On Wednesday, April 6, DifferenceMaker held its 10th Annual 2022 Preliminary Pitch-Off at O’Leary Library on South Campus. This year, 24 student teams got the opportunity to pitch their creative, innovative ideas to a panel of guest judges. Overall, 18 judges were a part of this event. At the end of the event, ten finalist student teams were announced and will be competing on April 13 at the 10th Annual DifferenceMaker Idea Challenge for a chance to win a portion of $50,000.
Congratulations to the ten finalist teams!
Amara
Team members: Brandon Conceicao, Vision & Design; Adam Iskandar, Biology & Business
Project Description: A social media platform with transparency and better algorithm.
Hoppers
Team members: Alyssa Kennedy, Biology; Abigail White, Biology
Project Description: A board game that supports the arts and fosters education, communication skills, and creativity for younger children.
Minds With Purpose
Team members: Sammy Santana, Liberal Arts; Jeurys Santiago, Business
Project Description: A networking platform with the aim of bringing together people of different professions, areas, and styles.
PEAK Performance
Team members: Evelyn Duffy, Biomedical Engineering and Business; Mark Elman, Biomedical Engineering; Steven Evangelos, Biomedical Engineering; Matthew Martel, Exercise Science
Project Description: A device [the PEAK Performance System] that assesses and corrects rotational misalignments between the pelvis and thoracic spine.
StockToMe
Team members: Matthew Allen, Business; Matthew Kinash, Business; Jackson Sterrett, Business
Project Description: A stock opinion community where anybody can post an opinion about a stock.
Tendren
Team members: Ethan Block, Biomedical Engineering; Amie Russell, Biomedical Engineering; Victoria Williams, Biomedical Engineering
Project Description: A wireless pulse oximeter combined with an ECG and blood pressure that tracks a patient’s vitals while in the waiting room
ThermoEXA
Team members: Ariel Pena-Martinez, Computer Engineering; Grissel Cervantes-Jaramillo
Project Description: Intelligent and personalized indoor temperature control through unique biometrics recognition.
UMass Lowell Japanese Student Association
Team member: Mina Lam, Business
Project Description: An organization dedicated to promoting greater awareness of Japanese culture through general meetings, social media, and collaborations with UML clubs.
USuccess
Team members: Kaitlyn Catron, Business; Kyle Knapp, Business; Anna Kouadio, Business; Mikaela Murphy, Business; Nyna Pendkar, Business
Project Description: A program to help individuals’ financial situations through education.
Vital Sensing Patch
Team members: Thang Do, Biomedical Engineering; Haris Kum, Biomedical Engineering; Wynn Wiggins, Entrepreneurship
Project Description: All-in-one vital monitoring device, that will be affordable to consumers and can be used anywhere.
DifferenceMaker would like to extend a special thanks to the guest judges:
Janet Benvenuti ‘77 ‘82, Kennedy College of Sciences. President and CEO, Circle of Life Partners
Martha Coxe ‘99, Francis College of Engineering. Client Executive, State Street Global Advisors
Mark Dyment ’86, Francis College of Engineering. CEO, YMC Process Technologies, Inc.
Steven Geyster ‘83, Francis College of Engineering. Medical Device Consultant
John Grayson ‘87, Francis College of Engineering. Serial Entrepreneur and Advisor
Michele Holland ‘87, Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences. Co-founder, Performance Rehab, Inc.
Belinda Juran. Ali Fellow, Harvard University Advanced Leadership Institute
Brenda Maille ‘78 ‘78, Kennedy College of Sciences and College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Principal/Attorney, Law Offices of Brenda Maille
Glenn Morgan ‘86, College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer, FUSEIDEAS
John Norden ‘80, College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Vice President, Pricing, General Dynamics Information Technology
Patty Payette ‘78. School of Education, Vice President, Human Resources (Retired), Curriculum Associates, LLC
Doug Reader ‘83, Manning School of Business. Chief Executive Officer, Arizona Nutritional Supplements
Michael Rider ‘87, Francis College of Engineering. Vice President, Engineering and Operations, Coravin, LLC
Marcus Sebastiano ‘03, College of Fine Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. Founder, The Blochaus Gallery
Raymond Southworth ‘81, College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Chief Operating Officer, Netria Corporation
Andrew Sutherland ‘94, Manning School of Business. Co-Founder, Applied BioMath
Anne Veilleux Williams ‘85, Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences. Product Manager, Product Owner, Business Analyst, OneSky Flight, LLC
Bill Yelle ‘85, Kennedy College of Sciences. Executive in Residence, MGH-Brigham Ventures
Lastly, we would like to thank Chancellor Moloney for kicking-off the event and Joe Hartman, Provost & Vice Chancellor for Academic & Student Affairs, for announcing the ten winners.
Don’t forget to stop by the 2022 $50k Idea Challenge on April 13th from 5:00 to 8:30 p.m. in University Crossing, Moloney Hall, Room 260 to see the finalist student teams pitch their ideas!
Register for the Idea Challenge here.
