Innovation Fund provides financial support to Penn student entrepreneurs
By The Current Staff
Entrepreneurs at Penn with a promising idea may acquire important early-stage assistance from the Weiss Tech House Innovation Fund. The mini-venture capital fund provides student inventors with grants of up to $1,000 to help develop their product or service. Judging criteria is based on the level of innovation in each proposal, be it a seemingly simple concept or a technologically complex product.
The Fund, which is now accepting applications, requires students to submit a detailed description of their project, identifying their team’s proficiencies and specifying potential associated obstacles and risks. “There is a review process of all applications,” says Weiss Tech House Director Anne Stamer. “Students applying should show they have done some research into the area of their innovation.”
The Innovation Fund has already awarded grants to more than 50 student projects, including a new hip replacement prosthetic, a water-distribution system in Honduras and a mechanical holder that enables football kickers to practice and enhance performance. Samuel Reeves, a Wharton School graduate, developed an early prototype of a robotic minesweeper with the help of the Innovation Fund. Recently, Reeves received a $2 million Department of Defense grant for this project, which he has named SCAMP.
Students who want to submit a proposal, and others who would like more information, may visit the Weiss Tech House website: www.tech-house.upenn.edu/.
Novel plant-based approach to a better, cheaper GLP-1 delivery system
Research led by Penn Dental’s Henry Daniell investigates the use of a lettuce-based, plant-encapsulated delivery platform as a new oral delivery of two GLP-1 drugs previously approved by the FDA in injectable form.
No brain, no gain: Neuronal activity enhances benefits of exercise
Research led by Penn neuroscientist J. Nicholas Betley and collaborators finds that hypothalamic neurons are essential for translating physical exertion into endurance, potentially opening the door to exercise-mimicking therapies.
In honor of Valentine's Day, and as a way of fostering community in her Shakespeare in Love course, Becky Friedman took her students to the University Club for lunch one class period. They talked about the movie "Shakespeare in Love," as part of a broader conversation on how Shakespeare's works are adapted.
In Becky Friedman’s English course Shakespeare in Love, undergraduate students analyze language, genre, and adaptation in the Bard’s plays through the lens of love.
Beating the heat: Designing cooling for bodies in motion
Dorit Aviv, director of Weitzman’s Thermal Architecture Lab, studies how humans, technology, and design intersect, paving the way for the development of novel approaches to cooling people efficiently.
