AI Innovation Challenge Provides Developing and Pitching Experience
This year’s challenge drew 83 entries from students across the college’s disciplines. The diversity reflected AI’s expanding relevance; environmental science majors, business students, biology researchers and computer science innovators all stepped forward with bold ideas. Increasingly, the future of entrepreneurship belongs to interdisciplinary founders who combine domain expertise with AI capabilities to unlock new value. The competition was designed not simply as a pitch event, but as an experiential learning journey. Students were encouraged to integrate AI throughout their process — identifying problems, analyzing data, refining business models and strengthening their presentations.
The road to the finals included competitive pitch-off rounds. These sessions created structured feedback loops that simulated the iterative nature of real-world venture development. Founders who can prototype quickly, test intelligently and refine continuously will define the next generation of startups. Ultimately, seven finalists earned the opportunity to present before the Center for Entrepreneurship Advisory Board. Each team delivered a focused, four-minute pitch followed by rigorous questions from experienced entrepreneurial leaders who evaluated ventures for innovation, feasibility and impact.
Competition Winners Use AI To Solve Problems
The solutions showcased at the final event reflected not only impressive creativity but also a strong commitment to addressing meaningful societal challenges. The first place award of $5,000 went to Project HAB, developed by Sophia Mucci, Nikolai Sarlo and Kami Beats. Their platform uses machine learning to analyze satellite imagery and environmental data to predict the occurrence of harmful algal blooms.
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By enhancing publicly available data sets with AI models, the team aims to provide real-time water quality monitoring without the high costs of constant physical testing. As climate volatility increases, predictive AI systems such as Project HAB may become essential infrastructure, helping communities and public health officials anticipate risks rather than simply react to crises.
Second place and a $2,500 award went to Alexander Leporati for Classmate, an AI-powered academic organization platform. Built around the lived experience of college students, Classmate consolidates coursework, deadlines and materials into a single streamlined interface.
By automatically extracting key dates and generating personalized study plans, the platform seeks to reduce stress and improve academic performance. Tools such as Classmate point toward a future in which intelligent systems function as adaptive partners, augmenting human capability while freeing individuals to focus on higher-level thinking.
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Third place, earning $1,500, was awarded to NEXO, created by Brooke Madison Clapprood, Raquel Cross and Grace Moffat. NEXO is a portable, AI-enabled chemical scanning device that pairs with a smartphone to detect harmful substances in drinks or powders. Beyond its social impact, NEXO reflects a broader entrepreneurial trend: the convergence of AI with hardware and smart sensors to deliver immediate, actionable insights.
In addition, the audience selected a People’s Choice winner. NOLO, developed by Sarah Huys, Kate Seltzer and Holly Worth, earned $1,000 for its AI-integrated wellness mocktail brand. The team demonstrated how AI-informed flavor development, branding, demand forecasting and logistics optimization can enhance even consumer lifestyle ventures.
The AI Innovation Challenge reinforced the college’s commitment to forward-looking entrepreneurship education. Tomorrow’s founders will need not only technical fluency but also judgment — understanding bias, privacy, governance and societal implications of AI use. Human creativity, empathy and leadership will remain central, but they will increasingly reward AI fluency as a core competency.
