Engineering teams succeed at Tufts $100k New Ventures Competition

The Tufts Entrepreneurship Center and Tufts Gordon Institute brought alumni, students, faculty, and community members together for the annual $100k New Ventures Competition. This year, School of Engineering students and alumni and computer science majors were members of a number of winning teams in two competition tracks: General Business and Technology, and Medical Devices and Life Science.

In the General Business and Technology category, Kandula Hard Kombucha tied for a first-place win. The team, comprised of Tufts Gordon Institute M.S. in Innovation and Management (MSIM) students, crafted a low-calorie, organic alcoholic kombucha tea. Team members were Divya Joseph, Alfred Naayem, Julia Novakoff, and Bota Sakhiyeva, all EG19.

The Kandula Hard Kombucha team's co-winner was Dyne, a platform that digitizes order and payment processes for restaurant customers. The platform is intended to turn over tables faster, provide convenience for customers, and result in larger check sizes, benefiting both restaurants and customers. Team members include computer science majors Shehryar Malik and Daniel Westrich, both A19, working with international relations major Gregory Kulchyckyj, also A19.

In the Medical Devices and Life Science category, the Sterilyse team won first place with its injectable alternative to traditional methods for spaying and neutering pets. Team members were Bioengineering (the Biomechanical Systems and Devices track, housed in the Department of Mechanical Engineering) and MSIM dual-degree student Anastasia Budinskaya, EG19, and MSIM student Chad Goldberg, A18 and EG19.

The Hero Patch team received the Stephen and Geraldine Ricci Interdisciplinary Prize, awarded to student teams that best demonstrate interdisciplinary design and entrepreneurial spirit. The Hero Patch is an intradermal drug delivery vehicle based on microneedle technology. The team won second place in the Medical Devices and Life Science category. Team members were MSIM students Lulu Li, Jake Lombardo, Robert Treiber III (who also received his B.S. in electrical engineering from Tufts in 2018), and Konstantinos Tzortzakis, all EG19.