Winning Ideas

Engineering students pitch winning ideas

Students win first- & second-place for presenting innovative sustainable energy pitches during the 2021 Techstars’ Startup Weekend.

Mechanical engineering majors Sarah Dulac, Andrea Elloian, and Christina McManus were among the first- and secondplace winners for their innovative pitches that were presented and judged during Techstars’ Startup Weekend, which took place virtually from February 19-21.

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. “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.

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 continued to compete in the Marine Energy Collegiate Competition where they pitched their idea to a panel of judges from the U.S. Department of Energy.