{"id":4501,"date":"2024-03-19T13:26:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-19T13:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/?p=4501"},"modified":"2024-08-20T12:22:13","modified_gmt":"2024-08-20T16:22:13","slug":"purdue-students-win-cash-prizes-for-bold-solutions-to-worldwide-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/2024\/Q1\/purdue-students-win-cash-prizes-for-bold-solutions-to-worldwide-challenges","title":{"rendered":"Purdue students win cash prizes for bold solutions to worldwide challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"purdue-initial-words-wrap\"><p class=\"purdue-initial-words\">WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. &mdash;<\/p> \n<p>Teams of Purdue University students won a combined $5,500 in prizes during the finals of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/purdueinnovates.org\/incubator\/moonshot-pitch-challenge\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Moonshot Pitch Challenge<\/a>, a semiannual, ideation-focused competition organized by the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/purdueinnovates.org\/incubator\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Purdue Innovates Incubator<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>\u201cPurdue University students think critically about worldwide challenges and take the next giant leaps to address them,\u201d said Doug Applegate, Incubator associate director. \u201cThe Moonshot Pitch Challenge recognizes audacious solutions and the people ideating them.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Active Purdue undergraduate and graduate students across all colleges were eligible to compete. Fifty-four teams submitted a video to explain the problem they were addressing and propose the solution. Solutions were grouped in one of three categories:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Earth: Ideas primarily focused on addressing socioeconomic needs and challenges.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Moonshot: Ideas primarily focused on solving a seemingly impossible problem.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Orbit: Ideas primarily focused on launching a company.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Fifteen finalists had two minutes to pitch their solutions to judges March 6 at the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/research\/oevprp\/about\/facilities\/burton-morgan.php\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship<\/a>. Submissions for the fall 2024 Moonshot Pitch Challenge will begin in August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Winning teams<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/new.www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/kangakareLO.jpg\" alt=\"Students delivering a presentation.\" class=\"wp-image-4503\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/kangakareLO.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/kangakareLO-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/kangakareLO-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Kanga Kare team of Sarah Busch and Eileen Wolff, students in Purdue\u2019s College of Liberal Arts, delivers its two-minute pitch to judges during the Moonshot Pitch Challenge. (Purdue Research Foundation photo\/Brad Oppenheim)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>First-place teams in each category received $1,500 apiece. Teams that won the Best Pitch and Crowd Favorite awards received $500 each. The winners were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Earth category and Best Pitch Award:<\/strong>&nbsp;Money Monkey, a gamified financial literacy application designed for young learners aged 8-18. Its engaging application offers a captivating journey through the world of finance, equipping younger generations with essential skills and knowledge to manage money wisely. Team members: Shri Atluri and Kestan Kamei,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/science\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">College of Science<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMoonshot has provided us with an incredible platform to showcase our idea,\u201d Atluri said. \u201cWith the money we are grateful to have received, we are looking forward to developing our idea into a viable product to benefit children around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Moonshot category:<\/strong>&nbsp;Kesslernet, a fully autonomous, coordinated, satellite-servicing constellation in low Earth orbit. It maintains safe and sustainable satellite operations while preventing the Kessler syndrome, a scenario in which there are so many satellites and other objects that they collide, which generates space debris that leads to more collisions. Team members are Aditya Arjun Anibha, Atharva Awasthi and Srinath Dantu,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/engineering.purdue.edu\/Engr\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">College of Engineering<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMoonshot is an excellent experience that gives students an opportunity to rapidly develop a radical world-changing idea and master the art of the pitch,\u201d Anibha said. \u201cThe prize money will give Kesslernet the impetus and credibility to turn into a real company with the potential to protect and revolutionize the space industry. Our next milestones are to complete our business model, develop and patent our software algorithm prototype, and acquire our first customer and further investments.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Orbit category:<\/strong>&nbsp;OpenSpaces, a platform that connects people in need of affordable, available and convenient storage space with people who own an excess amount of space. This generates revenue off commissions from the renter and rentee. Team members include Nihal Gunukula and Vinay Gupta, College of Science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Moonshot Pitch Challenge from Purdue Innovates Incubator is an incredible opportunity that not only refined our entrepreneurial skills but also provided a platform to promote OpenSpaces,\u201d Gupta said. \u201cWith the given funding, we look to improve our current technological infrastructure, reach out for potential partnerships and add final touches to our product as we prepare for our beta launch here at Purdue University in the upcoming months, where Boilermakers will be able to use their spare space as a shared solution to storage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Crowd favorite:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.boilerbookings.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">BoilerBookings.com<\/a>, which solves the travel problem for out-of-state students starting at Purdue. There are too many flight and shuttle combinations for travel during breaks. Its algorithm computes them to minimize cost, duration and airport waiting time. Team members are Rithwik Erabelly, College of Engineering, and Pradyun Kamaraju and Arnav Kulkarni, College of Science.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" src=\"https:\/\/new.www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/moonshotsprayLO.jpg\" alt=\"A Purdue student presenting in front of the class.\" class=\"wp-image-4504\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/moonshotsprayLO.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/moonshotsprayLO-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/moonshotsprayLO-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Jason Alexander Fotso-Puepi, a student in Purdue\u2019s College of Science and Graduate School, delivers his two-minute pitch about Spray during the Moonshot Pitch Challenge. (Purdue Research Foundation photo\/Brad Oppenheim)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn addition to the free food, the Moonshot Pitch Challenge was great because it allowed us to hear some invaluable feedback from venture capitalists and entrepreneurs with real experience,\u201d Kamaraju said. \u201cOur developers have been working really hard, so we plan on splitting this money amongst them. We\u2019re going to keep refining the product we already have, while simultaneously thinking of ways to bring it to a new level and revolutionize the way college travel works.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Honor roll of finalists<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The other teams in the finals were:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Astro-Oasis: Aarin Dutta, Bradley Heim, Ella Maldonado and Elliott Soderberg,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/business.purdue.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Atopia: Juniper Rodriguez,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cla.purdue.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">College of Liberal Arts<\/a>, and Jacky Zhang, Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>DocAid: Siddharth Bhasker, College of Science and Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>HERO: Adam Gillette, College of Liberal Arts and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/gradschool\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Graduate School<\/a>, and Alexander Searles,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/polytechnic.purdue.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Purdue Polytechnic Institute<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>IndivHear: Sarthak Mangla, College of Science.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Kanga Kare: Sarah Busch and Eileen Wolff, College of Liberal Arts.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mindful: William Huth, Drew Janszen and Emily Mack, College of Liberal Arts.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Precise Slice: Marielle Berin, College of Engineering; and Thomas Fang and Grace Goudreau, Purdue Polytechnic Institute.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sonder: William Kauffman, John Stanwick and Alexander Zimbalist, College of Engineering; and Hamza Shaikh, College of Science.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Spoke &amp; Wing Fuel Regulator: Tristen Brideweser, College of Science; Knic Royer, Purdue Polytechnic Institute; and Will Shumway, College of Liberal Arts.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Spray: Jason Alexander Fotso-Puepi, College of Science and Graduate School.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">About Purdue Innovates Incubator\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/purdueinnovates.org\/incubator\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Purdue Incubator<\/a>&nbsp;is the front door to the rich ecosystem of programs and services designed to help early-stage startups take their next step. Programs provide settings for cohort work and one-on-one consultations with entrepreneurs-in-residence. Content includes clarifying problems from the customer\u2019s perspective, developing a business model, conducting customer discovery interviews, team building, determining regulatory pathways and legal structures, and more. Purdue alumni and community members interested in becoming mentors are invited to contact the Purdue Incubator team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">About Purdue University<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Purdue University is a public research institution demonstrating excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top four in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, including nearly 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue\u2019s main campus has frozen tuition 13 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap \u2014 including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the new Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business, and Purdue Computes \u2014 at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/president\/strategic-initiatives\">https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/president\/strategic-initiatives<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. &mdash; Teams of Purdue University students won a combined $5,500 in prizes during the finals of the&nbsp;Moonshot Pitch Challenge, a semiannual, ideation-focused competition organized by the&nbsp;Purdue Innovates Incubator. \u201cPurdue University students think critically about worldwide challenges and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[316,7],"tags":[],"department":[24],"source":[35],"purdue_today_topic":[],"coauthors":[44],"class_list":["post-4501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prf","category-research-excellence","department-research-foundation","source-purdue-research-foundation"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4501"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4506,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4501\/revisions\/4506"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4501"},{"taxonomy":"department","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/department?post=4501"},{"taxonomy":"source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/source?post=4501"},{"taxonomy":"purdue_today_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/purdue_today_topic?post=4501"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=4501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}