Congratulations to the four student teams chosen as finalists for this year’s Y-Prize competition: Aeronyx, Carbo Wells, Haven and Lattica!
The Y-Prize competition challenges students to build their entrepreneurial skills by creating business plans for technologies invented at Penn Engineering. The team with the best commercial application wins $15,000 to help make their idea a reality.
This year’s technology was a 3D-printed, carbon-capturing concrete that can form strong, self-supporting structures.
Our finalists will now proceed to the next phase of the competition, where they will pitch their business plan to a panel of judges at our Grand Finale event later this winter.
Learn more about our finalists and their business plans below.
Aeronyx
3D-printed TPMS concrete modules that replace plastic packing in scrubbers, integrating carbon capture, increasing lifespan, and lowering long-term costs.
Team members: Sarah Ling (M&T), Pritika Kharkwal (Wharton), Roy Kim (SEAS), Richard Zhu (M&T), Ajay Panday (Wharton)
Carbo Wells
A 3D-printed, carbon-capturing concrete plugging solution designed to address oil well plug failure and mitigate a multibillion-dollar environmental challenge.
Team members: Yash Iyer (Wharton), Ronith Lahoti (SEAS), Bhuranyu Mahajan (Wharton), Yuki Qian (VIPER), Ali Altan Yilmaz (VIPER)
HAVEN
A customizable concrete wave-energy dissipator that protects coastlines from erosion and supports ecosystem restoration by promoting biological growth.
Team members: Neha Bachu (VIPER), Andrew Luo (M&T), Varun Sridhar (M&T), Shiven Taneja (M&T)
Lattica
A customizable concrete wave-energy dissipator that protects coastlines from erosion and supports ecosystem restoration by promoting biological growth.
Team members: Dhairya Ameria (SEAS), Melissa Liu (Wharton), Vicky Zolotar (SEAS)