SipSafe+ Wins Syracuse University’s 2026 ACC InVenture Prize Competition Qualifier
Lindy Truitt ’25 (College of Visual and Performing Arts) and Anjaneya Sanjay Padwal G’25 (School of Information Studies), founders of SipSafe+, were the first-place winners of Syracuse University Libraries’ LaunchPad Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) InVenture prize competition campus qualifier. The campus qualifier was held on Monday, February 9, 2026. SipSafe+ uses a ring or stir stick that glows when drinks have been spiked with drugs.
Truitt and Padwal will represent Syracuse University in the national competition at the ACC InVenture Prize finals at the University of Notre Dame on March 27, 2026. People’s Choice voting will take place around the competition date, and the Syracuse University community is asked to support the Syracuse team when voting opens.
Dylan Bardsley ’26 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management) and Mark Leaf ’27 (College of Engineering and Computer Science), founders of Clarity, are the runners-up. Clarity is an AI-powered credit card discovery tool that gives students personalized, unbiased recommendations to avoid debt and build credit. Bardsley and Leaf will serve as back up in the event founders of SipSafe+ cannot participate.
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 globe will serve as judges to select the “top inventor” to represent Syracuse University at the ACC Conference finals.
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. The Syracuse University ACC InVenture Prize is supported by the Provost’s Office and is hosted by Syracuse University Libraries and the LaunchPad.