Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Campus & Community
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Campus & Community

In-Spire Wins Syracuse University ACC InVenture Prize Competition

Wednesday, February 21, 2018, By News Staff
Share
Blackstone LaunchPadentrepreneurshipResearch and CreativeStudentsSyracuse University Libraries
two women standing

Kayla Simon and Elizabeth Tarangelo

Elizabeth Tarangelo ’19 and Kayla Simon ’19 will represent Syracuse University at the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) InVenture Prize Competition on April 5-6 at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

They were selected top team from a slate of “elite eight” finalists in a campus qualifier held on Feb. 16, coordinated by the Blackstone LaunchPad at Syracuse University. The teams pitched novel ideas for products, services, and technologies to a panel of judges with expertise in law, finance, marketing, design, product development and social enterprise.

Tarangelo and Simon, College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) majors, are the co-founders of In-Spire, a patent-pending bracelet that can work as a wearable asthma inhaler. The team was the first place winner at the 2017 Invent@SU competition in New York City, and also won the 2017 Impact Prize Competition, sponsored by the LaunchPad as part of Syracuse University Libraries. They developed their prototype at the Invent@SU invention accelerator this past summer and worked on their path to commercialization this academic year.

Farm to Flame, founded by William Lee Mendes McKnight ’18, winner of the campus Hult Prize competition, was selected as Syracuse University’s alternate for the April ACC event.

The ACC’s 15 member universities come together once a year for the ACC InVenture Prize, with top student innovators competing “Shark Tank”-style before a live audience and panel of expert judges at an ACC campus.  At that April event in Atlanta, the top ACC team will win $15,000, the second-place team will receive $10,000, and $5,000 will go to the fan favorite, based on live texting during the PBS-televised show. Five finalists will be selected in a semi-final round April 5 to compete in the televised finals on April 6.

In-Spire will face off against teams from Boston College, Clemson University, Duke University, Florida State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, North Carolina State, University of Notre Dame, University of Louisville, University of Miami, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, University of Pittsburgh, University of Virginia, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University and Wake Forest University.

The eight finalists for the recent Syracuse University campus qualifier were:

  • Anything but Beer: team leader Brittany Berry (College of Visual and Performing Arts), for a line of gluten-free alcoholic craft beverages;
  • Com Energy: team leader Tyler Vartabedian (ECS), for a highway barrier-mounted vertical axis wind turbine to provide clean energy;
  • Drop Top: team leader Jason Kuperberg (College of Arts and Sciences) for a drip irrigation utilizing REVLAR, a waterproof, tear-proof, durable paper-thin material;
  • Farm to Flame: team leader William Lee Mendes McKnight (A&S), for a biomass combustion system that can be used to power micro-grids in rural communities living in energy poverty;
  • Fibre Free: team co-leaders Serena Omo-Lamai and Charles Keppler (ECS), for a laundry ball that traps microfibers, preventing them from entering aquifers and the atmosphere;
  • In-Spire: team co-leaders Kayla Simon and Elizabeth Tarangelo (ECS), for a wearable Albuterol inhaler for asthma patients who suffer from asthma attacks while on the go;
  • ModoScript: team leader David Zuleta (A&S), for a Pill-Safe Digital Health System to address overdosing and underdosing;
  • WAYV: team leader Julia Dorie Haber (S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications), for an immersive pop-up unit that will revolutionize the way brands interact with college students.

“The ACC InVenture Prize competition is a chance to showcase innovation by Syracuse University students at the national level,” says Vice Chancellor and Provost Michele Wheatly. “Congratulations to the In-Spire team who will proudly represent Syracuse at the finals, as well as to all the students who participated. Syracuse University is gaining recognition for the number of students engaged in innovation and entrepreneurship, and their success at the state and national level.”

“I’m delighted that the Blackstone LaunchPad at SU Libraries coordinated this campuswide competition and provided extensive coaching and mentoring to the competitors,” says Dean of Libraries and University Librarian David Seaman. “We are very impressed by the strong and diverse slate of innovations that were developed by Syracuse University students.”

“We are incredibly proud of Kayla, Elizabeth and all of the students who participated in the ACC InVenture Prize competition,” says Dean of Engineering and Computer Science Teresa Abi-Nader Dahlberg. “It is particularly exciting to see students who completed the Invent@SU invention accelerator program continue to be recognized as innovators. The skills they developed in Invent@SU—to design, prototype, and pitch a novel device—were on full display in this competition. I encourage all students to follow their example and take advantage of the resources offered by the Blackstone LaunchPad, Invent@SU, and the entire entrepreneurial ecosystem at SU.”

 

 

  • Author

News Staff

  • Recent
  • First-Year Law Student to First-Year Dean: Lau Combines Law and Business to Continue College of Law’s Upward Trajectory
    Thursday, June 26, 2025, By Robert Conrad
  • Student Innovations Shine at 2025 Invent@SU Presentations
    Thursday, June 26, 2025, By Alex Dunbar
  • Iran Escalation: Experts Available This Week
    Tuesday, June 24, 2025, By Vanessa Marquette
  • SCOTUS Win for Combat Veterans Backed by Syracuse Law Clinic
    Monday, June 23, 2025, By Vanessa Marquette
  • Syracuse Views Summer 2025
    Monday, June 23, 2025, By News Staff

More In Campus & Community

Retiring University Professor and Decorated Public Servant Sean O’Keefe G’78 Reflects on a Legacy of Service

For most of his time as a public servant, Sean O’Keefe G’78 adhered to a few guiding principles: Step up when someone calls upon you to serve. Be open to anything. Challenge yourself. Those values helped O’Keefe navigate a career…

Jorge Morales ’26 Named a 2025 Beinecke Scholar

Jorge Morales ’26, a double major in history and anthropology in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs with a minor in English and textual studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, has been awarded the highly competitive…

Registration Open for Esports Campus Takeover Hosted by University and Gen.G

Syracuse University and global esports and gaming organization Gen.G have opened general registration at campustakeover.gg for its first Campus Takeover Sept. 20-21. The two-day conference will bring students and administrators to Syracuse to highlight career opportunities within the esports industry…

2 Whitman Students Earn Prestigious AWESOME Scholarship

For the first time in the 12-year history of the program, both nominees from the Whitman School of Management have been selected as recipients of the 2025 AWESOME Excellence in Education Scholarship, a prestigious honor awarded to top-performing undergraduate women…

Whitman’s Johan Wiklund Named a Top Scholar Globally for Business Research Publications

The Whitman School of Management’s Distinguished Professor Johan Wiklund was recently listed as one of the most prolific business and economic research scholars globally, according to “What We Know About the Science of Science in Business and Economics? Insights From…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2025 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.