Celebrating Innovation and Entrepreneurship at WPI: Highlights from the i3 Lab Demo Day 2025

🚀 Demo Day 2025 at WPI’s i3 Lab was a success! On September 24th, the Innovation Studio was transformed into a hub of creativity, entrepreneurship, and inspiration as student founders pitched their ideas for a share of $60,000+ in prizes.
We are thrilled to celebrate the hard work, courage, and ingenuity of every team that took the stage — and to recognize this year’s winners:

🔧 𝙄𝙣𝙘𝙪𝙗𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝘾𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙜𝙤𝙧𝙮
🥇 𝗞𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱: QuickEst Estimations Inc. – Russell Hertel ’27 (RBE), Luis Alzamora ’26 (RBE)
🥈 𝗠𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗔𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗺𝘀 ’𝟳𝟳 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱: BrailleBox – Jelaleddin Gylychmuhammedov ’27 (RBE), Octavio Bittar ’27 (ECE), Minh Ha ’27 (CS)
🥉 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱: HydroFlex – Jack Shanks ’26 (ME)
🏅 𝗪𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱: EpiSafe - Aaryan Panchal ’28 (RBE), Ezra Yohay ’25 (Phys), Khushal Sharma ’27 (ECE), Ethan Takvorian ’28 (RBE), Joshua Kashambala 
 

🚀 𝙄𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝘾𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙜𝙤𝙧𝙮:
𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱: FellowBridge - Dan Nguyen ‘26 (CS), Ana Merlo ’25 (MS BA), Antonela Tamagini ’25 (MS CS)
𝗶𝟯 𝗟𝗮𝗯 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱: Cybele Technology - Maxwell Markey (PhD Chem)

💡 𝙄𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝘾𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙜𝙤𝙧𝙮: 
𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗕𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱: Christy Lam ‘26 (CS)
𝗗𝘂𝗮𝗻𝗲 𝗗. 𝗣𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀 🔥:
FireMap - Tair Kareneyev ’27 (RBE & CS)
Firewise - Dimitris Graikos ’25 (MS BA)

𝗣𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲’𝘀 𝗖𝗵𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱: Venturly - Khushali Shah ’26 (MS Fintech), Labhesh Mahajan ’26 (MS CS), Rohan Solipuram ’26 (MS Fintech), Mihir Kate ’25 (CompE)

We were honored to have Provost Andrew Sears and Interim Dean of Business School Kwamie Dunbar open the day with a powerful message about the importance of student innovation, and President Grace Wang conclude the event and open the evening session, inspiring our community to keep pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.

We were also privileged to host Anthony Galgano, Owner & President of True Robotics, Inc., as our keynote speaker. His story of perseverance and growth deeply resonated with the audience, and he was recognized with the Vignaly Commercialization Fund "Spirit of Joe Award" by the WPI OTIE.
This event would not have been possible without the dedication of our judges: Christine Murner, Evan Cox, Geoff Strage, Greg Dalle-Molle, Joe Klimek, Lisa A. K., Paul Kalenian, Paul Rummel, Peter Cifichiello, Roman Fayerberg, Sandhya Balasubramanian, Tara Ostromecky, and Zachary Dutton — thank you for lending your expertise.

We also extend our deepest gratitude to our donors and supporters: Auxilium Worcester, Aram and Alba Kalenian Award, Henry and Alberta Strage Award, New England Innovations, Wire Group, Cornerstone Bank, Joe Klimek ’94, Bowditch & Dewey, LLP, WPI Business School, Michael Abrams ’77, Duane D. Pearsall, and WPI OTIE.
Finally, thank you to the entire WPI community and guests — who joined us to celebrate entrepreneurship and innovation. Your energy made this Demo Day truly special.