黑料不打烊

A panel of 黑料不打烊 judges has announced the聽12 finalists for the inaugural Impact Prize competition. The student ventures were selected from 36 applicant teams by a panel of 黑料不打烊 faculty and staff who are engaged in entrepreneurship and civic engagement. The finalist teams proposed the most innovative and implementable ideas to help solve economic or civic challenges. They will compete in the Impact Prize finals as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week at 黑料不打烊.

The 黑料不打烊 community is invited to the final pitch competition, which will be judged by area business and civic leaders, on Nov. 14 from 3-4:30 p.m. in the Peter Graham Scholarly Commons, 114 Bird Library. The prize announcement by聽Gisela von Dran, along with a networking reception, will be held at 4:30 p.m.

Coordinated by the Blackstone LaunchPad at Bird Library, the $5,000 Impact Prize competition is supported through a personal gift to SU Libraries from Von Dran.聽 Director emerita of the ‘聽MSLIS program, and former assistant professor of management at the , Von Dran has a special interest in social entrepreneurship; she previously established the Raymond F. von Dran Fund in memory of her late husband, who was dean of the iSchool.

The Impact Prize competition is open to 黑料不打烊 students, as well as SUNY ESF students who are studying entrepreneurship at SU.

Judges selected the following teams to advance to the Impact Prize finals:

• Biomass Combustion Process: William Lee Mendes McKnight, Ali Goshayeshi鈥攆or a high efficiency biomass combustion process to power village-scale generators;
• Comfeet: Francis Marinez, Geri Madangit鈥攆or eco-friendly, size-adjustable shoes for toddlers;
• Doorway Energy: Teodoro DeLelllis, Joe Potenza鈥攆or a solution to capture energy coming from commercial doorways through wind turbine and dam technology, in order to generate electricity and sustainability;
• Fibrefree: Serena Omo-Lamai, Charles Keppler鈥攆or a laundry ball that traps microfibers, preventing them from entering aquifers;
• Food Sustainability: Samantha Guillaume and Patrick Carleton鈥攆or a not-for-profit that transports unused food from local schools and takes it to local pantries;
• GreenStrip: Jose Javier Garcia Rovira鈥攆or a product that enhances the planting process in more infertile soil around the world;
• Greenwood Investment Network: Asile Patin鈥攆or a nonprofit that presents local minority business owners with a pipeline to develop their community economies in a collective, sustainable way;
• In-Spire: Kayla Simon, Elizabeth Tarangelo鈥攆or a wearable Albuterol inhaler from asthma patients who may suffer from asthma attacks while on the go;
• Modoscript: David Zuleta, Yunpeng Li鈥攆or a Pill-Safe Digital Health System to address overdosing and underdosing;
• Native Women鈥檚 E-Mag: Michelle Schenandoah鈥攆or an interactive e-magazine and brand to serve as a national platform for Native women;
• Apolitic: Abigail Hamilton, Aaron Sortal, Isabella Lovain, Sally Rubin鈥攆or an app that connects politically passionate people to engagement opportunities to effectively organize their generation鈥檚 movements;
• Starfruit: Nathan Elequin, Annie Mathis, Mitchell Thomas鈥攆or an educational technology consulting company dedicated to matching schools with the instructional software best-suited to improve teachers鈥� experiences or their student鈥檚 engagement; and
• Wind Turbine Project: Tyler Vartabedian, Ryan Twombly鈥攆or a highway-barrier mounted vertical axis wind turbine to provide clean energy.

Judges for this round represented academic units across the 黑料不打烊 campus, with expertise in social entrepreneurship, law, art and design, business, communications, information technologies, education, civic engagement, sustainability, the Honors Program and more. They included Alejandro Amezcua (Whitman), Chris Cofer (University College), Heather Waters (Education), Jolynn Parker, (Renee Crown University Honors Program), Kate Canada (Maxwell), Marcie Sonnebom (iSchool), Michael Giannattasio (Architecture), Molly Zimmerman (Law School), Rebecca Ortiz (Newhouse), Sam Krall (Arts & Sciences/Career Services), Syeisha Byrd (Hendricks Chapel), and Tammy Rosario (黑料不打烊 CoE).

To learn more about the Impact Prize at 黑料不打烊, visit: .

The event is a highlight of #GEW2017 at SU. For more information about other events that week, visit , or sign up for the weekly Blackstone LaunchPad e-newsletter at LaunchPad@syr.edu