Keynote Speaker
Dr. Shenda Baker has more than 20 years of experience conducting, generating funds for, and directing chemistry, materials science, and biochemistry research. She provides scientific leadership, manages the intellectual property as well as the scientific and regulatory collaborations, and provides financial and organizational oversight at Synedgen.
Previously, Dr. Baker was a professor of Chemistry at Harvey Mudd College from 1991-2014 with a research focus on polymer nanostructures and self-assembly. She served on the Board of Directors of the Materials Research Society and has served on advisory boards with the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy. Dr. Baker is a member of the American Chemical Society and the Materials Research Society and currently serves on the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research of the NIH. She is co-inventor on all of the Synedgen technology.
2019 Award Winners
CSU Ventures recognized 19 awardees for over $46,000 in cash awards. Congratulations to the following students, faculty, and companies for their exceptional work.
COMPANY SHOWCASE AWARDS
People’s Choice Award, $3000
Access Sensor Technologies
Representatives:  Kai Fuller, John Wydallis, Mollie Philips, Thomas Reilly, Mark Schleiger
Customer Discovery Travel Awards, up to $3000 each
SurgiReal
Company Principal: Andrew Hendrickson
DashStrap
Company Principal:  Karthik Palusa
poster SHOWCASE AWARDS
Excellence in Energy Award
(First Place $750, Second Place $300)
- Darrell Suer, Maren Meyers, Hellen Castro, and Dillon O’Hare 
 ”The Cyan Project - Delivering Low Carbon Building Solutions in Emerging Markets”
 Global Social & Sustainable Enterprise MBA, College of Business
- Hailey Summers, PI - Jason Quinn 
 ”Quantifying the Environmental Impact of Colorado’s Cannibus Industry”
 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Walter Scott, Jr., College of Engineering
People’s Choice Awards
(First Place $500, Second Place $250)
- Mihir Pakhale, PI - Mahdi Nikdast 
 ”Eye of Horus (EoH): A Real-Time Automated Surveillance System to Protect Citizens”
 Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Walter Scott, Jr., College of Engineering
- Chris Catells, Mitch Shanahan, Elisha Nguyen, and Stephanie Lachman 
 ”WASTEd: The Spirit of Fort Collins”
 Global Social & Sustainable Enterprise MBA, College of Business
Jordan Nelson, PI - Tod Clapp
”A Collaborative, Immersive Environment: Expanding the Value of Virtual Reality”
Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences  
Innovation in Augmented or Virtual Reality
$3000  
Kayvan Karimi Askarani, PI - Thomas Sale
”Real-Time Sensor-Based Groundwater Monitoring”
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Walter Scott, Jr., College of Engineering 
Innovation in Software 
$3000  
Abhishek Bhattacharjee, PI - Yan Vivian Li
”Smart Bandage Capable with Rapid Identification and Monitoring of Bacterial Wound Infection”
Department of Design & Merchandising, College of Health & Human Sciences  
Innovation  in Programmatic & Educational Outreach
$3000  
James Johnson, PI - Kirk McGilvray
”Chronic Rotator Cuff Model Generation:  A Pathway to Regenerative Therapies”
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Walter Scott, Jr., College of Engineering  
Excellence in Interdisciplinary Human-Centered Design Thinking 
$3000  
Harish Monoharan, 
Meagha Chilakalapudi Ramana Kumar
”In-line Analysis of Beer Production using NIR Spectroscopy with Artifical Intelligence-Based Closed Loop Control System”
Institute for Entrepreneurship, College of Business  
The Institute for Entrepreneurship 
Game Changer 
Award
$3000  
MIchelle Haddix - PI M. Francesca Cotrufo
”A Separation of Soil Organic Matter that is Meaningful, Measurable, Modeled, and Mass-Producible”
Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, Warner College of Natural Resources  
Innovation in Natural Resources
$3000  
Raymond Sumner, PI - Jason LaBelle
”The Days after Colorado’s Darkest Day:  Historic Archaeology, Digital Humanities, and Heritage Tourism’s Role in Saving Rural America”
Department of Anthropology, College of Liberal Arts  
Innovation in Liberal Arts
$3000
Haleigh Chwirka, PI - Matthew Malcolm
”Dressing for Success:  It’s in the Details”
Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Health & Human Sciences  
Innovation in Health & Human Sciences
$3000  
Cody Carrell, PI - Chuck Henry
”Bacteria Detection Made Simple: The Next Revolution in Food Safety”
Department of Chemistry, College of Natural Sciences  
Innovation in Natural Sciences
$3000  
Jake Wolynski, PIs - Kirk McGilvray & Christian Puttlitz
”Predicting Bone Fracture Healing with bioMEMS Sensors”
School of Biomedical Engineering, Walter Scott, Jr., College of Engineering  
Innovation in Engineering
$3000  
Peter Means, PI - Keith Paustian
”Building Environmental Assessment Metric (BEAM)”
Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory, College of Agricultural Sciences  
Innovation in Agricultural Sciences
$3000  
Jared Luxton, PI - Susan Bailey
”Enabling Diagnoses for Undiagnosed Diseases:  Novel Genomic Screen for Structural Variation”
Department of Environmental & Radiological Health Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences  
Innovation in Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
$3000  

 
              
            