The Keller Center’s annual competition and networking event has reached its 17th iteration of featuring “research with commercialization, cultural, or societal potential” from the Princeton University community. The “17th Annual Innovation Forum” will be held on Tuesday, December 13 from 1 to 6 p.m. at the Frick Chemistry Laboratory’s Taylor Auditorium and Atrium.
Participants will pitch their research projects to a panel of judges and “an audience of representatives from industry, the investor community, and university communities” in three-minute presentations in one of two tracks, science and engineering or social sciences and humanities, according to the Keller Center, followed by a short Q&A session.
This, as the page on Eventbrite continues, leads into a “poster session and networking reception where participants can further discuss and demonstrate their research,” which also serves as a cocktail hour before the 2022 winners are announced.
While everyone from the general public to researchers is encouraged to attend, in addition to those affiliated with the university, registration for the free event is required and available online at the Keller Center’s page on Eventbrite. The forum will also be streamed live via the Princeton Media Central website, mediacentrallive.princeton.edu.
The “Innovation Forum” begins at 12:30 p.m. with a check-in and then introductory remarks from Keller Center executive director Cornelia Huellstrunk and Andrea Goldsmith, dean of the school of engineering and applied science and professor of electrical and computer engineering.
At 1:30, the STEM pitches set the day in scientific motion, with projects in progress, a description, and the current members involved:
• AURA Lithium, “extracting Lithium from low-grade aqueous sources including seawater,” with Sean Zheng, a postdoctoral fellow at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment
• Flo-ssembl, “microfluidic and laser manipulation of micron-scale LEDs solves the primary manufacturing challenge holding back the next generation of electronic display screens,” with Dan Shaw, mechanical and aerospace engineering graduate student
• Foogly, “using technology for the valorization of food waste and radical localization of food supply chains,” with Kevin Speina, chemistry graduate student
• Inverse Optimization, “artificial intelligence assistant for better system design,” with Prerit Terway, electrical and computer engineering graduate student
• Magnetic rocket engine, “a uniquely fuel efficient and power scalable rocket engine,” with Fatima Ebrahimi, a principal research physicist in the PPPL Theory Department and an affiliated research scholar in the department of astrophysical sciences.
These are followed at 2:20 p.m. by “Overview of Keller Center’s New Design for Innovation Program,” a presentation from Manish Bhardwaj, the Director of Design for Innovation for the humanities and social sciences, and Nena Golubovic, the Director of Design for Innovation for STEM.
After a short break, Tera Hunter, the acting chair of the Council of the Humanities and professor of history and African American studies, will give “welcome back remarks” at 3 p.m. Ten minutes later, the humanities and social sciences pitches start:
• Karma Health, “a comprehensive integrated healthcare program,” with Bishal Belbase, a public affairs graduate student
• MoVA, a “platform providing virtual interactive museum experiences,” with architecture graduate students Isla Xi Han, Genyuan Hu, Sophie Jiang, and Priscilla Zhang
• Museumverse, “exploring new ways of storytelling, public engagement, and research via the latest emerging technologies,” with Mengge Cao, art and archaeology graduate student
• Project Leadership, a “web-based app for teamwork and leadership skills in the classroom,” with Laurel Lorenz, a lecturer in the molecular biology department
• Waldemar Cordeiro Exhibition, a “digital exhibition and site that focuses on Brazilian artist Waldemar Cordeiro…a leading Brazilian post-war artist and theorist of concrete and neo-concrete art, exemplary of Brazilian geometric abstraction and modernism,” with Rachel Price, associate professor
Princeton’s Vice Dean for Innovation and professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, Craig Arnold, and Keller Center Director and professor of electrical and computer engineering, Naveen Verma, host a “fireside chat” at 4 p.m.
Students can “receive entrepreneurial coaching” at the demo stations and networking reception, then “compete for funding and network with others in the innovation ecosystem” before the awards ceremony. Once the winning presenters are announced, Huellstrunk will issue closing remarks to wrap up the evening of advancements.
