2023 Starter Grant Winner: Saint Lev
We are proud to announce Saint Lev, consisting of Akil Foster and Gautaman (Gaudi) Asirwatham (both ME '25) as the recipient of our 2023 Starter Grant!
Their product, You2, aims to integrate NFC technology into clothing to allow local brands to sell their products through their customers. The product will be in the form of a brooch that can be easily attached and detached from any garment. The brooch will feature a luxurious design and will contain an NFC chip that can be scanned by smartphones to access product information and purchase options.
2023 Grant Winner:
PreFent
We are proud to announce Team PreFent: David Madrigal and Nicole Shamayev (both CE '24) as the recipient of our 2023 Grant!
PreFent is a single-use pocket fentanyl screener. The mechanism solubilizes a dry chemical to facilitate any lateral flow test; for first responders and individuals susceptible to fentanyl overdose, the PreFent offers a much faster and compact testing time than the conventional method of testing. When it goes to market, the Prefent solution may be a life-saving tool that can be an important part of managing the fentanyl crisis.
2022 Starter Grant Winner: Bettercharge
We are proud to announce team Bettercharge, consisting of Daniel Zaretsky (ME'24) and Maya Grutman (ME'24) as the recipient of our 2022 Starter Grant!
Their goal is to prevent single use batteries from ending up in landfills. They hope to do this by setting up a network of battery recycling bins in local businesses to make the process more convenient for the average consumer. They aim to reuse certain battery components for future batteries and recycle the components that remain.
2022 Grant Winner: Cooper Purple
We are proud to announce Cooper Purple: Seokwoo (Ryan) Chung (ME '25), Julian Lam (ChE '25), Joonhyuk Woo (Arch '26), and Kyle Ku as the recipient of our 2022 Grant!
Cooper Purple strives to create new fashionable and customizable clothing and items from various recycled materials. Currently, they are experimenting with discarded clothing, but will also branch out with raw materials like discarded wood or bamboo to create biodegradable and environment-friendly material. Their final goal is to use recycled, biodegradable materials to create a wide variety of fashionable products.
2021 Starter Grant Winner: Ekosfere
Ekosfere was founded by sisters Irisa (EE '21) and Ana Llana to bring natural, sustainable products to NYC. Providing personal care, cleaning, and beauty products Ekosfere aims to show customers how easy it is to be sustainable. They will even deliver bulk refills to your apartment door! Ekosfere has already opened a pop-up store in Bryant Park, launched their website, and will be moving into a new storefront space soon.
2020 Grant Winner: Cutouts
Team CUTOUTs is a team of Cooper electrical and mechanical engineering students, consisting of Kevin Kerliu (EE '21). Eugene Jeong (ME '23) and Hans Kiessling (ME '24). We aim to create a more sustainable future by addressing the wastefulness of the current cardboard industry - our planet cannot keep up with it for much longer. With the help of our mentors at Maroon and Gold Labs and our own distinct backgrounds, we hope to solve this problem by reusing wastepaper to create a competitor in the cardboard industry.
2020 Starter Grant Winner: Team BUSB.U.S.
Team B.U.S. consists of Jesse Hall, Tyler Pelayo, Dipto Saha, and Colin Hwang (all EE '24). They are creating energy-efficient solar-powered displays that will help alert commuters about real-time bus arrival times.
2020 Grant Winner:
CROMAS Shoe Company
Congratulations to Team CROMAS: Chris Mignano, Enea Dushaj, and Yuval Philipson (all ME '21) for winning the Spring 2020 M&G Grant! CROMAS is combining innovative designs with sustainable materials in order to reduce waste and provide customizable individualized shoes.
They have received half of their $5k grant and will be awarded the second half upon the completion of their milestones. They are receiving mentorship from alum JP Nahmias (BSE '03), an official mentor of Maroon and Gold Labs. You can see our full mentor list here. Feel free to contact them at cromas.shoes@gmail.com!
2019 Grant Winner: TwistTalk
Twist Talk
"It's only at this tiny school that such a benevolent yet experienced organization could ever form, and I'm really thankful for that." - Brian Chung EE '21
Congratulations to Brian Chung (EE '21) and Hannah Quirk (ME '21) for successfully completing their milestones for Twist Talk, earning the second half of the $5k grant! If you have any questions for them, you can reach them at twisttalk18@gmail.com.
Mentors at Maroon and Gold Labs have helped TwistTalk inventors Brian Chung and Hannah Quirk reach several important milestones including creating a working prototype, meeting legal requirements for patient testing, and piloting the prototype.
What We Do
Maroon and Gold Labs is a non-profit corporation that is designed to incubate ideas created by Cooper Union students, staff, faculty and alumni. Cooper teams are mentored and compensated as they refine ideas. Preference will be given to interdisciplinary teams.
How It Works
Cooper teams apply to the program with an idea for a new venture. Teams that are accepted into the lab will develop their idea while receiving support from alumni mentors. At the end of each academic cycle, teams will report on their progress and be eligible for continued support from the lab.
Our Team
We are a diverse group of entrepreneurs and innovators. All members of the founding team are Cooper Union alumni mentors for student teams dedicated to building our community.
Jean Chung Co-Founder
BsE '91
Highmore GI Capital, Chief Investment Officer. Patent attorney. Adjunct entrepreneurship professor
Kim Holleman Director of Innovation
A '95
Interdisciplinary Artist and Founder of WildflowerDesigning.com, Former Visiting Scholar and Research Affiliate, MIT Media Lab
Larry Ng Advisor
EE '78
Board/Advisor to several start-ups; Wall Street Systems, Co-owner; Moneyline Telerate, Founder & EVP; TradeWeb, Founder & CIO; MarketAxess, Founder.
Howie Rosenblatt Co-Founder
EE '91
Head Of Engineering at Edmit. Adjunct entrepreneurship professor
Phil Weisberg Co-founder
EE '89
Founder at Matzliach Capital, Former CEO FXall, Former Head of FX, Rates, Credit at Thomson Reuters.
Austin Wong Director of Operations
ME '17, M.ME '19
STEM Teacher at Grace Church School, TrioCup Co-founder.
Keep In Touch
Let us know how we can help your ideas become a reality!
