On Tuesday, December 6, 2022, the 2022 DifferenceMaker Francis College of Engineering Prototyping Competition was held at University Crossing from 4:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. This event consisted of a preliminary round, fan favorite voting, and final round.
The fifteen teams competing during the preliminary demonstration round were:
- Catnap, team members Majd Elhachem, Michael Ciampo, Khadija El Hadad, Fritznere Brutus, and Matheus Fonseca
- FilaMil, team members John Monsen, Garett Mallinson, Lethycia Sanchez, Rayyan Kherati, Jared Saye, and Emily LaBelle
- Helping Hand, team members Chris Sabu, Justin Sousa, Sara Pourgol Mohamad, and Hermela Mekonen
- JAMM Labs, team members Jacob Stover, Madelin Salazar, Allison Kelly, and Matthew Ikini
- Oersted, team members Manuel Magayanes and Eduardo Magayanes
- PackStrap, team members William Donohue, Katie Mcdonagh, Meredith Citrone, and Mattias Kantor
- Physical Engineers, team members Kyle Callahan and Alexander Johnston
- Pregnancy Back Brace, team members Marcela Villalta, Maria Belhous, Trevor Powers, Raygan Matte, and Kyle Laguerre
- Project Poseidon, team members Abdullah Jasim, Dylan Cormier, Abdelsalam Abutabikh, Amr Elkordy, Jeswin Jees, Jessica Borst, Charles Kenny, and Mustafa Al Hado
- RehaBand, team members Alexa DeVito, Maria Ferreira, Helen Kham, Timothy Roach, and Ardon Zibel
- Sociable, team members Sydney Campano, Paulo Henrique Borges, Scott Harwood, Kileigh Crail, and Jerry Takang
- Solar Crowdfund, team members Tolotra Samuel Randriakotonj, Muhammad Khalil, and Borna Doroudi
- Solar Sails, team members Quin Liang and Aalap Patel
- The Spectacle, team members Aryan Patil, Nicholas Sparages, Navya Garg, and Isidor Jankovich
- Vital Sensing, team members Haris Kum, Thang Do, Wynn Wiggins, Dayang Wang, and Tran Thien Quy Nguyen.
The prototype demonstration and idea pitching round was held from 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. in the lobby of University Crossing. Each team had five minutes to present their product to a panel of preliminary judges, followed by a five-minute Q&A session. The preliminary judges were:
- Jim Biggins, ‘03, Francis College of Engineering, President and CEO at Access Vascular
- Bob Findlen, ‘81, Francis College of Engineering, Director of Sales and Marketing at PolySource
- Joe Hallisey, ‘01, Francis College of Engineering, Director of Engineering, Automation Solutions Group at Brooks Automation
- Beth Haskell, ‘84, Francis College of Engineering, Vice President of Business Development for Advanced Electronic Systems, Excelitas Technologies Corp
- Ken Horton, ‘79, Francis College of Engineering, Managing Director, C2C LLC
- Dave Janeczek, ’82, ’85, Francis College of Engineering, Former Manager Process Development Center of Raytheon Technologies Corporation
- Joe Lane, ‘87, ‘93, Francis College of Engineering, CEO of SafePath Medical
- Bill Perciballi, ’86, Francis College of Engineering, Founder and President, Force Engineering
- Leigh Sharrock, ’03, Francis College of Engineering, Director, Systems Engineering of Brooks Automation, Inc
During the prototype demonstration round, the judges scored each team based on the problem that was being solved, the opportunity that it holds, prototype quality, resources/implementation needed, presentation effectiveness, and overall project. After seeing each team’s pitch and demonstrations, the preliminary judges deliberated on which teams would move forward for the final round.
The teams that moved onto the final competition were:
- Catnap, team members Majd Elhachem, Michael Ciampo, Khadija El Hadad, Fritznere Brutus, and Matheus Fonseca
- FilaMill, team members John Monsen, Garett Mallinson, Lethycia Sanchez, Rayyan Kherati, Jared Saye, and Emily LaBelle
- PackStrap, team members team members William Donohue, Katie Mcdonagh, Meredith Citrone, and Mattias Kantor
- Physical Engineers, team members team members Kyle Callahan and Alexander Johnston
- RehaBand, team members Alexa DeVito, Maria Ferreira, Helen Kham, Timothy Roach, and Ardon Zibel
- Solar Sails, team members Quin Liang and Aalap Patel
Meanwhile, the prototype public viewing was held from 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. in the lobby of University Crossing. Event attendees which consisted of students, faculty, community friends, and family each had three votes to disperse to the teams they liked the best. The team that had the most DifferenceMaker Dollars would be awarded the $500 Fan Favorite Award.
The Final Round Competition was held in Moloney Hall from 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. It began with opening remarks by Dean Sherwood and Provost Hartman. Next, the five finalist teams pitched their ideas on stage and demonstrated their prototype to the panel of final judges.
The judges during the final round were:
- Chad LaFrance, ’88, Francis College of Engineering, Director of Texas Instruments
- Mike Rider, ’87, Francis College of Engineering, Vice President of Engineering & Operations, Coravin, LLC
- Mark Saab, ’81, ’13 (H), Francis College of Engineering, Founding Trustee, Saab Family Foundation
- Greg Sydney, ’81, Sr. Managing Director, Tri Capital & Companies
After all the presentations the final judges deliberated and selected the winners for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prizes. Additionally, the Fan Favorite votes were counted and the winner of the Fan Favorite award was announced.
The final awards were:
- 1st Place, $2,500, as well as automatically advancing to the Rist DifferenceMaker $50,000 Idea Challenge Preliminary Pitch-off in April 2023, Catnap – Majd Elhachem, Michael Ciampo, Khadija El Hadad, Fritznere Brutus, and Matheus Fonseca
- 2nd Place, $1,500, Solar Sails – Quin Liang and Aalap Patel
- 3rd place, $1,000, – RehaBand – Alexa DeVito, Maria Ferreira, Helen Kham, Timothy Roach, and Ardon Zibel
- Fan Favorite, $500 – Project Poseidon – Abdullah Jasim, Dylan Cormier, Abdelsalam Abutabikh, Amr Elkordy, Jeswin Jees, Jessica Borst, Charles Kenny, and Mustafa Al Hado
Thank you to everyone who attended and supported this event!
Interested in pitching an idea and getting funding? Applications for the 11th Annual $50,000 Idea Challenge are open now – apply today!
