Stories

VeloBit

Qing “Ken” Yang, serial entrepreneur and URI computer engineering professor, founded VeloBit, Inc., which has attracted more than $5 million in venture capital and counted more than 500 customers around the globe. In July 2013, it was acquired by HGST, a Western Digital company. The roots of VeloBit – a play on “velocity” and “bit” […]

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pHLIP, Inc.

“pHLIP Inc. acts as a molecular nanosyringe, inserting itself into the cell membrane and injecting compounds into cells,” said co-founder, president, and URI Professor Yana Reshetnyak. What: Healthcare startup Innovation: Nanotechnology platform for highly sensitive cancer imaging and treatment. Who: URI professors Oleg Andreev and Yana Reshetnyak, and Yale University professor Donald Engelman Market: Cancer […]

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Far Sounder

Experience a whole new vision underwater with forward looking sonar from Far Sounder, founded by URI Professor Jim Miller based on technology developed in Ocean Engineering. Recipient of SBIR awards, and partnered with Commerce RI to protect ship systems and enable safe navigation globally. Far Sounder website

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Modus TechWear

What: Health and wellness textile company Innovation: Use smart textiles to improve health outcomes for aging populations. Who: URI professors Pat Burbank (Nursing), Kunal Mankodiya (Biomedical Engineering), and Brett Lucht (Chemistry), and Arijit Bose (Chemical Engineering). Market: Health and aging Idea: Measure gait and physical activity to improve wellness in aging populations using wearable devices […]

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Core Mechanics

What: Health, Wellness and Smart textiles company Innovation: Improve daily musculoskeletal care. Who: Jerome Rao, John Lansing, Judy Lansing, and Brooke Rao, working together with URI groups in 3 colleges: College of Health Sciences (Physical Therapy), College of Business Administration (Textiles, Fashion Merchandising and Design), and College of Engineering (Wearable Biosensing Lab). Market: Wellness Idea: […]

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Optera Diagnostics

What: Healthcare startup revolutionizing cancer tissue analysis. Innovation: Improve wait time for biopsy results and patient outcomes. Who: Founder is Linden Wyatt, who has three degrees – a B.S. physics/math, a PhD physics, and an MBA. Market: Cancer treatment Idea: Working to commercialize an instrument that gives clinicians critical information in real time during resection […]

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Alcinous Pharmaceuticals

Founded in 2016 by three PhD students, Alcinous Pharmaceuticals harnesses big data in a novel approach to design and develop therapeutic drugs aimed at aggressive cancers. What: Pharmaceutical drug design startup Innovation: Use computer-aided drug design to improve cancer therapies. Who: URI graduate students Nicholas DaSilva, Kenneth Rose, and Benjamin Barlock; and URI professor David […]

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Libby

Anthony Markey founded Libby, a textbook resell venture, while on junior year abroad in Spain. He skyped into SPARC URI Office Hours for guidance and ideas with the mentors, and continued upon his return to Kingston for senior year. He was selected for MassChallenge to RI Bootcamp during J-term that year. Read more.

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EchoWear

Nick Constant, graduate student in Biomedical Engineering, founded EchoWear which was a 2017 semi-finalist in the RI Business Competition, and continues to work to develop his cloud-based system enabling health care providers to remotely monitor patients as he completes his doctoral studies. He is a URI Hackathon founder, organizer, and experienced mentor.

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