2021 Syracuse Impact Prize winners
This year’s $20,000 Impact Prize Competition showcased 35 student teams pitching ideas with the potential to change the world. Sponsored by Syracuse University’s Blackstone LaunchPad, the event featured student ventures from across campus working on products, services or technologies that are innovative and sustainable solutions to societal problems. This year’s competition also included teams in the Intelligence ++ program presenting ideas from an inclusive entrepreneurship program jointly offered by VPA, InclusiveU and the LaunchPad.
The Impact Prize is sponsored by donors to SU Libraries and is part of Syracuse’s celebration of Global Entrepreneurship Week. Prizes were donated by Carl and Marcy Armani in honor of Dr. Gay Culverhouse and from retired Syracuse University professor Dr. Gisela vonDran.
Winners included:
- $8,000 grand prize to Justin Monaco and the Glisten team
- Three honorable mentions of $4,000 each to Ben Ford and the Fundwurx team, Kelly Davis and the Wo-Manly team, and Season Chowdhury and the Athletify team
Kelly Davis and Ben Ford
Competing in this year’s Impact Prize were;
- Alexander Rolinski, Martin J. Whitman School of Management, for Sice-Me, a mobile application which creates insular marketplaces for college and high school students
- Anthony Mazzacane, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Paul Franco, College of Arts and Sciences and Zach Stahl, College of Engineering and Computer Science, for HydroHealth, a wearable device capable of determining hydration status in real time and proactively alerting users when they are at risk
- Ben Ford, Martin J. Whitman School of Management, for Fundwurx, a platform to give, using machine learning technologies and big data to better connect donors to non-profits and impact driven initiatives that best align with their social passion, skills, and interests
- Brandon Henry, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, for Light Group, a collective agency of college students designed to catalyze financial literacy and empowerment
- Brian Burton, College of Arts and Sciences, for Astra Info, a Google Chrome Extension that analyzes users shopping page to provide researched information about companies and their products without bias so consumers can make conscious and sustainable decisions
- Calvin S Atieku, College of Engineering and Computer Science for AMPT-Sphere, an innovative apartment rental company helping solve mismanagement challenges in low-income communities by designing and building an online software that brings all the accounting, utilities, and other information on one unified platform
- Claire Chevalier, Martin J. Whitman School of Management, for Can Make Compost (CMC), a private, membership-based for-profit organization that certifies sustainably made, biodegradable packaging
- David Williams, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, for e-Kits, an education technology consultancy that develops interactive learning tools for K-12 students
- Diego Luna, College of Arts and Sciences, for LunaX, a service that benefits small businesses with affordable data analytics
- Elizabeth Goldblatt, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications for Drake Riley, a premium clothing line for people with disabilities
- Gabriela Angel and Simran Lakhani, College of Engineering and Computer Science, for Sense A, an ensemble of technology that caters for the needs of caregivers for those who have Alzheimer’s by incorporating a sensor pad technology linked to an alert system
- Hunter Franklin, College of Arts and Sciences, for Peoples Policy, a platform that aims to provide crowdsourced public policy by offering consumers a platform to share their ideas with experts who will then craft their ideas into legislation
- Jared Anderson, College of Engineering and Computer Science for Civilian Medical Response, a nonprofit organization with a mission to empower the common person to recognize and react to medical emergencies through training and education
- Justin Gluska, College of Engineering and Computer Science, for Bus Point, 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, as well as provide teachers and administrators with real time data
- Justin Monaco, College of Arts and Sciences, for Glisten, an at home oral health monitoring and diagnostic device integrated with teledentistry
- Kelly Davis, Martin J. Whitman School of Management and Claire Howard, College of Arts and Sciences, for Wo-manly, an online platform of communities for women and allies to feel empowered, empower others and make lifelong friendships
- Matthew Castagnozzi, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, for Psych-Tek aims to benefit both researchers studying in the field of psychedelic medicine, and individuals dealing with mental health disorders by connecting them with one another
- Maya Tsimmer, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, for Bethel Sweet Honey which is re-inventing the way people look at honey and bringing a healthier sugar to the market
- Mohammed Ali, School of Information Studies, for Urban Coders, for a venture that bridges the coding gap by bringing coding to the inner city
- Nolan Kagan, Martin J. Whitman School of Management, for Gather, a platform to bring people together over food
- Ruby Bender, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, for Impact My Community, a policy proposal to develop an advisory board that oversees public set-asides of large real estate development projects required by law in Conshohocken, PA.
- Sajjad Albadri / Sajjad Alhashami, College of Engineering and Computer Science, for QPuff, a device and an app that monitors the users puff count and session time to help people quit smoking or vaping
- Season Chowdhury College of Engineering and Computer Science and Raul Chakraborty, School of Information Studies, for Athletify, the network to discover athletes
- Selim Dangoor, Martin J. Whitman School of Management, for MUNCH Jerky, a high-protein, gluten-free, artisanal flank steak jerky using all natural ingredients to help replace sugary snacks
- Xinyao Zhao, College of Engineering and Computer Science, for Lateral Assist, a medical device for morbidly obese patients
- Xuhong Fang, Martin J. Whitman School of Management, for Learn Z, an online tutor matching platform to help people who have the skillets to teach or passion to learn to find each other
- Zhaoxiong Cao, for CKit, a college based online platform that helps students to share and get access to information regarding academic resources, college student social platform, community works, local store reviews, and local secondhand trading
Intelligence ++ teams included multidisciplinary students who are designing innovations to support persons with intellectual disabilities. The three top teams—Natural Gait, Bole and Rethinking Travel — were each awarded a $500 prize to help them advance their prototypes.
Intelligence ++ teams in the LaunchPad with VPA School of Design Professor Don Carr
Teams competing in the Intelligence ++ division included:
- Bearret Tarris and Zachary Geffert, College of Engineering and Computer Science, for Natural Gait
- Boyu Shan and Zhengxiang Huang, College of Visual and Performing Arts, for Bole
- Emme Perkin and Yaoxu Zong, College of Visual and Performing Arts, for Rethinking Travel
- Franky (Yizhou) Zhang and Eric Hong, College of Visual and Performing Arts, for Scout
- Jesse Mitchell and Riley Blumenthal, College of Visual and Performing Arts, for Inclusive Environments and Strategies
- Megan Perlman, College of Engineering and Computer Science and Rabia Razzaq, College of Visual and Performing Arts, for Snake Scarf
- Xinyi Wang, College of Visual and Performing Arts and Shawn Cotter, Inclusive U, for Food AI
Judges included:
- Barbara Jones
- Brady Cass
- Emma Rothman
- Geena Matuson
- Hassan Stephans
- Kennedy Patlan
- Marcus Webb
- Maria Ucchino
- Michael Steinmetz
- Pat Macdonald
- Syeisha Byrd
Providing project leadership to the Impact Prize was Jack Ramza, Whitman School of Management, who is the Hunter Brooks Watson 2021 – 2022 Scholar at the Syracuse University Blackstone LaunchPad.