Isabelle Ablao of San Diego State University, Michelle Gantos of College of Marin and Auner Barrios Vasquez of College of San Mateo.
A team of future STEM entrepreneurs claimed the top title of a month’s long business pitch competition.
Isabelle Ablao of San Diego State University, Michelle Gantos of College of Marin and Auner Barrios Vasquez of College of San Mateo are champions of the 2024 MESA Idea Accelerator.
The Idea Accelerator program empowers undergraduate students to become innovative entrepreneurs. Using the Human-Centered Design process students gain the skills to create real-world solutions for their communities.
About thirty MESA students attended a boot-camp style training hosted by Uber in August, gaining the skills to inspire, ideate and implement team plans that solve a problem in their communities. They got workshops on prototypes and presentations skills and toured the company campus. Students also attended a special alumni mixer to give them one-on-one time with successful MESA alumni to chat about their projects, career goals and more.
Following bootcamp, teams stayed in touch for periodic check ins with faculty and each other. On October 10 teams gave final pitches and winners were then announced in front of the MESA Industry Advisory Board and other industry volunteer judges at the PG&E headquarters in Oakland.
Along the way students made friends, connections, potential marketable projects and the leadership skills for future success.
Ablao, Gantos and Vasquez won first place with The Urban Canopy, a retractable and solar-responsive “green” awning system that can be installed on the street side of buildings. It is designed to provide relief from heat in urban environments where natural plant and tree life cannot. The team won $3,000 to further their idea.
Uber and PG&E hosted and supported the program this year, and professionals from the following companies volunteered their times as judges: BART, Trinity Consultants, PG&E, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Sandia National Laboratories, Yahoo, Qualcomm and ACCO Engineered Systems and Uber.
The MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement) program guides diverse students from underrepresented backgrounds into STEM education and careers.
Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) has a 54-year history of changing the face of science, technology and engineering by developing a new generation of STEM leaders. Now with a network of more than 250,000 alumni, MESA fuels diversity by propelling historically underrepresented students toward STEM degrees and professional careers. Our students go on to be astronauts, educators, politicians and more.
Each year MESA serves over 20,000 students at the pre-college, community college and university levels across California. MESA bridges classroom learning with real-world applications, and employ rigorous academics, leadership preparation, a peer community and collaborative problem-solving training to produce highly skilled college graduates who meet 21st century STEM workforce needs.
The White House, the Ford Foundation, and the Silicon Valley Education Foundation have all
recognized MESA for its innovative and effective academic development model. For more information about MESA or follow us @MESASTEM.