Innovative Students, Alumni Receive Recognition for Big Ideas

University of Texas at Dallas students and alumni pitched their ideas spanning biotechnology, artificial intelligence, sustainability and digital community-building April 16 at the 2025 Big Idea Competition finals hosted by the Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (IIE).

Started in 2007 in the Naveen Jindal School of Management, the competition awarded more than $62,000 this year and had a record-setting number of applications — more than 125.

Chemistry doctoral students and twin sisters Ikeda and Orikeda Trashi earned first place and a $12,000 prize in the student competition for Biodelivera, a platform designed to deliver cancer therapy directly to tumors using viruslike particles.

“For the first time, we are showing a delivery system that can precisely only target the cancer cells, has a deep infiltration to tumor tissues and is cheap to manufacture,” said Ikeda Trashi during their pitch. “This is a game changer for cancer therapy.”

Ruchika Arora Nagrath MBA’17, one of the competition’s judges and owner of RequisSalons, said, “If there is a solution out there, which [they] have probably cracked, and if it gets implemented, I can only imagine the smiles it’ll bring to the families, to the patients and make this — the most difficult phase of your life — a little more tolerable.”

Zephyr Technologies Inc., created by computer science senior Prakul Singh, placed second and won the Audience Choice Award.

“Zephyr watches the video of a game and automatically generates any statistic that the coach wants,” he said. “Our goal is to become the best analytics platform for every team on the planet.”

Gather Connect, developed by computer science senior Aryan Nambiar, software engineering junior Solomon Gheevarghese and computer science junior Barakah Oyugi, earned third place and the Best Presentation Award.

“According to a study, over 77% of students say they long for more genuine face-to-face connection, proving that in the screen-filled world, genuine connection has never mattered more,” Nambiar said. “That’s why we built Gather, a single platform that connects college students to the events that they actually want to go to. No more fragmented group chats, Instagram stories or word-of-mouth to find out what there is to do. Gather gets students off their phones into real-life experiences. No more endless scrolling, just real events, real people and real memories.”

Jared Heymann, an Executive MBA student and founder of Ouroloop, was awarded fourth place and Best Use of Technology. Quantum information senior Christopher Ezernack, founder of Neural Entropy Diagnostics, earned the Early Research Award. Christopher Anthony, an MBA and innovation and entrepreneurship graduate student, received the Best Social Impact Award for nonprofit work aiding veterans.

In the alumni track, Brice Sokolowski BS’04, founder of Vaucluse Backpack Ventilation Gear, won the top prize for developing an ergonomic backpack insert that helps reduce sweating.

“After trying to find a good backpack, I decided to patent an attachable backpack ventilation frame that you can simply put on your favorite backpack to increase airflow, which allows you to remove and evaporate all of that sweat so you’re much more comfortable,” he said during his pitch.

Competition judge Jeff Williams BS’87, partner at Interlock Partners, explained why Vaucluse Backpack stood out from the rest in the alumni track.

“He’s built the product,” he said. “He’s in-market. He seems to have a very reasonable business strategy. It’s defensible. He’s got a patent … and so we like it. We like the opportunity for growth … the different models down the road and the different sizes that can be made for the different brands of the backpacks. … It’s a pretty exciting idea.”

Amrit Rathie BS’24, who presented POWERPercept, which provides smart insoles for diabetic care and athletic performance, placed second.

Dr. Hasan Pirkul, Caruth Chair and Jindal School dean, spoke about UTD’s innovation journey at the event.

“Entrepreneurship is such an important part of our modern university ecosystem. … Universities have always created ideas,” he said. “They created companies; they created businesses always. And in the last 20 to 30 years, we have formalized it.”

Carol Marcus-Rehtmeyer, executive director of the IIE and associate professor of instruction in organizations, strategy and international management, thanked the competitors and judges for participating.

“It is with our heartfelt gratitude that you are here, that all the participants who worked really hard — we have been working with them very closely and mentoring them as well — are here to participate,” she said. “I also thank our very esteemed judges, our executives who could be anywhere, and they’re willing to be participants and help us.”

In addition to Arora Nagrath and Williams, the other judges were Mike Covert, CEO and founder of Ignite Partnership; Paul Johnson, CEO of HEXA Innovation; and Doug Moore, founding partner and CEO Americas for Turbostart.