Pitch Dingman, student entrepreneur, Terp Startup

An Interview with Pitch Dingman Competition Finalist: BraceLint

In anticipation of the final round of the 2020 Pitch Dingman Competition, the Dingman Center is interviewing each of the five startup finalists about their progress and upcoming challenges as they prepare to compete for the $15,000 Grand Prize on March 10th in the Grand Ballroom of Stamp Student Union. Learn more and register to attend the competition here.

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BraceLint

Daniel Raithel ’20, Economics

DC: Tell us about your startup.

BraceLint is a consumer convenience product based around the simple idea of a lint roller. During the year there are many occasions where we have to look or dress our best and present ourselves with confidence. Whether it be an interview, meeting, or a date, feeling good about your appearance is one of the best ways to get over those sometimes uncomfortable hurdles. After leaving the house you can fix your hair or makeup, but your clothes are kind of stuck the way they are. Lint rollers are bulky, often covered in hair, and are not designed to be brought out of the house. This is where the BraceLint comes in! BraceLint is an easy single-use version of a lint roller that fits flat into your pocket or bag until being propped open and used to fix your clothes in a “pinch” and get your mojo back.

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Feb 18 2020

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Community, Events, Startup Success, student entrepreneur

Meet the Speakers: Being Black in Entrepreneurship Fireside Chat

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by: Hannah Shraim ’20 (Ladies First Founder and Dingman Center Marketing Intern)

Passion, tenacity, and courage — all three qualities are essential to being an entrepreneur. With that being said, those brave enough to take on the Herculean task must navigate through numerous obstacles. In a system that disproportionately excludes people of color from entrepreneurial spaces, and with the amount of struggle that entrepreneurs face by nature, it is paramount to uplift the voices of black entrepreneurs.

The Being Black in Entrepreneurship Fireside Chat on Feb. 26 from 6-8 p.m. in 2333 Van Munching Hall is supported by Maryland Smith’s Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, the Office of Diversity of Inclusion, the Office of Undergraduate Studies and the Student Success Leadership Council. The event that will bring together black entrepreneurs for evening of discussion and breakout sessions. If you’re thinking of starting a business, this session will provide you with a toolkit that you can use to understand what it really means to be an entrepreneur. Register today!

There are some incredible speakers lined up for the evening — let’s take a quick look into their experiences:

MikeEchols

Michael Echols ’87 – Founder and CEO of MAX Cybersecurity

Michael A. Echols (Mike) is a graduate of the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative – Harvard Kennedy School of Public Health and the Federal Executive Institute. He holds a Master of Business Administration, a Master of Science in Biotechnology, a Graduate Certificate in Technology Management, and a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice; all from the University of Maryland. Mike is the CEO of Max Cybersecurity LLC. He launched the company after 7 years at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In 2015, Mr. Echols became the White House point person for the rollout of Presidential Executive Order 13691 – Promoting Private Sector Cyber Information Sharing. Most recently Mr. Echols authored five Forbes articles and was featured on a PBS cybersecurity special. Mr. Echols has also led two organizations to CSO 50 Award honors for information sharing in the last three years. He is currently on the Health and Human Services CISA Cyber Awareness Task Force.

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Tagged diversity, entrepreneurship, inclusion

Feb 13 2020

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Hult@UMD, Pitch Dingman, Uncategorized

An Interview with Pitch Dingman Competition Finalist: Hydraze

Dean Robert Orr presenting the Hult@UMD award to Hydraze co-founders Charles Grody, Tuvia Rappaport and Jack Sturtevant

Hydraze

Charles Grody ’20, Mechanical Engineering
Jack Sturtevant ’20, Computer Engineering
Tuvia Rappaport ’20, Aerospace Engineering

DC: Tell us about your startup.

Hydraze: Hydraze is a water conservation focused startup that delivers high performance automatic toilet flushing technology for commercial buildings. Our stall-latch activated flushing product can save hundreds of dollars per toilet by reducing the number of times it flushes compared to competitor products. We have also developed a proprietary flush tracking and optimization platform that can drastically improve a facility manager’s ability to maintain their bathroom. Hydraze drives water conservation by improving bathroom performance and generating savings.

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Feb 06 2020

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Pitch Dingman, student entrepreneur

An Interview with Pitch Dingman Competition Finalist: AlgenAir

AlgenAir

Dan Fucich, PhD ’20 (presenting), Marine Estuary and Environmental Science
Kelsey Abernathy, PhD ’20, Environmental and Molecular Biology (UMB)

DC: Tell us about your startup.

AlgenAir: AlgenAir is a photobioreactor company in Baltimore, MD that creates functional algae installations to improve the public’s health. We developed the aerium, the first natural air purifier that uses algae to clean the air we breathe. The aerium works as efficiently as 25 house plants reduce carbon dioxide and increase oxygen in your home and office space. It is available for sale on our website.

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Dec 16 2019

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Community, Dingman Fridays, Events, Hult@UMD, Ladies First, Pitch Dingman, Robert G. Hisaoka Speaker Series, student entrepreneur, Terp Marketplace

That’s a Wrap! Fall 2019 at the Dingman Center

Things are slowing down at the Smith School. Students are taking their last finals, and we’re finishing up work to prepare for a blissful holiday season ahead. So grab a cup of cocoa and take a trip with us down memory lane as we recap a fantastic fall semester of events, programs and more at the Dingman Center!

A Rise in the Rankings

University of Maryland rose in the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine’s rankings to #7 in undergraduate programming, and #3 for public universities. This marks our fifth consecutive year in the top 10! Read about the rankings here.

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Dec 12 2019

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Startup Success, student entrepreneur

10 Holiday Gift Ideas from Terp-founded Companies

Need a last-minute gift idea? Entrepreneurs from Maryland Smith’s Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship have you covered. Whoever you’re shopping for – the foodie, athlete, fashionista, Maryland fan – these student- and alumni-run companies can help you check those last names off your list (or have you to adding items to your own wishlist).

The aerium, the natural air purifier that uses algae to clean the air we breathe.

AlgenAir – Give the gift of clean air with the Aerium, an air purifier designed by two Maryland PhD students that runs on algae, purifies the air and fills it with as much oxygen as 25 houseplants!

Aurora Tights – Know any skaters, ballerinas or performers of color? Get them tights in their exact skin tone and see their confidence soar. Aurora Tights now come in children’s sizes too!

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Dec 05 2019

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Pitch Dingman, Terps

Pitch Dingman Finalist AlgenAir Accepted into ASU Innovation Open

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Pitch Dingman Competition finalist startup AlgenAir has been invited to participate in the semifinal round of the Arizona State University Innovation Open on January 31, 2020, which only invites the best collegiate-led tech startups to compete and showcase for a chance to vie for $300K in grant funding, including two $100K cash prizes. They will be one of twenty-eight startups to compete, having advanced from a preliminary round that included over 100 student entrepreneurs from around the country. The Dingman Center has provided the co-founder’s of AlgenAir, Dan Fucich, PhD ’20, a marine estuary and environmental science PhD candidate, and Kelsey Abernathy, an environmental and molecular biology PhD candidate at UMB, with an E-Fund Award to cover expenses to compete. The Dingman Center reached out to Dan Fucich about AlgenAir’s flagship product, the “aerium”, an algae-powered air purifier; their experiences with Pitch Dingman Competition; and their hopes for the ASU Innovation Open.

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Tagged health, Student Entrepreneur, technology

Nov 26 2019

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student entrepreneur, Terp Startup

Learning the Mind Palace Technique with Terp Startup NuroSTREAM

On Nov. 20, 2020, Terp Startup NuroSTREAM hosted a free Mind Palace workshop at Startup Shell, UMD’s student-run incubator. The workshop was designed to test their startup’s neuroscience-based study platform. NuroSTREAM is participating in the Dingman Center’s Terp Startup Fellows program pilot, which provides continued resources and funding support for selected graduates from our Terp Startup summer accelerator. The following is one student’s account of her experience in the workshop.

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by: Allison Criswell ’21

Just in time for finals season, NuroSTREAM hosted a memorization strategy “Mind Palace”at UMD. The mind palace technique originated in ancient Greece, when a poet experienced a disaster and was later able to walk himself through the scene in his mind, recalling where each person was sitting when it happened. Beyond remembering where dead people were, NuroSTREAM is bringing this to students as a study method. Students can link facts or sequences with specific locations, senses (smell, touch, etc.), and emotions in order to keep them in their mind when that big exam comes. To explain, let me use the number memorization example given in the workshop.

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Nov 25 2019

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Events, Ladies First, student entrepreneur

Dingman Center Supports Female-Founded Ventures at Technica

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Sara Herald, MBA ’11, Ladies First champion and Director of Venture Development, with Blaze Tracker, the winning team at Technica.

The weekend of November 9th, the Dingman Center hosted a table and sponsored a prize at University of Maryland’s Technica, the nation’s largest female and non-binary hackathon. The Dingman Center table was manned by alumnae of the Ladies First Founders program, a 1-credit course for female and nonbinary students to form a community and overcome gender bias issues in entrepreneurship. The course is the flagship program of the Center’s Ladies First Initiative to get more female and nonbinary students at UMD engaged with entrepreneurship. Many students were excited to learn how they can get more involved with the Dingman Center to help grow their business ideas beyond the hackathon. At the end of the 48 hour hackathon on Sunday, the Dingman Center presented a Kate Spade wallet to Blaze Tracker, the best venture at Technica. Blaze Tracker consists of a team of four computer science freshman who created an app to provide information to those affected by the California wildfires in real time, and for others nearby to open their homes as temporary lodging. They were awarded this prize for having an innovative, unique, and profitable idea. We look forward to the next edition of Technica!