Innovation
After taking Engineering Entrepreneurship, Ryan Teo launched Minimal Snacks with the goal of revolutionizing snack foods. Teo and his team created an air-dried snack made from beef, shiitake mushrooms, red wine vinegar and salt.
Confidence Udegbue cooked up the idea for a kombucha cocktail long before he arrived at Northwestern. He was moonlighting in San Francisco as a personal trainer at the time and regularly heard his clients say they wanted a healthier way to drink alcohol while staying fit.
At just 22 years old, Casey Grage ’19 became CEO of Hubly Surgical, a startup set on revolutionizing neurosurgery. Hubly invented a lightweight neurosurgical drill that Grage says offers key advantages over conventional drills used to access to the brain in cases of stroke, aneurysm, trauma or other emergencies.
Julius Lucks, a professor of chemical and biological engineering, and postdoctoral fellow Khalid Alam and doctoral candidate Kirsten Jung created a device to test water for 17 different contaminants. The technology, nicknamed ROSALIND in honor of DNA pioneer Rosalind Franklin, can assess water safety and quality with just a single drop.
After learning that the majority of children’s books feature either white people or animals, Jacob Jordan ’20, ’21 MS launched the Equal Opportunity Book Box, a monthly subscription service that delivers picture books featuring characters of color, LGBTQIA characters, and/or characters with disabilities.
Blip energy CEO Sophia Wennstedt, a second-year student in the University’s MBA and design innovation dual-degree program, and her team of Northwestern entrepreneurs created blipOne, a device that allows users to store electricity when it is cheap and discharge power when it is expensive. Launched through the Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation’s NUvention: Energy course, blip energy is working with an engineering services firm to build a mass-manufacturable prototype of blipOne before launching a preorder initiative.
Communication studies senior Anna Lise Ericson founded Cerer, an e-commerce platform that offers women’s clothing and accessories from brands committed to ethical and eco-minded practices.
Live music performances might not be possible because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but for Kellogg School of Management adjunct lecturer Gregg Latterman and senior Olivia Hernandez, the show must go on. They’re finding innovative ways to adapt to a virtual entertainment industry.
A few years ago, graduate student Kinsey Hart wanted to celebrate a promotion with a new piece of jewelry. She had a simple design in mind but could not find her dream piece.
Designed for the COVID-19 era by an international team that includes Northwestern senior Ryan Teo, a new public transportation design concept aims to once again give passengers the confidence to ride the bus. The Futurebus reduces contact between passengers and uses antimicrobial fabric and self-sanitizing handles.
