InVenture Prize Competition 2019

Click on the picture above or the link below to find out more about the 2019 InVenture Prize competition! Relive all the exciting moments by watching the recorded broadcast. Click on each team name to learn more about the competitors and their inventions.

Flickr Album

Competition Photos

Competing Teams

Ethos Medical

1st Place

Cassidy Wang

Biomedical Engineering

Dublin, OH

Dev Mandavia

Biomedical Engineering

Duluth, GA

Lucas Muller

Mechanical Engineering

San Diego, CA

Ethos is making spinal taps quicker and safer by providing an intuitive real-time needle guidance system for use right at the patient’s bedside.

Winning the InVenture Prize would be a huge catalyst for progress! It would allow us to file a patent to protect our invention; it would fund the cadaveric and animal testing we need to do to prove the utility of our device; and it would open doors to clinical experts, business experts, and anyone else who can help us grow!

Finger Flyer

Austin Condict

Computer Science

Athens, GA

Jacob Parker

Mechanical Engineering

Windham, NH

Finger Flyer is a whole new way to interact with quadcopter drones, that circumvents a standard radio controller by literally putting the power of flight at your fingertips.

Winning InVenture Prize would be a dream come true for Finger Flyer. It would grant us the platform and financial support to help fufill our goal of introducing the next generation of youth to the power of drone technology in a fun and novel way.

HANDLD

Chris Truong

Computer Science

Newnan, GA

Erik Van Winkle

Mechanical Engineering

Dunwoody, GA

Colin Santoro

Mechanical Engineering

Suwanee, GA

Emilio Conde

Mechanical Engineering

Locust Grove, GA

Johnny Maroun

Computer Science

Marietta, GA

Michael Francesconi

Mechanical Engineering

Johns Creek, GA

HANDLD is a disruptive, first of its kind device that gives cyclists the power to identify, record and report violations of safe passing laws across the nation.

Winning the InVenture Prize would enable us to continue pursuing our passion and allow us to take the next steps towards saving lives through safer roads.

Nix

People's Choice

Cory Stine

Mechanical Engineering

Saint Louis, MO

Dustin Sloan

Mechanical Engineering

Millbrook, NY

Milan Smart

Mechanical Engineering

Orlando, FL

Mohammed Aamir

Mechanical Engineering

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Robert Patterson

Mechanical Engineering

Sandy Springs, GA

Thomas Olson

Computer Science

Ellicott City, MD

Vishwa Shah

Computer Science

Tampa, FL

The vape that automatically tapers nicotine.

Winning InVenture Prize would give us the resources we need to manufacture more prototypes and deploy them into the hands of real users. This would provide us the critical data we need to fine tune our product.

TremorTrainer

2nd Place

Colten Spivey

Material Science and Engineering

Franklin, TN

Nicolette Prevost

Biomedical Engineering

Alpharetta, GA

Nisha Goddard

Biomedical Engineering

Trabuco Canyon, CA

A therapeutic glove that implements counter-weight technology in order to enable those suffering from hand tremors to regain their ability to perform any everyday task.

Winning InVenture Prize will mean three big things for TremorTrainer: First, it would allow us to gain exposure, meaning people who could benefit from our life-changing device will hear about! Second, we would be able to file a design patent and upscale our sale of the device. Finally, it would give us the resources necessary to move our manufacturing in-house, in order to make our glove more readily available to patients at a cheaper cost.

Unfoldit

Ryan Miles

Computer Science

Dacula, Georgia

Cliff Panos

Computer Science

Winter Park, FL

Jacqueline Elliott

Computer Science

Brattleboro, VT

Max Brauer

Computer Science

Atlanta, GA

Hanwen Xu

Computer Science

Atlanta, GA

Unfoldit is a game of paper folding and hole punching designed to test and enhance spatial abilities.

Winning the InVenture Prize would give us the funding for the marketing, branding, and legal fees that we need to protect Unfoldit and advertise it to reach the top charts of the App Store and Google Play Store. This prize would give us the resources we need to stack up to the competition and empower Unfoldit to be a leader in the next generation of apps.

Judges

Behrooz Abdi

Behrooz is a high-tech industry entrepreneur, who has taken on numerous operational, executive, and board director roles, and has invested in several private and public companies. Several of these companies have been acquired, creating over six billion dollars of cumulative value. Since 2012, he has been CEO and President of InvenSense, Inc. (NYSE: INVN), a world leading provider of sensors for smart phones, drones, wearables, smart homes and automobiles. In December 2016, InvenSense agreed to be acquired by TDK Corporation for $1.3B, where Behrooz serves as the President of the MEMS Business Group, as well as CEO of the InvenSense subsidiary. Prior to InvenSense, Behrooz was Executive Vice President and General Manager at NetLogic Microsystems (NASDAQ: NETL), a leader in intelligent semiconductor solutions for the Internet, acquired by Broadcom in 2011. Before that, he was the President and CEO of RMI Corporation, which he merged with NetLogic in 2009. Before joining RMI, Behrooz served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of CDMA Technologies at Qualcomm, Inc., a provider of wireless technology and services. Prior to joining Qualcomm, he held several operational and engineering leadership positions at Motorola, Inc. As Vice President and General Manager for Motorola Semiconductor’s wireless mobile division, he contributed to building many wireless technologies, and participated in the early growth of consumer cell phones, earning him Motorola’s Distinguished Innovator Award. Behrooz holds a BSEE from Montana State University, and MSEE from Georgia Institute of Technology, and has over 20 patents in chip design, software, and sensors.

Blake Patton

Blake Patton is the founder and Managing General Partner of Tech Square Ventures where he leads investments in enterprise software, marketplace, and platform technology companies. Under his leadership, the firm has invested in 51 early-stage companies. He has represented Tech Square Ventures as a director or observer on the boards of Pointivo (Chairman), Cypress.io (Chairman), PreTel Health (Chairman), UserIQ, Haste, Sequr (acquired by Genea) and Salesfusion (acquired by SugarCRM). Blake is also the co-founder and Managing General Partner of Engage, a collaborative corporate venture and innovation program in partnership with 11 leading companies, Georgia Tech, Tech Square Ventures, and Invest Georgia. Prior to founding Tech Square Ventures, Blake was General Manager of the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) at Georgia Tech – named by Forbes as one of the “Top 12 Incubators Changing the World”. Prior to leading ATDC, he served as President & COO of Interactive Advisory Software and EVP of iXL, an internet services company that he joined through the acquisition of Swan Media and was part of the executive team that grew the company from startup to over $300 million in annualized revenue and an IPO. He started his career as an Associate at SEI Corporation. Blake is an active leader in the technology community, serving on the boards of Engage, the Center for American Entrepreneurship (former Chairman), Georgia Advanced Technology Ventures (GATV) and High Tech Ministries (Treasurer). He also serves on the advisory boards of ATDC and Georgia Tech’s Cowan-Turner Center for Servant Leadership and is a former Chairman of Venture Atlanta, a Georgia Research Alliance Industry Fellow and a member of the selection committee for the NC State Chancellor’s Innovation Fund. Blake is a part-time Professor of the Practice at Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business where he teaches Entrepreneurial Finance. Blake earned a Bachelor of Industrial and Systems Engineering degree from Georgia Tech, where he was captain of the swim team. He was inducted into the Georgia Tech College of Engineering’s Council of Outstanding Young Engineering Alumni, is a former Georgia Tech Alumni Association Trustee, and previously served on the Georgia Tech Advisory Board.

Erika Tyburski

Erika is the CEO and co-founder of Sanguina, a company that spun out of Georgia Tech and Emory University in 2014. Sanguina is focused on development and launch of home use wellness tools, including AnemoCheck, a color-based disposable screening tool for anemia, which won 2nd place in the Georgia Tech InVenture Prize competition in 2013. Since winning, Sanguina has raised over $1.5M in non-dilutive grant funding for continued development and commercialization of several technologies. In 2017, the company received FDA clearance on AnemoCheck for clinical use, and the company is currently pursuing over-the-counter clearance.Sanguina aims to market direct to consumer offering access to “your health at your fingertips”. Erika graduated from Georgia Tech with her degree in biomedical engineering in 2012. Since graduating, she has garnered both technical and entrepreneurial skills through hands on execution of all preclinical and clinical assessments, regulatory studies and strategies, quality management systems development, company operations, funding management, and team expansion. Erika holds one method patent for her AnemoCheck technology, and has several others pending. Erika also functions as the Director of Operations for the newly NIH-funded Atlanta Center for Microsystems-Engineered Point-of-Care Technologies (ACME-POCT). There she assists teams who have developed or are developing microsystems-based POC technologies to define their clinical needs, conduct clinical validation, and refine their technology with the objective of accelerating the path to translation and clinical adoption and directly addressing the barriers thereof.

Hosts

Ashley Mengwasser

Nine-time Emmy award-winning Host, Writer, and Executive Producer Ashley Mengwasser is in her tenth year co-hosting the annual InVenture Prize at Georgia Tech.

Ashley began her 15-year career in television hosting GPB’s popular series Georgia Traveler. Travel highlights include skydiving with grandma, boxing with an Olympian, ballroom dancing, and a ghoulish The Walking Dead zombie transformation.

This high-school Valedictorian is as brainy as she is brazen. Ashley is the creator of GPB’s “digital-first” series Tiny Mic, Big Designs, featuring young inventors competing in Georgia Tech’s K-12 InVenture Prize.

Much of Ashley’s media work is strikingly education focused. She serves as Host of GPB Education’s Emmy-winning Live Exploration programs and also hosts the Classroom Conversations podcast series for Georgia educators, now in its sixth season. The podcast has won a Communicator Award.

In the Atlanta community, Ashley emcees awards shows, non-profit galas, and bar and bat mitzvahs (as “Emcee A$H-Money”). Her work as an entertainer has helped raise more than $500,000 for organizations that benefit women and children. She will host Georgia’s 2025 Allie Awards this March.

Ashley graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude from Agnes Scott College in 2009 with a B.A. in English Literature. She spends non-work hours vacuuming and gallivanting with her two-year-old basset hound, Starla. Starla enjoys peanut butter and sticks…but this isn’t about her.

Faith Salie

Faith Salie is an Emmy-winning contributor to CBS Sunday Morning and a regular on NPR’s Wait Wait...Don’t Tell Me! She’s also host of the new podcast “Real Good.” She’ll debut Off-Broadway later this year in her solo show, Approval Junkie, based on her memoir of the same name. She's a storyteller for The Moth with her story viewed over 2 million times and included in the New York Times bestseller Occasional Magic. Faith’s hosted five seasons of the PBS show Science Goes to the Movies, but perhaps her biggest science cred was her role on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, which got her beamed up and landed her on a trading card worth hundreds of cents. Faith grew up in Atlanta and is a Rhodes scholar who graduated from Harvard, aka the GA Tech of the North. She lives in New York City, where she continues to say “y’all" and often bakes Coca-Cola cake.