UMassD's College of Engineering students win first- & second-place for presenting innovative sustainable energy pitches during Techstars' recent Startup Weekend.
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Engineering students Sarah Dulac, Andrea Elloian, and Christina McManus are among the first- and second-place winners for their innovative pitches that were presented and judged during Techstars’ recent Startup Weekend.
The competition encompassed a one-minute pitch on Friday evening. Small teams formed around the best ideas and these teams workshopped on Saturday. The event culminated with a five-minute pitch to a panel of judges at the end of Sunday. This year marks the sixth consecutive year UMass Dartmouth served as host for Techstars’ global Startup Weekend. Griffin Cottle, assistant professor at the Charlton College of Business led a team of faculty from UMass Dartmouth who served as UMassD’s organizers of this 54-hour event, which took place virtually from February 19-21.
“Sarah and Andrea teamed up with Greg Browne, a graduate student of ours, and with two St. Bonaventure University students, Alec Peinkofer and Darion Gregory,” said Hamed Samandari who is an advisor, lecturer, and capstone instructor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the College of Engineering. The team branded themselves Green Lobstah. “They developed their business idea through the weekend working with different mentors. They presented their final pitch on Sunday evening and they won first place.”
Green Lobstah presented the idea of providing sustainable energy to the offshore aquaculture farms by substituting old-fashioned diesel generators with floating vertical axis wind turbines.
Green Lobstah presented the idea of providing sustainable energy to the offshore aquaculture farms by substituting old-fashioned diesel generators with floating vertical axis wind turbines. The team continues to compete in the Marine Energy Collegiate Competition and will pitch their idea to a panel of judges from the U.S. Department of Energy on April 27, 2021.