FAU Celebrates 2021 Wave Competition

Florida Atlantic University has announced the winners of the annual FAU Wave Competition, an undergraduate applied research competition organized by FAU’s Division of Research. Students have been working on innovative projects for the past two semesters, taking their ideas from concept to reality.

The program challenges students to submit innovative ideas that target societal issues and provides seed funding for project development. Projects are rated on their innovation, feasibility, market potential, research efforts and problem significance.

This year’s first place winner, Paris Prince, a junior from FAU’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, developed SPods – a product pivot from last year’s prototype. Originally a hand sanitizing capsule, but after participating in the NSF I-Corps program and FAU Tech Runway’s Venture Class, Prince realized her product needed to contain soap and water instead. This product is meant to be used in emergency situations by organizations such as UNICEF.

This year’s second place winner, Aiden Natalie, a junior from the College of Business, developed Marine Connex, an app which fills the gap between marine professionals and marine consumers. It is being developed to connect consumers looking for marine maintenance, rentals and other marine related services with the right professionals.

The third place winner, Arman Alexis, a FAU High School student and freshman from the College of Engineering and Computer Science , is utilizing virtual reality to augment the efficiency of CT scans. The project’s goal is to develop a better analysis of CT scanned organisms for radiologists.

The community engagement award winner was “FAU Keep Moving,” a new student organization founded during the pandemic. Members of the organization include Sandy Abdelmalak, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science; Alexia Betances, College of Social Work and Criminal Justice; Christopher Cadenas, College of Engineering and Computer Science; and Diane Garcia, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. Their online platform was created to keep FAU students motivated and connected within their community. This student organization implements new ideas virtually and in person, to promote a healthy quality of life.

“The FAU Wave Program is in its sixth year, and has supported 93 students, eight of which have gone on to win $82,000 in cash prizes in entrepreneurial competitions, four have won the FAU Business Plan Competition, and 17 have entered FAU Tech Runway's Venture Class,” said Regina Thompson, strategic and economic initiatives manager in FAU’s Division of Research. “Words cannot express how proud I am of our students, especially this academic year when everything was turned upside down. I'd like to congratulate all of the student participants and I can't wait to see what next year brings.”

For more information about the FAU Wave Competition, click here.

-FAU-