University of Pittsburgh Innovation Institute - Randall Family Big Idea Competition Awards Showcase

AWARDS SHOWCASE APRIL 22, 2020 Big Idea Center @PittBigIdea • #PittBigIdea innovation.pitt.edu/bigideacenter

WELCOME Welcome to the 12th annual Randall Family Big Idea Competition Awards Showcase.

This has been an extraordinary year as we were forced to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic mid-competition.

But entrepreneurs are a resourceful, passionate and plucky bunch who know how to pivot on the fly when the situation demands.

So, pivot we did to complete the competition virtually.

I realize this was not the ideal experience, but I am proud of the way the students, my incredible staff and our dedicated volunteer mentors and judges pulled through to make it the best experience possible.

This year, 112 students from nine University of Pittsburgh schools made it to the competition’s final round, including 73 undergraduates and 39 graduates and postdocs.

These students are to be congratulated for the work they have put into developing their ideas. Remember, this is all in addition to the regular coursework they had to complete under unprecedented circumstances.

I am pleased to report they handled it without missing a beat, and I am hopeful that this year’s participants will go on to the same success as those of years past.

The top prize recipients in each of the past five years have brought their ideas to life, leveraging not only the competition prize money, but also the education and mentoring they received and the connections they made.

Last year’s top prize winner, Emily Siegel, is now in The Forge startup incubator at the Big Idea Center, and recently won a $3,000 prize in the AlphaLab Gear Hardware Cup’s Pittsburgh round. She will be competing in the national competition in May as she continues to develop her idea for a chewing gum that cleans teeth chemically and mechanically in an environmentally friendly manner.

Be sure to follow the Big Idea Center on social media and cheer her on. Good luck, Emily!

The 2018 Big Idea winner, Four Growers, successfully completed the Y-Combinator accelerator in Silicon Valley and is now on its way to revenue generation with its robotic system for harvesting tomatoes in greenhouses, operating out of offices in Pittsburgh.

The 2017 winner, Aeronics, is on the market with portable oxygen solutions, both for people and for pets. Cassian Solutions, the 2016 winner, is rolling out its medication dispensing and compliance tracking platform, and Interphase Materials, winner in 2015, continues to grow its business in Harmar Township with its anti-fouling solutions for industrial and marine applications.

There are many other Big Idea Competition alums who have started new companies. Some have failed, and there is absolutely no shame in that. Not every idea makes it.

But the experience of developing an idea, successful or not, helps set up participants for success throughout their lives. Many past participants have gone on to work for companies, nonprofits, the military and other large organizations where they use the skills they learned to be leaders in those organizations.

As always, I want to extend a special thanks to all the volunteer mentors and judges who make this competition possible each year. I am also grateful to our growing array of sponsors who value the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship we are building at Pitt.

And of course, how can I ever thank Bob Randall and the entire Randall family enough for their vision and generosity in support of that vision. Long before innovation and entrepreneurship became buzzwords on campus, Bob Randall was pointing the way forward for Pitt to offer its students experiential learning opportunities for taking new ideas and transforming them into real products and services. When I think of the innovation ecosystem that has been built over the past dozen years, it’s clear that we wouldn’t be where we are today without the Randall family.

Babs Carryer Director, Big Idea Center University of Pittsburgh Innovation Institute

ABOUT THE COMPETITION The Randall Family Big Idea Competition awards $100,000 in cash prizes to interdisciplinary student teams from across the University and all experience levels, from freshman to postdoc. Twelve of Pitt’s 16 schools are represented by student participants in the competition.

The competition began in early February with a boot camp where the students received instruction from our entrepreneurs in residence in areas such as customer discovery, defining a value proposition, creating a revenue model, and more. They then practiced their initial idea pitches in front of volunteer judges from the University’s innovation ecosystem. A semifinal round was held Feb. 28, and finalist teams were then paired with a mentor as they honed their final pitches. We congratulate all of the #PittBigIdea teams for their creativity and hard work!

Big Idea Center’s Babs Carryer emcees the 2019 Randall Family Big Idea Competition

FINALIST TEAMS After the Injury Christopher Fagan Maggie Feltman Monica Morrison Laura Otchy Kristin Zink BestCity Gil Dreyfuss Kumar Vijayendra Blue Earth Tech Antonio Fiocca Kyle Snyder Byebottles Bethany Dubick

School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences

Chela Valeria Green Sara Longo Elysia Newman Erika Suzuki Cool Spoon Jalen Bryant Mailinh Dang Lifan Long

College of Business Administration Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business

Ekaterina Slozina

Swanson School of Engineering College of Business Administration

Logan Paul

Mara Wrzesniewski

Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences Swanson School of Engineering

Canal Electronics Nick Kshatri Mohamed Morsy Matthew Rosenblatt

Swanson School of Engineering Swanson School of Engineering Swanson School of Engineering

CardioRevivalists Sarah Burki Brandon D’Aloiso

School of Medicine Swanson School of Engineering

Cruzer Daniel Giambrone

CURVE Shalom Mammen Tejas Rajaram Empathy Ed Jacob Aluise Kassi Horton Samantha Watkins Fireside Sydney Borcherding Evan Kerin Shane Riley

Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business Swanson School of Engineering College of Business Administration Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences Swanson School of Engineering Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences Swanson School of Engineering Swanson School of Engineering Swanson School of Engineering

Foot Emma Akbari Cloe Holloway Wenyu Li Ju Eun “Lydia” Lim Xinming Ruan Go Vote Josh Ackerman Henry Adrian Robert Colville Jesse Rosenfeld Amelia Wear

School of Computing and Information Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences School of Computing and Information Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences Swanson School of Engineering Swanson School of Engineering Swanson School of Engineering Swanson School ofEngineering

Guardians of the Workplace Sebastian Fearon School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Eric Jespersen School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences HackChineseMed Jason Dou Chenrui Liu Ge Zeng Jerry (Ruiwen) Zhang Happy Reflection Debashis Ganguly Shantanu Satpute The Heartthrobs Javier Madrigal Jacob Shrubb Ryan Spangler Zachary Weinberg HoverCap Mohanraj Ganesan Shubham Kishore Sandeep Toor Hydro-Connect Sam Copeland David Katzenberg Colin Kirschner Laser Lines Emma Newland Jonathan Stuchlik

Swanson School of Engineering School of Computing and Information School of Computing and Information

School of Computing and Information Swanson School of Engineering School of Computing and Information Swanson School of Engineering Swanson School of Engineering Graduate School of Public and International Affairs Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business Swanson School of Engineering Swanson School of Engineering Swanson School of Engineering School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences

My Sister’s Closet Kirsten Brangman Anna Ikejiani Sarah McCafferty

College of Business Administration Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences College of Business Administration

NanoNares Nadia Boutaoui School of Medicine Satish Madiraju Srinivas Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business Neusignal Amir Mina Stephanie Paras NOMA AI Yashar Aucie Salim Malakouti

School of Medicine Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences Swanson School of Engineering School of Computing and Information

Patient Experience Navigator (PENY) Anjana Murali School of Medicine Eva Roy School of Medicine Polycarbin Jonathan Cohen James O’Brien Noah Pyles

School of Medicine School of Medicine School of Medicine

Posture Protect Tyler Bray Jacob Meadows Shreya Wadehra Benjamin Wong

Swanson School of Engineering Swanson School of Engineering Swanson School of Engineering Swanson School of Engineering

Reachable Solutions Ravi Gandhi Katherine O’Malley Melody Whittaker Joshua Zito

Swanson School of Engineering Swanson School of Engineering Swanson School of Engineering Swanson School of Engineering

Rhiziliencey Kyle Guinness Kareem Rabbat

College of Business Administration Swanson School of Engineering

SimpL Jai Chawla Kunal Gandhi

School of Computing and Information Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences

Smart Kitchen Medha Kadri Ganesh Puthiaraju

School of Social Work Swanson School of Engineering

Sterile Vision Stephen Canton Dukens LaBaze

School of Medicine Graduate Medical Resident

STIgma Claudia Jester Hannah Kendrick

College of Business Administration Swanson School of Engineering

SunPatch+ Abigail Doyle Harold Moll Patrick Wishon

Swanson School of Engineering Swanson School of Engineering Swanson School of Engineering

Sustain-A-Bowl Sofia Leav Joshua Line Bobby Rouse

Swanson School of Engineering Swanson School of Engineering Swanson School of Engineering

T&T Botanicals Garrett Trettel Stavros Tsaklas

Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences Swanson School of Engineering

TheraPITT Zeynep Marasli

Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences Rachel Sadeh Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences Bhamini Sundararaman Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences Lanyi Wang Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences Wiara Clothing Nina Duong Amber Lehnhart ZeroDK Zachary Colimon Sohail Rana

Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Swanson School of Engineering School of Dental Medicine

PRACTICE PITCH JUDGES Peter Allen Ross Beresford Sarah Birmingham

Phil Brooks Julie Cramer Jennifer Ireland

Paul Petrovich Abhishek Sangal Jessica Sinclair

Antonio Torres Mike Yeomans

Terri Glueck Lisa Iadicicco Deepan Kamaraj Amy Mann

Ami Mian Scott Morley Jay Murray Rhonda Schuldt

Dan Seitam Lynn Shea David Wright

Afshan Khan Richard Lunak Jay Murray Nadyli Nunez Mel Pirchesky Pierre Queiroz de Oliveira

Chris Randall Robin Randall John Rodella Noah Snyder Lindsey Snyder Alan West

Collin Wolf Cole Wolfson

Denise Dolgos Michael Dukes Jeff Eiben David Eldridge Brett Fulesday Paula Grendys Dave Hochendoner Simon Huntley Bill Jackson Ola Jackson Jason Jones Michael Kane

Matthew Keener Adam Kelson Nathan Mancine Michael Medwig Larry Miller Aaron Morris Kit Mueller Donielle Owen Krutarth Patel Erica Peterson Lynne Porter Pierce Robinson

John Seiffer Lynn Shea Eric Sinagra David Smith Mark Storch Mark Torgerson Brenda Vester Glenn Watson Alethea Wieland J.B. Wilcox Matthew Withum Jim Wrubel

SEMIFINAL ROUND JUDGES Lauren Battaglia Ross Beresford Kelly Collier Denver Faulk FINAL ROUND JUDGES Itha Cao Tricina Cash Kelly Collier Ilana Diamond Maria Fattore Josh Gould MENTORS Prashant Ambe Mike Anness Laurie Barkman Ross Beresford John Bowman William Chastka Steven Cherin Kelly Collier John Cordier Steve Cotter Garrett Coyan Eric Davis

SPECIAL THANKS Innovation Institute Carla Crawford Evan Facher Emily Howard Jennifer Ireland Helen Sluder Karen Woolstrum Mike Yeomans

Clinical and Translational Science Institute Lee Bash Rich Glass

Entrepreneurs in Residence Phil Marzolf Jeanine McCreary Don Morrison Jessica Sinclair Joanna Sutton Jessi Trybus

Pepper Hamilton, LLP Yousuf Ahmed Alicia Palladino Pierre Queiroz de Oliveira David Smith

Big Idea Center Tiffany Bicek Danielle Isenberg Dani James Jess Malandro

Guest Speakers Rob Rutenbar Bob Randall Noah Snyder, Interphase Materials Collin Wolf, Cassian Solutions Jay Murray, Solinius Emily Siegel, Trek Gum Utkars Jain, Heart I/O

Swanson School of Engineering School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences School of Medicine Vascular Medicine Institute School of Nursing

School of Pharmacy Graduate School of Public Health School of Social Work

UNIVERSITY SPONSORS Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence Office of the Provost Alumni Relations Career Center

Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences School of Computing and Information School of Dental Medicine School of Education

EXTERNAL SPONSORS

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