Top teams in six different vertical tracks will be selected at the regional qualifiers to move on to the statewide competition, coordinated by����and��

For the first time this year, the state finals will be held in ���ϲ����� on April 27, and will feature winners of regional competitions in New York’s ten geographic zones—Capital Region, Central New York, North Country, Mohawk Valley, Finger Lakes, Western New York, Southern Tier, Mid-Hudson, New York City and Long Island.

Quinn King ’20 and Alec Gillinder ’20, alumni of the School of Design in the College of Visual and Performing Arts and co-founders of MedUX. The team won the 2019 campus qualifier competition and the $10,000 second place award in the ACC finals. (Photo taken prior to the COVID-19 pandemic)

���ϲ����� student startup teams can submit of a venture idea to participate in the ���ϲ����� campus qualifier, which will be held in Bird Library on Feb. 11 from 2 to 5 p.m. Up to 10 teams will be selected to participate in the campus qualifier. The winner will receive a cash prize and move on to participate in the PBS-televised event in Florida in April. Campus qualifier finalists will also be invited to apply for LaunchPad Innovation Fund grants available through a gift to SU Libraries.

Past ���ϲ����� contestants who participated in the final five live PBS-broadcast included: Kate Beckman ’17 G’18 (Newhouse School) founder of FreshU; Kayla Simon ’19 (College of Engineering and Computer Science) and Elizabeth Tarangelo ’19 (College of Engineering and Computer Science), co-founders of In-Spire; Alec Gillinder ’20 (College of Visual and Performing Arts’ School of Design) and Quinn King ’20 (VPA School of Design), co-founders of MedUX; and Russell Fearon ’20 G’21 (College of Engineering and Computer Science) and Ricardo Sanchez ’21 (VPA School of Design), co-founders of SugEx.

The Blackstone LaunchPad and Techstars at ���ϲ����� Libraries is the University’s innovation hub, connecting the entire campus resource-rich ecosystem with a global network that provides support for aspiring entrepreneurs, inventors and creators. The program serves faculty, staff, students and alumni across disciplines who are interested in innovation, invention, entrepreneurship, venture creation, careers, entrepreneurial skills, diversity, equity, inclusion and taking ideas from concept to commercialization. The program supports a key pillar of ���ϲ�����’s Academic Strategic Plan to create an innovation ecosystem across the institution that prepares participants to be trailblazers in an entrepreneurial world.

Dean David Seaman hands a prize check to Selim Dangoor, founder of MUNCH Jerky, at ’Cuse Tank 2021.

���ϲ����� Libraries’ Blackstone LaunchPad (LaunchPad) hosted its annual on Friday, Oct. 8, at Bird Library. Twenty-four student teams from various schools and colleges across campus competed in a “Shark Tank”-style business pitch in front of a panel of judges consisting of ���ϲ����� parents and successful entrepreneurs. Families were invited to attend this event as part of Family Weekend to experience the entrepreneurial spirit of University innovators. This year’s winning teams were:

• First place winner, $15,000: Ambassadoor Technologies, led by Bruno Gonzalez Hauger G’22 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management). The company connects small brick-and-mortar businesses to nano-influencers, enabling anyone on Instagram with engagement to be a paid influencer, while automating the influencer search, compensation and management processes.
• Second place winner, $10,000: Munch Jerky, led by Selim Dangoor ’23 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management). The company provides a gluten-free, artisanal flank steak jerky using all-natural ingredients.
• Third place winners, each receiving $2,500: BusPoint, led by Justin Gluska ’23 (College of Engineering and Computer Science) and Sice-Me, led by Alexander Peter Rolinski ’24 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management). BusPoint is a web-based application allowing students to monitor where their designated school bus is at all times, provide parents with real-time monitoring and alerts, and provide teachers and administrators with real-time data. Sice-Me is a mobile application that creates insular marketplaces for college and high school students, enabling users to create an account with their student email address in order to buy or sell products to students at their school.
• Wild card winners, each receiving $1,250: Holy Egg! Shakshuka Truck, led by Natasha Brao ’22 (College of Visual and Performing Arts) and Shop All Yours, led by Julia Gomez ’25 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management).

Seaman announces the ’Cuse Tank prize winners, including wild card winner Julia Gomez, founder of Shop All Yours.

“After more than a year of virtual competitions, the energy and creativity that the student teams brought to ’Cuse Tank this year was so welcome,” says David Seaman, dean of ���ϲ����� Libraries and University librarian. “Parents and guests were equally excited to witness firsthand the creativity, business acumen and professionalism of the student teams. We started the day with $22,500 for the judges to award as they saw fit, raised from generous SU Libraries supporters; however, the judges were so impressed with our student entrepreneurs that they added an additional $10,000 to the prize money during their deliberations! We are so grateful for their investment in our students.”

Other venture teams, led by idea champions, who presented during the competition included:

• Sweatration, led by Paul Franco ’22 (College of Arts and Sciences), Zach Stahl ’23 (College of Engineering and Computer Science) and Anthony Mazzacane ’24 (College of Engineering and Computer Science and College of Arts and Sciences)
• Fundwurx, led by Ben Ford ’23 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management)
• Phantom Tea, led by Christine Wu ’22 (College of Arts and Sciences)
• Fitted, led by Damaris Koi Munyua G’22 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management)
• LunaX, led by Diego Luna ’22 (College of Arts and Sciences)
• SENSE-A, led by Gabriela Angel G’22 (College of Engineering and Computer Science), Simran Lakhani ’22 (College of Engineering and Computer Science) and Hong Yan Chen ’22 (College of Engineering and Computer Science)
• YOKA, led by Isabella Perkins ’25 (College of Engineering and Computer Science), Daren Wang ’23 (College of Visual and Performing Arts) and Matthew Swanson ’22 (College of Engineering and Computer Science)
• Out2Win Sports, led by Jack Adler ’23 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management) and Sam Holland ’23 (S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and Martin J. Whitman School of Management)
• Patchwork, led by Jackson Ensley ’22 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management) and Paul Hultgren, LaunchPad Innovator in Residence
• Civilian Medical Response, led by Jared Anderson ’23 (College of Engineering and Computer Science)
• Glisten, led by Justin Monaco G’22 (College of Arts and Sciences), Bianca Andrada ’22 (College of Engineering and Computer Science) and Anh Dao ’23 (College of Visual and Performing Arts)
• Wo-manly, led by Kelly Davis ’23 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management)
• Candid, led by Mia Hinz ’23 (S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications)
• Urban Coders, led by Mohammed Ali ’22 (School of Information Studies)
• TEAGO, led by Noah Mechnig-Giordano G’22 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management)
• Athletify, led by Season Chowdhury ’23 (College of Engineering and Computer Science) and Raul Chakraborty ’23 (School of Information Studies)
• Lateral Assist, led by Xinyao Zhao ’22 (College of Engineering and Computer Science), Andrea Merloiu ’22 (College of Engineering and Computer Science) and Cheyenne Kersavage ’21 (College of Engineering and Computer Science)

This year’s judges included the following ���ϲ����� parents and alumni:

• David Martirano
• Jeffrey Gates
• Burt Podbere
• Kristina Campos
• Andrew Neuberger
• Douglas Canfield
• Corey Lieblein ’93
• Andrew Schwartz
• Carter Holland
• Marlowe Sidney Bamberger
• Linda Schwartz
• Jim Armstrong
• Matt Shumer
• Steve Shumer
• Phil McKnight
• Patrick Prioletti ’21��

About the Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars at ���ϲ����� Libraries:

The Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars at ���ϲ����� Libraries is the University’s innovation hub, connecting the entire campus resource-rich ecosystem with a global network that provides support for aspiring entrepreneurs, inventors, and creators. The program serves faculty, staff, students, and alumni across disciplines who are interested in innovation, invention, entrepreneurship, venture creation, careers, entrepreneurial skills, diversity, equity, inclusion, and taking ideas from concept to commercialization. The program supports a key pillar of ���ϲ�����’s Academic Strategic Plan to create an innovation ecosystem across the institution that prepares participants to be trailblazers in an entrepreneurial world.v

Louise Manfredi

, an assistant professor of industrial and interaction design in the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ School of Design, received a faculty grant from , an organization that fosters collaboration to advance innovation and entrepreneurship education.

�ձ�Գٳܰ���±����’s supports the creation or improvement of courses and programs that incorporate sustainability frameworks and principles and encourages the creation of novel sustainable designs and green technologies. Manfredi was one of 12 grant recipients chosen through a competitive national review process.

Manfredi will use the funding to develop a new minor that will facilitate in-depth learning of green design methodologies to catalyze sustainable, design-driven innovation and entrepreneurship. Multidisciplinary student teams will develop and pursue sustainable design innovations in consumer goods, services and interior environments. The minor will collaborate with Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars at ���ϲ����� Libraries to support students who want to pursue their ideas beyond the classroom. Newly developed courses for the minor that facilitate in-depth learning of various design for sustainability methodologies for faculty and students will launch in spring 2022.

“The team and I are really looking forward to connecting with other professors on campus to establish this interdisciplinary minor,” says Manfredi, whose co-principal investigators and collaborators are fellow School of Design faculty members Don Carr and Seyeon Lee. “Building a sustainable future relies on the input from so many fields of expertise, and we want to expose our students to as many perspectives as possible. There is a wealth of expertise in environmental sustainability at ���ϲ�����.”

For more information about the new minor, contact Manfredi at lrmanfre@syr.edu or Carr at dwcarr@syr.edu.

This year’s LaunchPad competitions are:

• ‘Cuse Tank: scheduled to take place Oct. 8
• Founder’s Cup: scheduled to take place Oct. 29
• Impact Prize: scheduled to take place Nov. 12
• Hult Prize: scheduled to take place Dec. 3
• ACC InVenture Prize: scheduled to take place Feb. 11
• RvD iPrize and Hunter Brooks Watson Spirit of Entrepreneurship Awards: scheduled to take place March 25

Over the past five years, ���ϲ����� students have won $3.65 million in campus, state and national competitions and raised more than $54 million in equity funding for their ventures. Out of nearly 1,000 ideas, students have incorporated more than 140 businesses and have used their experience to build skills and their resumes and find their dream jobs at top innovation companies around the world.

Selim Dangoor ’23 and Sandhya Iyer ’20

���ϲ����� student startups , founder of MUNCH Jerky, and , CEO of Geek Girl Careers, have been selected for the summer 2021 cohort of the Blackstone LaunchPad Fellowship. Both are active members of the LaunchPad at ���ϲ����� Libraries. The Blackstone Charitable Foundation and partners will support 55 student entrepreneurs from across the global network with $250,000 in grant funding and eight weeks of entrepreneurial resources, mentoring and support through the summer program.

Participating student founders will receive a $5,000 grant to support their time working on advancing their entrepreneurial ventures, as well as other resources and support, including weekly workshops, community-building activities, and mentorship from experienced entrepreneurs and executives in the LaunchPad network. The program also includes intensive LaunchPad campus director coaching sessions. Students will also have the opportunity to join the LaunchPad-supported Startup Grind Student Program and participate in the Techstars Empower Collective.

“We’re excited to welcome another cohort of bright entrepreneurs to the LaunchPad Fellowship,” says Blackstone Charitable Foundation Executive Director Amy Stursberg. “In spite of the many challenges of the past year, this diverse set of students has taken impressive strides toward bringing their ideas to life. We look forward to supporting their innovation and drive this summer, and can’t wait to see the companies and careers they develop in the future.”

Dangoor, studying public relations in the Newhouse School and finance in the Whitman School, became fascinated with the creation of flavorful jerky during the pandemic. He used his passion for food entrepreneurship to create artisanal beef jerky with high quality cuts of tender flank steak. This past academic year he worked with the LaunchPad, competed in business plan competitions, winning the Hunter Brooks Watson Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award from judges who loved his energy and passion. He also made important business connections and learned USDA and Department of Health regulations, connected with commercial kitchens and built a network of entrepreneurial agri-business producers as advisors. He incubated in the LaunchPad to bring his love of premium, high-protein artisanal jerky to life as a commercial venture, and to build a roadmap to launch into the marketplace and scale. He is also the recipient of a recent Innovation Fund Award from the LaunchPad.

Sandhya Iyer, a graduate of the Newhouse School in public relations and the Whitman School in marketing, hopes to empower young women to find a career they love in a tech field. As CEO of , she is helping young women find careers in tech that align with their passions and personalities. Geek Girl Careers is committed to increasing representation in tech by broadening the pathways in tech fields. Women make up nearly half the American workforce but hold only 26% of computing-related jobs. The problem starts as early as middle school, but only becomes more apparent in high school and is especially apparent in college—in 2020, women made up only 18% of undergraduate students who earned a degree in computer science. Geek Girl Careers helps young women discover careers in tech that align with their existing passions and skills and connects them with other Geek Girls and mentors. Iyer speaks at ���ϲ����� LaunchPad events and mentors other campus female tech founders.

The LaunchPad Fellowship program originally began in response to intern, job and entrepreneurial opportunities lost by college students at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and has now grown into a signature program of the Blackstone LaunchPad network. The Fellowship helps students learn by doing, growing and strengthening entrepreneurial skills like leadership, problem-solving and communication as they complete customer discovery interviews, launch initial marketing and sales efforts, add talent to their teams, and seek additional funding and support.

The program is funded by the Blackstone Charitable Foundation and coordinated through the Blackstone LaunchPad network and Future Founders.

Bruno Andres Gonzalez Hauger ’21, founder of Ambassadoor Technologies, (left) and Alexander Peter Rolinksi ’24, founder of Sice-Me.

Two ���ϲ����� student teams received first and second place in the 12th annual New York Business Plan Competition hosted by the Upstate Capital Association of New York on May 7.

Ambassadoor Technologies placed first in the Software and Services category and Sice-Me placed second in the Consumer and Business Products category. Each team received cash prizes and ongoing mentorship to advance their student-led ventures. Overall, this year’s state competition involved 55 colleges and universities, 269 startup teams and 607 students competing.

, founded by Bruno Andres Gonzalez Hauger ’21 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), connects small businesses to nano-influencers on Instagram through innovative iOS mobile applications. The company created a business app and an influencer app to streamline the entire influencing process on both ends of a deal.

founded by Alexander Peter Rolinksi ’24 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), is a mobile application available for download that creates insular marketplaces for college and high school campuses and their students.

“We are proud of the innovation and effort of all our LaunchPad student teams, particularly in an unusual and challenging year,” says David Seaman, dean of ���ϲ����� Libraries and University librarian. “Our two winning startups demonstrated professionalism and an entrepreneurial spirit, utilizing technology and platforms, to provide a solution that has the potential to impact college students and businesses across campuses everywhere.”

iPrize Student Winners from 2019 competition

Winners of the School of Information Studies’ (iSchool) Raymond von Dran (RvD) Fund for Student Entrepreneurship competition, the Hunter Brooks Watson Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award and the Compete CNY regional qualifier for the New York Business Plan Competition (NYBPC) were announced at the virtual event held on March 26. The concurrent online competitions were coordinated by the Blackstone LaunchPad and Techstars at ���ϲ����� Libraries (LaunchPad). Entrepreneur student team winners and prize amounts are:

RvD Fund:

Software and services:

• $7,500 to Bruno Gonzalez Hauger ’21 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), Ambassadoor Technologies
• $7,500 to Sam Hollander ’22 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management and S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications), Financial Services for College Lending (FSCL)

Consumer and business products:

• $8,000 to Alexander Peter Rolinski ’24 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), Sice-Me
• $2,000 to Joseph DeBlasio ’21 (S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications), Skipod
• $2,000 to Jason Zhou ’21 (School of Information Studies), Itemize LLC

Education and well-being:

• $3,000 to Max Freund ’21 (S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications), M. Freund Photography
• $2,000 to Cassianne Cavallaro ’21 (College of Visual and Performing Arts), Mohan

Ag tech and food:

• $4,000 to Selim Dangoor ’23 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), MUNCH Jerky
• $1,00 to Samuel Chazen ’21 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), Food-E

Med tech and life sciences:

• $3,000 to Russell Fearon ’20. G’21 (College of Engineering and Computer Science) and Ricardo Sanchez ’21 (College of Visual and Performing Arts), SugEx – The Sugar Experience

Hunter Brooks Watson Spirit of Entrepreneurship:

• $2,500 to Russell Fearon ’20 G’21 (College of Engineering and Computer Science) and Ricardo Sanchez ’21 (College of Visual and Performing Arts), SugEx – The Sugar Experience
• $2,500 to Jack Adler ’23 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), 3 Dollar Challenge
• $2,500 to Jackson Ensley ’22 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), ModoSuite
• $2,500 to Selim Dangoor ’23 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), MUNCH Jerky

Compete CNY Regional Qualifier:��

Note: The top two teams in each category will move on to the New York State Business Plan Competition, being held virtually in May. The LaunchPad coordinated the Central New York Regional Qualifier, which was open to any team at a Central New York college or university.�� Advancing to the state finals are:

Software and services:

• Bruno Gonzalez Hauger ’21 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management and S.I. Newhouse School of Communications), Ambassador Technologies
• Sam Hollander ’22 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management and S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications), Financial Services for College Lending (FSCL)

Consumer and business products:

• Alexander Peter Rolinski ’24 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), Sice-Me
• Jeff Evans, master of business administration at SUNY Oswego, Karten Products

Education and well-being:

• Max Freund ’21 (S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications), M. Freund Photography
• Mario Garcia G’21 (College of Engineering and Computer Science), Pairinc

Ag tech and food:

• Selim Dangoor ’23 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), MUNCH Jerky
• Samuel Chazen ’21 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), Food-E

Med tech and life sciences:

• Russell Fearon ’20 G’21 (College of Engineering and Computer Science) and Ricardo Sanchez ’21 (College of Visual and Performing Arts), SugEx – The Sugar Experience
• Harman Chopra, M.D. program at SUNY Upstate Medical University, Baby Bird Pharmaceutical

Emergency response and first responder:

• Daniel Maslowski, SUNY Oswego, SWTRS
• Skyler Hall ’21 (College of Engineering and Computer Science), Hive Pilot

���ϲ����� Libraries Welcome Fest 2019

During National Libraries Week, ���ϲ����� Libraries encourages users to share via social media what they love about the Libraries using #MyLibraryIs for a chance to win a national contest with a $100 Visa gift card prize. ���ϲ����� Libraries also invites users with a valid ���ϲ����� or SUNY-ESF ID card to stop by the service desk during the week for a free Libraries pen, highlighter or mini notebook.

Other events planned for the week include:

• Tuesday, April 6 is National Library Workers Day, a day for library staff, users, administrators, and friends to recognize the valuable contributions made by all library workers.
• On Wednesday, April 7, the Libraries will host its first event from noon to 5 p.m.
• On Thursday, April 8, the Libraries will host an at noon.
• On Friday, April 9, the Blackstone LaunchPad at ���ϲ����� Libraries will virtually host the .

2019 Hult Prize Campus Winner Justin Diaz ’23, EcoBamboo Living

The prestigious Hult Prize Foundation has selected ���ϲ����� Libraries’ Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars (LaunchPad) to host the Hult Prize Regional Summit. Hult Prize Impact Summits are hosted in 100 locations around the world, and this year ���ϲ����� is one of only three regional hosts in North America. Winners of the regional campus competitions go on to compete in the global competition at the United Nations. The competition, being held virtually this year due to COVID-19, will take place on April 9.

“This is an incredible honor and testament to ���ϲ�����’s commitment to innovation and entrepreneurship in a global community,” said David Seaman, dean of ���ϲ����� Libraries and University librarian. “We’re thrilled to provide a worldwide stage that demonstrates the caliber of our campus ecosystem and all that ���ϲ����� has to offer.”

The ���ϲ����� campus director of the Summit is Claire Howard ’23 (Maxwell School), a member of the LaunchPad. The day-long event will include an inspirational speaker, professor emeritus from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs . Bertini is an accomplished leader in international organization reform, a powerful advocate for women and girls, the 2003 World Food Prize Laureate, and recent co-chair working under the United Nations. A distinguished panel of judges and speakers will be featured throughout the day.

The LaunchPad is seeking student volunteers to assist with project management, communications and social media coordination for this event. Interested volunteers can email Claire Howard at clhoward@syr.edu. Those interested in viewing the speakers or the competition virtually can email launchpad@syr.edu for registration information.

The Hult Prize Foundation transforms how young people envision their own possibilities as impact leaders of change in the world. This year’s Hult Prize 2021 Challenge is centered around the theme “Food for Good.” The goal is to create jobs, stimulate economies, reimagine supply chains and improve outcomes for 10 million people by 2030. The LaunchPad will host 40 global teams, made up of 120 students. Winners of the regional competitions will move on to the global competition hosted by the United Nations, with that winner receiving a $1 million seed capital grant.

This year’s winner of the Hult Prize campus competition who will be going on to the global regionals is WaxPax Solutions, developed by Erica Morrison ’21 (Whitman School and Newhouse School), Lidia Menbaeva ’21 (College of Arts and Sciences) and Daniel Hamrahi ’21 (Whitman School), for a multi-purpose biodegradable packaging solution made from a proprietary blend of beeswax and cellulose that will help eliminate landfill waste in the food supply chain.

Former ���ϲ����� LaunchPad alumni who have competed in the Hult Prize Regionals include:

• William McKnight from Farm to Flame
• Serena DeSeta, Jason Kuperberg and Matthew Goodmanson Kuperberg from DropTop
• Brian Kam, Ryan Brinkerhoff, Joshua Moon, Amanda Chou and Khalid Khan from Thrive
• Anjali Alwis, Rachel Gilbert, Rose Cote and Patty Terhune from PARR

The first two episodes are now available and feature Linda Dickerson Hartsock, executive director of the LaunchPad, and Dylan Kim ’18 (Whitman), co-founder of Brevité. Upcoming guests will include Kelsey Davis ’19 (Newhouse), G’20 (Whitman), founder of CLLCTVE, and Julia Haber ’18 (Newhouse), founder of WAYV and Home From College.

��About the Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars at ���ϲ����� Libraries

The Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars at ���ϲ����� Libraries is the University’s innovation hub, connecting the entire campus resource-rich ecosystem with a global network that provides support for aspiring entrepreneurs, inventors, and creators.��The program serves faculty, staff, students, and alumni across disciplines who are interested in innovation, invention, entrepreneurship, venture creation, careers, entrepreneurial skills, diversity, equity, inclusion, and taking ideas from concept to commercialization. The program supports a key pillar of ���ϲ�����’s Academic Strategic Plan to create an innovation ecosystem across the institution that prepares participants to be trailblazers in an entrepreneurial world.

Every school or college has a dedicated to helping faculty and staff navigate the available collections and services. They can help faculty develop a of curated content to support students in a specific course, provide synchronous and asynchronous , and help with questions around a faculty or staff member’s own , including direction on how to demonstrate scholarly impact or publish work.

The Libraries provides multiple services and resources to support the needs of anyone in the University community with disabilities. This includes for qualifying individuals of any materials we own, license or can procure via interlibrary loan. Computer workstations in all library buildings that offer multiple assistive technologies, including JAWS, Read & Write Gold and other tools. And the in Bird Library, with�� furniture and tools, such as Kurzweill readers, a DaVinci Pro camera and software to meet additional needs.

Libraries’ Collections

The Libraries’ 4.9 million volumes of resources are accessed by 1.2 million online visits annually. In addition to books and journals, the Libraries’ has an extensive , , , data and other formats for use in person and online. ���ϲ����� Libraries is also home to a number of unique collections, including the , bringing visiting researchers from around the world to the campus.

Course reserves provide access to ebooks and electronic scans of book chapters from our collections that faculty may place in Blackboard. This is an important way to ensure that all students have equitable access to course materials. When assigning .

SU Libraries’ provides open access to the extensive and diverse array of scholarly, professional, scientific, and creative output produced across the University through , ��the institutional repository. This includes dissertations and theses, books, journals, magazines, newsletters, hosted conferences, colloquia and symposia, and a number of open access journals. For information on open access publishing, authors’ rights, digital scholarship methods, or assistance with publication agreements, contact surface@syr.edu.

Located on the sixth floor of Bird Library, the (SCRC) is home to rare books, manuscripts and other primary source materials. These unique collections span time and format, from cuneiform tablets that are thousands of years old to born digital media.

Collection areas included activism and social reform, architecture and design, broadcasting history, popular culture, cartoons and cartoonists, Pan Am Flight 103/Lockerbie Air Disaster, photography, plastics, religious and utopian communities, the history of recorded sound, and others. SCRC offers unique exhibitions (check out the “” on exhibit now), special events (attend “), and access to one-of-a-kind collections (explore the ).

, the and are all part of SU Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center.

SU Press publishes vital scholarship and gives voice to important stories that might not otherwise be told. Subject specialty areas include Middle East and Arab American studies, disability issues, Irish studies, Native American and Indigenous studies, Jewish studies and Yiddish literature, New York State and regional information, African American studies, religion and politics, sports and entertainment, television and popular culture, LGBTQ studies, poetry, women’s and gender studies, and veterans writing. Whether you’re looking to , or ,�� SU Press is your local resource.

The hub for innovation, entrepreneurialism and creativity is on the first floor of Bird Library. Faculty, staff, students and alumni have launched more than 800 venture ideas. Services available to all members of the campus community include mentoring, specialized tools for startups, team building, content and subject matter expertise, and training.

Other Services for You:

• The Libraries provide electronic delivery of articles and book chapters scanned from the our print periodical, microfilm/fiche, and book collections. Faculty and staff may also request to have physical items from the Libraries’ collections mailed directly to their residence.
• : If you need an individual room for a virtual meeting or quiet space to get work done, you can reserve a study room.
• from both Bird and Carnegie Library.
• at Bird Library.
• : Attend one of our regular workshops, including the .

Initial money in the Innovation Fund was provided by Jeffrey Rich ’67 (College of Law), partner at Rich Michaelson Magaliff LLP, and a member of the ���ϲ����� Libraries Advisory Board. Rich’s multi-year pledge is to help students pursue business startup ventures and move their ideas from concept through research and discovery to proof and commercialization.

For more information on Innovation Fund requirements or to obtain a copy of the application template, email LaunchPad@syr.edu.

About the Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars at ���ϲ����� Libraries

��The Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars at ���ϲ����� Libraries is the University’s innovation hub, connecting the entire campus resource-rich ecosystem with a global network that provides support for aspiring entrepreneurs, inventors, and creators.��The program serves faculty, staff, students, and alumni across disciplines who are interested in innovation, invention, entrepreneurship, venture creation, careers, entrepreneurial skills, diversity, equity, inclusion, and taking ideas from concept to commercialization. The program supports a key pillar of ���ϲ�����’s Academic Strategic Plan to create an innovation ecosystem across the institution that prepares participants to be trailblazers in an entrepreneurial world.

Russell Fearon and Ricardo Sanchez with the SugEx glucose monitoring device.

“We started in the Invent@SU accelerator as undergraduates and immediately began working with the tenacious team in the LaunchPad who incubate amazing entrepreneurs,” said Fearon, co-founder and CEO of SugEx. The SugEx team developed an initial prototype in the Invent@SU program for a wearable glucose monitoring device, based on Fearon’s own experience discovering he had diabetes while in college. They worked with the LaunchPad on a commercialization roadmap and along the way won a number of accolades, including a national health innovation award from the American Heart Association.

Fearon is now finishing his master’s degree in bioengineering and biomedical engineering after receiving his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering. “I am grateful for our supporters at SU, the World of Money and the American Heart Association, who continue to believe in the innovation of the SugEx Watch,” he added. “As tough as the road seems, I am determined to pioneer change for the millions of people in the diabetes community.”

The SugEx team has now won more than $60,000 for the invention in various competitions. “The capital earned for SugEx is a testament to our hustle mentality. We will keep this momentum as we represent ���ϲ����� in the next round.”

Co-founder and CTO Ricardo Sanchez, a fifth year industrial and interaction design student, said, “I am extremely humbled and excited to have this opportunity to propel SugEx forward and represent ���ϲ�����. I want to thank Invent@SU and the LaunchPad, as well as my professors in the School of Design for believing in us. I’d especially like to thank Diana Miller and Dr. Louise Manfredi for their support and advice throughout my journey.”

The SU competition was hosted by the LaunchPad at SU Libraries and featured a slate of “Elite Eight” teams vying for the title of top campus innovator. Competing in the campus qualifier were:

• Alexander Don ’22 (Whitman), founder of Cirus, a social media platform for people who prefer their voices rather than visual appearances to be valued.
• Ben Ford ’23 (Whitman), founder of DoNATION, an impact investment platform that matches people launching projects with donors who share similar interests.
• Bruno Gonzalez Hauger ’21 (Whitman), co-founder of Ambassadoor Technologies, a platform that connects local businesses with nano-influencers to catalyze engagement and brand growth.
• Cullen Kavanaugh ’22 (Whitman), co-founder of Spread, a mobile application for custom wagers on events between friends.
• Kyra Thomas ’21 (Engineering and Computer Science), co-founder of Signal, a company that creates technology solutions that solve issues related to accessibility and inclusion.
• Murray Lebovitz ’23 (Whitman), founder of Keep Coffee Casual, a network that is building a modern coffee culture through sustainability, inclusion and creativity.
• Sam Hollander ’22 (Whitman and Newhouse), founder of FSC, an alternative finance vehicle that is a simple, affordable and flexible solution to finance higher education.

This year’s campus judges brought a range of skills from industrial design to mechanical engineering, digital media and marketing, finance, investment and diversity and inclusion.

The ACC InVenture Prize Competition is the nations’ largest undergraduate student innovation competition. In addition to ���ϲ�����, teams from the 15 colleges and universities in the (ACC) Academic Consortium will participate in the televised “shark tank” competition.

��About the Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars at ���ϲ����� Libraries

The Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars at ���ϲ����� Libraries is the University’s innovation hub, connecting the entire campus resource-rich ecosystem with a global network that provides support for aspiring entrepreneurs, inventors, and creators.��The program serves faculty, staff, students, and alumni across disciplines who are interested in innovation, invention, entrepreneurship, venture creation, careers, entrepreneurial skills, diversity, equity, inclusion, and taking ideas from concept to commercialization. The program supports a key pillar of ���ϲ�����’s Academic Strategic Plan to create an innovation ecosystem across the institution that prepares participants to be trailblazers in an entrepreneurial world.

Teams are invited to submit of a venture idea to participate in ���ϲ�����’s campus qualifier, which will be held virtually on Jan. 29.�� The campus qualifier winner will receive a $5,000 cash prize sponsored by M&T Bank and move on to participate virtually in a PBS-televised event in April.

The ACC InVenture finals feature a $30,000 prize package and is open to undergraduate students or students who have received their undergraduate degree within the past year and who are the original creators, inventors or owners of the intellectual property underlying their invention.

The 2020 ���ϲ����� campus qualifier winner, Matt Shumer, pivoted his idea for Visos after the ACC finals were cancelled due to the pandemic. Instead, he formed a new team called Otherside AI, working with fellow Whitman School student Miles Feldstein and ���ϲ����� alumnus Jason Kuperberg ’18 through the LaunchPad’s accelerator program. Shumer and his teammates went on to this fall to launch Otherside AI.

Quinn King and Alec Gillinder

College of Visual and Performing Arts’ School of Design alumni Quinn King ’20 and Alec Gillinder ’20, co-founders of MedUX, won the 2019 campus qualifier competition and the $10,000 second place award in the ACC finals. They developed a medical device through Invent@SU then worked with the LaunchPad to commercialize their venture. Since graduating in May 2020, their wearable, portable intravenous delivery solution venture has taken off and will soon launch commercially.

The 2018 campus qualifier winners, Kayla Simon ’19 and Elizabeth Tarangelo ’19, developed In-Spire, a wearable asthma bracelet which they created through Invent@SU and advanced commercially through the LaunchPad. Simon and Tarangelo used the experience to propel their innovation career paths. Simon, an aerospace engineering major at ���ϲ�����, is now an integration engineer at Relativity Space, building the world’s first entirely 3D printed rocket. Tarangelo, a bioengineering and biomedical engineering major with a focus on neuroscience, is now a clinical specialist with Brain Lab, which develops advanced software-driven medical technology and powers treatment in many surgical fields.

Kate Beckman ’17, G’18 won the 2018 campus InVenture Prize and advanced to the top five finalists in the conference finals at Georgia Tech.�� She created Fresh U, a national online publication geared toward college freshmen, growing it to a staff of 300 contributing writers across more than 100 campuses, and developing media partnerships with companies like Teen Vogue. Fresh U was acquired after Kate completed a graduate degree at the Newhouse School. She is now senior content manager for RippleMatch, an intelligent platform for college recruiting.

All former InVenture winners remain active LaunchPad alumni and mentor current ���ϲ����� student startups.

“I believe that in the modern era, anyone can start a scalable, high-growth company and every metropolitan area should have a thriving startup community,” says M&T Bank Regional President Allen Naples. “By helping ���ϲ����� host the InVenture Prize Challenge, we’re investing in the exceptional creativity and ingenuity of our students and doubling down on our efforts to build our entrepreneurial community into one that generates jobs and prosperity for generations to come.”