UT Tyler Announces Business Model Competition Winners

Office of Marketing and Communications

April 27, 2022

Media Contact: Beverley Golden
Senior Director of Media Relations
Marketing and Communications
The University of Texas at Tyler
903.566.7303

The University of Texas at Tyler has announced the results of its inaugural Business Model Competition, which highlighted the entrepreneurial ideas of UT Tyler students.

The competition, conducted through UT Tyler’s East Texas Entrepreneurship Center, was open to students of all majors, with winners receiving cash prizes. Entries were judged by a panel of East Texas entrepreneurs.

“Our very first Business Model Competition was a great success, featuring a wide range of early-stage innovations, from medical devices to education strategies to new uses for blockchain and cryptocurrency,’’ said Jeffrey Howlett, East Texas Entrepreneurship Center executive director. “The event is designed to provide validation and insights to help students transform their ideas into successful enterprises.’’

Graduate mechanical engineering students Nafize Ishtiaque Hossain and Tanzila Noushin, both of Bangladesh, won the first-place award of $7,500 for their “Plant Fit,’’ a wireless fitness monitor for plants.

The second-place award of $5,000 went to Alina Pereira of Tyler, a senior electrical engineering major, for her “Smart Wound Patch,’’ a wearable sensor to detect bacterial levels and control the delivery of medication for chronic wound care.

Graduate biology student Sofia Tamayo of Tyler won the third-place award of $2,500 for her “Taro,’’ a kitchen utensil designed as an easy, safe method for opening canned goods.

Judges included John Soules Sr., founder and chair of John Soules Foods Inc.; Bill McGaughey, a retired businessman and longtime entrepreneur; and Phyllis Thomas-Kirkwood, a business coach and executive director of the Black African American Metro Chamber of Commerce of East Texas.

The awards were made possible through UT Tyler’s partnership with Blackstone LaunchPad, which helps students succeed in entrepreneurship while building next-generation companies and careers.

The East Texas Entrepreneurship Center works to improve economic development through entrepreneurship and innovation programs. The center’s programs and competitions provide mentoring and funding opportunities to ensure that viable new ventures accelerate and scale more quickly. For more information, visit uttyler.edu/entrepreneurship-center.

With a mission to improve educational and healthcare outcomes for East Texas and beyond, UT Tyler offers more than 80 undergraduate and graduate programs to 10,000 students. UT Tyler recently merged with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler (now known as UT Tyler Health Science Center). Through its alignment with UT Tyler Health Science Center (HSC) and UT Health East Texas, UT Tyler has unified these entities to serve Texas with quality education, cutting-edge research and excellent patient care. Classified by Carnegie as a doctoral research institution and by U.S. News & World Report as a national university, UT Tyler has campuses in Tyler, Longview, Palestine and Houston.