The NYU Entrepreneurial Institute and the Design Lab @ NYU Tandon MakerSpace are pleased to announce the Fall 2018 Prototyping Fund cohort!
Since 2013, the NYU Prototyping Fund has awarded teams of students up to $500 to build prototypes, test and explore assumptions, and bring their ideas to life. Prototypes do not need to look perfect or even be built to scale, but they should help to translate the entrepreneur’s vision into something that can be used to collect feedback from users. Recent alumni of the program include startups like Food Period, We are the New Farmers, Physiclo, and Resprana who have gone on to win student competitions (including the $300K Entrepreneurs Challenge), participate in the NYU Summer Launchpad accelerator, and raise venture capital.
The application committee was impressed by the overall caliber and volume of applications. We received over 40 applications from 11 different NYU schools, with 45% representing cross-school collaborations. We also saw an increase in participation from undergraduate students.
Many ideas focused on social issues such as accessibility, education, health, and sustainability: a trend we’ve continued to observe over recent years. This semester, we selected 15 teams representing 8 NYU schools, and awarded over $4,000 in grant funding! The selected teams are addressing unique challenges ranging from at-home UTI diagnostics to mobile classrooms. We can’t wait to see what the teams create.
Learn more about the teams below and save the date for the final showcase at the Tandon MakerSpace on Thursday 12/6 at 11 am.
Meet the teams!
A Visual Doorbell: Visual Doorbell is a connected home device that is designed for individuals who is deaf and hard of hearing. Think doorbell, but instead of sound, it sends light signals around the house to alert the homeowner. Steven Medina, Tandon MS ‘20; Krizia Fernando, Tisch ITP ‘19; Arwa Alrajeh and Steinhardt MA ‘19
Auto-ADAPTER: An automated cell culture system that provides biomedical researchers with programmable control and real-time monitoring of environmental growth conditions for mimicking human physiology and disease. Renee-Tyler Morales, Tandon BS ‘18; Kevin Guan, Tandon BS ‘20 and Eunha (Grace) Park, Tandon BS/MS ‘19
Beespect: Sensor-enabled beehive lid for commercial beekeepers that aims to reduce colony losses over the winter season by reporting hive microenvironment data. Octavia Larentis, Tandon MS ‘19 and Monica Mendoza, Tandon MS ‘19
Sharifa’s Work Station: Custom workstation table for a wheelchair user. Simon Marqvard Jensen, Tisch ITP MSC ‘19; Lauren Race, Tisch ITP BFA ‘19 and Tsai-Pei Shen, Steinhardt BS ‘19
Digistrips: Easy and accurate - UTI diagnosis at home coupled with digitized result interpretation and e-prescription. Deniz Vurmaz, CAS MS ‘20 and Sofia Bakogianni, School of Medicine MS ‘20;
EBA: A lightweight, 3D printed apparatus that will facilitate the connection between the earpiece of a headphone and the receiver of a hearing aid. Selamawit Moges, CAS BA ‘20 and Elijah Persad-Paisley, CAS BA ‘19
Jugaad DIY Tech For All: An interactive, educational book (DIY kit) that teaches children how to be resourceful by using their creativity to build their own technology from trash, recyclables, or easy-to-find household materials. Arnav Wagh, Tisch ITP MPS ‘19 and Stella Elisa Tan Tisch ITP Camp Program
Littel FX: Warble and garble audio in order to create a different and unique sound that may not resemble the original at all. Carter Littel, Steinhardt BA ‘19
Live Scavenger Hunt in NYC: Mobile supported themed outdoor live game that uncovers all the tales New York has to offer. Tunan Guo, Steinhardt MA ‘19; Austin Engel, Steinhardt MA ‘19; Nicole Na, Steinhardt MA ‘19; Chian Huang, Tisch MA ‘19; Inavamsi Bhaskar, Tandon
Mindgame: AI-based Mindfulness: Mediating people’s eeg alpha band power through reinforcement learning. Tongda Xu, Tandon MS ‘20 and Shuyi Chang, Tisch MFA ‘20
Pivot: Locating lost and found items via interactive tags. Emily Long, SPS BS ‘20
Project CUBE: A modular, mobile classroom that can be compacted into a 1m X 1m x 1m cube that can be easily transported anywhere and everywhere. Klo'e Ng, Tandon CUSP MS ‘19 and Yu Qian Ang
SeaStraws: A 3D printed straw made of only compostable raw materials aiming to accelerate the movement against plastic pollution in our oceans. Nisarg Patel, Stern BS ‘19; Antonio DiMeglio, Stern BS ‘20; Sophie Kennedy, CAS BA ‘19; Echo Chen, Gallatin BA ‘21 and Nicholas Ceccoli, Stern BS ‘20
Sonic Playground: An interactive sonic playground that allows seeing and non-seeing individuals to create - and optionally to collaborate with others on creating - sonic compositions in real time by setting kinetic sculptures into motion either by touching or wearing the sonic objects on their bodies. Katya Rozanova, CAS, MPS ‘19
Team Simple Library: A tablet-based kiosk (inspired by LinkNYC, but smaller) that helps people with disabilities to navigate libraries and their resources. Timur Mukhtarov, Tandon CSUP MS ‘19; Marium Sultan, Tandon CUSP MS ‘19 and Arystan Tatishev, Tandon CUSP BS ‘20
