AI Innovation Challenge Inspires Students' Entrepreneurial Spirit
Four teams of student-entrepreneurs took home cash prizes at the College of Charleston's AI Innovation Challenge.
Above (l–r): AI Innovation Challenge winners Kate Seltzer, Sarah Huys, Holly Worth, Kami Beats, Nikolai Sarlo, Grace Moffat, Brooke Clapprood, Raquel Cross and Alexander Leporati
Let’s face it: AI is everywhere. And if it’s not already, it’s only a matter of time before it’s touching every aspect of our lives in some way or another.
Just look at the artificial intelligence applications that won cash prizes at this year’s AI Innovation Challenge, where College of Charleston students pitched their AI-powered solutions for everything from water quality to academic organization to drug detection to mocktail production.
The College of Charleston Founders Club and Center for Entrepreneurship designed this pitch competition to inspire CofC undergraduates to use innovation and entrepreneurial thinking as they apply AI to solve real-world problems in business, education, health and society.
Students were encouraged to use AI tools throughout their process, from researching a problem to brainstorming innovative solutions to refining their pitch deck.
“The AI Innovation Challenge showcased the incredible creativity and ambition of our students,” says David Wyman, associate chair of the Department of Management and Marketing. “It was our best competition to date. The students did a phenomenal job!”
The Pitch Competition
Of the 70 teams of CofC students that submitted their bold, innovative ideas for this year’s competition, seven made it all the way to the final pitches. There, the finalists pitched their ideas for four minutes, with four additional minutes of questions from a panel of 12 accomplished entrepreneurs and industry leaders.
“Watching students support one another, take bold risks and grow with every step showed us what’s possible when young innovators are empowered,” says Honors student Lily Kirkland, a senior majoring in philosophy. She and junior business administration and economics major Ro Noktes spearheaded the competition and MCed the final pitch event on Nov. 20.
“Events like this strengthen the College by giving students hands-on experience with cutting-edge tools while also generating ideas that can genuinely benefit the Charleston community and beyond,” says Wyman. “It wasn’t just a competition – it was a glimpse into the future of problem-solving, entrepreneurship and collaboration.”
“This experience reminded us why creating opportunities like this matters,” notes Noktes, “and we couldn’t be prouder of what everyone achieved.”
And, while each of the student teams that pitched their ideas at the event achieved something impressive, only four teams were selected by the 12 members of the Center for Entrepreneurship Advisory Board to win cash prizes.
2025 AI Innovation Challenge Winners
Coming in first was the Project HAB team, made up of senior environmental sciences major Sophia Mucci, senior biology major Nikolai Sarlo and senior geology major Kami Beats, who were awarded $5,000 to further advance their project.
Project HAB is an AI-powered service that predicts harmful algal blooms by analyzing chlorophyll-a levels in Earth’s water using satellite imagery. By taking data from NASA and USGS and enhancing it through our models with machine learning, the platform provides near real-time water quality insights without costly testing or constant manpower. This gives communities, aquaculture centers and other industries early warnings that aid to protect public health, reduce economic losses and make advanced water monitoring accessible to places with limited resources.
Second place went to Alexander Leporati, who won $2,500 to continue building out his academic assistance project, Classmate.
“A huge thank-you to the judges, mentors and everyone at the School of Business for their guidance and encouragement,” says the junior. “I’m grateful and even more excited to keep building.”
Classmate is built around the real human experience of being a college student – not the fragmented systems they’re forced to use. Instead of asking students to juggle OAKS, Pulse, planners, calendars and endless PDFs, Classmate brings everything into one clear, calming space. It automatically extracts deadlines, organizes course materials and creates personalized study plans that match how students actually think and work. Classmate looks to reduce stress, restore control and give students the one thing they’ve never had in college: a simple, human-centered way to stay on top of their academic life.
Juniors Brooke Madison Clapprood, Raquel Cross and Grace Moffat took home the third-place prize of $1,500 for their project, NEXO.
NEXO is a sleek, portable device that snaps onto your smartphone or fits discreetly in your purse or pocket, transforming it into a real-time chemical scanner powered by advanced AI. With one quick scan, NEXO analyzes drinks or powders and instantly detects dangerous substances, from date-rape drugs to lethal chemicals like fentanyl. No guessing, no relying on single-substance strips. NEXO delivers lab-level protection anywhere, on a night out, in a dorm or in everyday life. It’s fast, discreet and designed to save lives before tragedy ever has the chance to begin.
“We’ve spent the semester building a real product from the ground up, testing product-market fit, refining our pricing strategy and learning how to position an idea for real-world adoption,” says Cross, adding that she appreciated the panel’s “thoughtful, high-level questions about the technology, the market and the impact of our solution, and it was an incredible experience.”
It wasn’t just the panel of judges who got to pick the winners, though. The audience also had the opportunity to vote for their favorite: NOLO – a wellness-focused mocktail created for mindful celebration, empowering everyone to enjoy the moment, stay present and feel good.
The NOLO team – made up of senior marketing major Sarah Huys and senior hospitality and tourism management majors Kate Seltzer and Holly Worth – earned $1,000 for being the audience favorite.
NOLO is a canned wellness mocktail crafted to make not drinking feel just as fun, elevated and social as pouring a cocktail. Whether you crack open a can or shake it over ice, NOLO turns wellness into a ritual, keeping the vibe of a night out without the morning regret and proving that choosing health never means losing connection. We use AI to optimize shipping pallets and forecast demand, reducing costs and waste while keeping our logistics smart and efficient. The result? Fresher product, fewer hiccups and a seamless experience from our production line to your hands; so every sip of NOLO feels effortless.
“We showcased how we’ve already integrated AI into our process, from flavor ideation to logo development, and our plans to use AI to forecast product demand, manage inventory, optimize shipping and help us scale smarter,” says Seltzer, adding that she enjoyed “collaborating with others and learning from my classmates and the guest judges who pushed our thinking.
“This was such an exciting and rewarding moment for our team,” she continues. “Thank you to the College of Charleston Founders Club for hosting such an inspiring event and giving students the opportunity to bring their ideas to life!”
