2008 Summer Fellows

Robert Casey, YC '10 (Mechanical Engineering)

Domain: Service Industry

Company: TwigTek will unlock value in old consumer electronics, specifically cellular phones. The demand for affordable, quality mobile devices continues to grow worldwide. At the same time, recycling rates for retired phones remain extremely low. This year, less than 15% of phones taken out of service will be recycled. We will provide a convenient, cost effective means of convincing people to give up their old phones and then either refurbish and sell in secondary markets or recycle them for their parts.

Refurbished cellular phones open the market to more customers at price points that original equipment manufacturers have difficulty competing at. We will provide a safe alternative to landfills for old electronic devices while providing inexpensive, quality refurbished phones.

Arun Gupta, YC '10 (Economics/Math)
Gregory Nemeth, Boston College '10 (Business)

Domain: Medical device (smart alarm clock)

Company: REM Alarm Clock. Scientific studies have conclusively proven that when woken up after REM sleep, in the first or second stages of the sleep cycle, subjects feel more refreshed and eager to start their day. Our venture will manufacture a REM Alarm Clock which will wake the user after their REM Cycle within a 45 minute window. The product will consist of a Bluetooth electrode placed inside an ankle band and a cell phone application. The ankle band will detect movement and the application will interpret the data and sound the alarm allowing the user to wake feeling fully refreshed.

Jonathan Hartman, YC '09 (Mechanical Engineering)

Domain: Industrial Robotics

Company: Hartman Salzano Technologies (HST) is a recent venture in the technical product development field. By bringing together a group of qualified professionals from across all engineering disciplines to form a flexible and dynamic team, HST seeks to create a cohesive core of designers poised to provide creative solutions to a wide range of problems. At HST, the centerpiece of our design philosophy is the novel integration of proven technology with fresh approaches and technical advances.

Currently, the design team is working on a robotic ground platform that is designed to reduce the number of lifting-related injuries leading to workers' compensation claims in heavy industry and manufacturing. Utilizing an omni-directional drive train, the Workhorse platform has the capability to travel in confined spaces inaccessible to most robotic solutions as well as a sensor and software package to operate in environments alongside human workers.

Bryan Senti, MUS '08 (Composition)
Jay Wadley, MUS '08 (Composition)

Domain: Entertainment (Film music studio)

Company: Found Objects Music Productions LLC was started by three Yale composers, Trevor Gureckis, Bryan Senti and Jay Wadley in November of 2006. The company's aim is to produce artistic and unique music for any commercial endeavor. Found Object's blend of serious classical music backgrounds and popular genre experiences coupled with the company's collective style approach to client industries, are a unique antidote to the status-quo. Presently, the company is based out of New Haven, Connecticut and is working with partners to build a state of the art production studio in the area.

Daniel Fierro, YC '10 (Political Science)
David Lee, YC '10 (Ethics, Politics, & Economics)

Domain: Microfinance securitization

Company: Mangrove Partners gives domestic microfinance institutions (MFIs) the opportunity to fund new entrepreneurs that are excluded from traditional sources of credit. By raising money from institutional investors to purchase high-quality loans from MFIs, Mangrove creates liquidity for the MFIs to issue loans to new, promising clients that otherwise would have gone unfunded. Simply put, Mangrove solves a market inefficiency by connecting institutional investors with traditionally overlooked but deserving entrepreneurs who have the most to gain from investments.

Vincent McPhillip, YC '10 (Political Science)
Robert Henehan, YC '10 (Political Science)

Domain: Niche Online Social Network

Company: Catalyst Concepts. Catalyst is a website where customers and local retailers form a personal connection. Catalyst will be the place to find the hottest clothes and accessories in your community. Members will create profiles where they can share their styles and info on their favorite local retailers with friends and community members. Local retailers connect with this online community through profile pages featuring their stories and those items most likely to drive store traffic. Both parties benefit from this new connection. Customers work with friends to find the hottest items in their area while retailers benefit from powerful P2P word-of-mouth marketing and direct communication with self-identified customers.

Andrew Steinberg, YC '08 (History)
Joshua Egan, YC '08 (History of Science)

Domain: Web (Web 2.0 tools for annotation of content)

Company: Texpand. The format of traditional web-articles cannot capture the vast array of information scattered throughout the Internet. Yet, this information, if contextualized, could dramatically improve the reading experience. Texpand will allow users worldwide to collectively annotate text. One-dimensional articles will "expand" into information hubs that string together individuals' otherwise isolated pockets of knowledge. Texpand will provide readers with valuable user-generated information as well as content providers with increased advertising revenue. For the first time, Texpand will empower Internet readers to literally "Read Between the Lines."

2008 Entrepreneur-in-Residence

Leslee W. Parker, SOM '09 (MBA)

Domain: Engineered processes (Water purification using forward osmosis)

Company: Osmotic Application Systems (OASYS), Inc. provides a breakthrough in water purification technology to address the critical global shortage of clean water with far lower financial, environmental, and energy impact than industry alternatives. With analysts predicting world demand for drinkable water to outstrip supply by 50 percent in 2025, OASYS Forward Osmosis (FO) offers a patented, low-cost solution to the dire shortfall created by ongoing urban development, population growth, and global warming. Led by a team of Yale University scientists and Fortune 100 executives, OASYS is well poised to capture a share of the $56 Billion market for clean water with this groundbreaking new approach to desalination and purification.

2008 Technology Fellows

Andrew Gu, YC '10 (Computer Science)

Domain: Software development, security systems