Cash Prizes at the MIX Innovators Launchpad Final Pitch Event

Written By Max Kazemzadeh

Christopher Carr (CEC Associate Dean and Deputy Title IX Coordinator; Office of Outreach, Student Success, and Engagement (OSSE) and GMU representative of KEEN Foundation)

Anthony Millin (Founder and Co-Chair of NEXT powered by Shulman Rogers)

Xiaorong (Sherry) Shan (First place winner, AeroHealth)

Gisele Stolz (Senior Director, Entrepreneurship Programs, Director Mason I-Corps Program)

On November 21st, the Fall 2025 session of the MIX Innovators Launchpad came to a close, marking the successful completion of the program’s inaugural cohort. Designed to launch student innovators toward market success, the Launchpad integrated the NSF I‑Corps program to provide teams with insightful mentorship, guidance through the customer discovery interview process, and access to funds and prize money.

The program concluded with five dynamic pitch presentations from AccelP3 (Morolake Okanlawon, Yingjie Zhang, and Hsuanchih Kuo), AeroHealth (Xiaorong (Sherry) Shan), Aniwear (Josh Peterson), Anvil Labs LLC. (Justin Luckenbach and Chelsea Camacho-Zambrana), and Petal (Nikhil Tirunagiri). Over the course of the program, these student teams refined their go‑to‑market strategies, sharpened their pitches, deepened their understanding of customer needs, conducted more than 20 customer interviews, and evaluated their business models to prepare for real‑world impact.

We extend our gratitude to our panel of judges:

  • Anthony Millin from NEXT powered by Shulman Rogers

  • Adam Phillips, founder of AthletesInnovate

  • TJ Master, innovation commercialization expert with NextEdge, ICAP VA, and QuantaHub

We also sincerely thank our sponsors for their continued support of student innovation.

Award Winners

More About the Program:

The Launchpad was designed by Gisele Stolz, Senior Director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programs at Mason , and Sampson Addo, Mason I‑Corps Manager. Over five weeks, teams participated in preliminary sessions on customer discovery, the art of pitching, and mentor meetings through ICAP mentors, Elizabeth Pyle and William McPheat, and SBDC mentor George Siragusa, culminating in an intensive NSF I‑Corps training experience.

Are you or someone you know a dedicated, driven, and innovative graduate level and upperclassmen undergraduate student pursuing innovation in deep science and/or tech? Inquire for the Spring 2026 cohort through the MIX website or contact Minjin Batzorig at mbatzor@gmu.edu

Reflections From Student Teams:

“Through the MIX Launchpad, we learned to validate assumptions through real customer conversations, sharpen our value proposition, and think like founders.” - Morolake Okanlawon, Yingjie Zhang, and Hsuanchih Kuo, AccelP3

“The biggest benefit for us was getting a chance to network with people in our industry who could help us take our business to the next step.” - Justin Luckenbach and Chelsea Camacho-Zambrana, Anvil Labs LLC.

“The MIX Pitch Entrepreneur Competition at Mason showed me that success comes from stepping out of comfort, embracing challenge, and growing through failure.“ - Xiaorong (Sherry) Shan, AeroHealth

“The biggest benefit has been the connections and the quality of experience that the mentors have. 2. I would say if you have an idea or business you should definitely apply as it's a great way of validating it and getting traction” - Josh Peterson, Aniwear

“The Launchpad pushed me out of my comfort zone and taught me one very important lesson - it’s not just about building a product; it's about building a product that people want.” - Nikhil Tirunagiri, Petal

Max Kazemzadeh
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