Each year, the Lassonde Enterprise Institute presents Student Innovation at the U, a celebration of student innovators, entrepreneurs and makers across the University of Utah. Lassonde is a nationally ranked hub for student entrepreneurship and innovation at the University of Utah and an interdisciplinary division of the David Eccles School of Business. The report highlights students who have connected through that hub, developing products, business ideas, and new technologies with its resources.   

This year’s report featured innovators from the College of Engineering are tackling complex global and local challenges. Their solutions are as practical as they are visionary.

 

Yana Qin working at a glove box.Sustainably Powering the Grid
Yana Qin, a Ph.D. student in chemical engineering, is pioneering a low-cost, non-flammable battery designed for large-scale energy storage. Traditional energy storage systems rely on lithium or vanadium, expensive, rare, and sometimes hazardous materials. Qin’s magnesium-organic flow battery replaces these with abundant magnesium and safe organic electrolytes. Her design reduces costs, eliminates fire risk, and supports scalable energy storage for microgrids and renewable energy systems, paving the way for a more sustainable power infrastructure.

 

A team of five students poses outside with their handheld device

Revolutionizing Cervical Cancer Screening
Biomedical engineering students Libby Brooks, Derek Lewis, Ryleigh Smith, Nathan Wallace and business student Ethan Betts, founded C-Blu, a medical device company addressing the limitations of cervical cancer screening in low-resource settings. Many areas still rely on visual inspection, which is often inaccurate. Their device uses targeted blue light to make precancerous cells fluoresce, enhancing visibility and biopsy precision. This can result in earlier, more accurate diagnoses that can save lives and support global health goals.

 

Jack Urness poses in front of a kitchenQuick, Healthy Meals for Students
Jack Urness, a mechanical engineering student, developed Up&Oat, a protein-packed overnight oat mix tailored for busy students. Many college students skip breakfast or settle for unhealthy options due to a lack of time or kitchen access. Up&Oat requires just water or milk, no stove, no mess, and delivers 23g of protein with no added sugar. It’s a dorm-friendly, nutritious start to the day.

 

Alex Farley posing outsideCommunity Resilience Through Smart Infrastructure
Electrical & Computer Engineering Ph.D. student Alex Farley is building Resilience Hubs, community spaces equipped with solar panels, batteries and smart thermostats to serve as energy-secure havens during natural disasters. These hubs are co-designed with local communities to meet specific needs and strengthen energy grid infrastructure in the face of power outages, heatwaves and other climate threats. The goal is long-term sustainability and disaster preparedness.

 

Dean Smith poses outsideSmarter Campus Parking
Computer engineering student Dean Smith, working with peers from BYU, co-founded Spot Parking, an AI-based system that tackles a common campus headache: inefficient parking enforcement. Schools often oversell parking permits but lack tools to monitor real-time use. Spot Parking uses cameras and license plate readers to track lot entry, identify violators and ensure only authorized vehicles park in designated areas, maximizing space use and reducing student frustration.

 

These projects reflect the ingenuity and problem-solving mindset of engineering students at the University of Utah. With the support of Lassonde and cross-disciplinary collaboration, they’re turning innovative ideas into real-world impact.