2026 Minnesota Crucible Prize Results
Judges for the MN Crucible Prize
Judges for the 2026 Crucible Prize from left to right: Dr. Andrew Jones, Rayla Vilar, and Naomi Walsh.

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (04/27/2026) — The Department of Chemical Engineering & Materials Science (CEMS) hosts the Minnesota Crucible Prize commercialization competition for entrepreneur and intrapreneur students and post-doctoral scholars of the University of Minnesota focused on chemicals and materials technologies. The Prize is made possible by the generous support of Dr. Navjot Singh (PhD ChE '94) and Nithya Iyer Singh (MS Pharmaceutics '94) with the aim of fostering entrepreneurship among the CEMS community of faculty and students.

Friday, April 24, 2026:  8:30 AM – 2:00 PM (Central Daylight Time)

Location: Amundson Hall, University of Minnesota, 421 Washington Ave. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455

Top Prize: $2000, 2nd Prize:  $500, 3rd Prize: $250

2026 Judges:

  • Dr. Andrew Jones, CEO of Carba
  • Rayla Vilar, Technology Portfolio Manager, University of Minnesota
  • Naomi Walsh, Technology Licensing Manager, University of Minnesota

First Place: Otovera

Ananya Sahu

Ananya Sahu standing in front of a slide reading Otovera

Middle ear infections are the leading cause of hospital visits for children in the US. A 10-day course of high-dose oral antibiotics remains the “gold standard” treatment, yet it is associated with poor patient compliance, side effects, and increased risk of antibiotic resistance. Otovera offers a single-dose topical gel to treat middle ear infections.  

2nd Place: Aqvionics

Meenal Rathi, Pragnya Chatterjee, Musarrat Makhnun

Students in front of a slide that reads Aqvionics

The performance of the global foam and coating industries relies entirely on the stability of aqueous surfactant interfaces. Current market leaders are limited by environmental toxicity, hydrolytic instability, and high material costs. Therefore, we introduce two novel, fluorine-free, and siloxane-free surfactant formulations designed to potentially outperform existing legacy standards.  

3rd Place: PerovaVolt

Erik Fredrickson

Erik in front of a slide that reads PerovaVolt

PerovaVolt is a company leveraging a growing need for longer lasting, customizable, stable, and increasingly smaller batteries. PerovaVolt’s thin flexible batteries use novel architecture and the beta decay of a hydrogen isotope to generate reliable power that is first aiming to enter the $7.28 billion market in pipeline monitoring.  

Honorable Mention: Echoderm

Christopher Akiki, Saam Rasool

Students in front of a slide that reads Echoderm

Nearly half of all US adults suffer from cardiovascular disease or hypertension. Cuff-based blood pressure monitoring is accurate and reliable, but for those who need to self-check frequently, it’s a bulky and inconvenient solution. Our solution is a low-cost, wearable device that provides accurate and continuous blood pressure monitoring, and communicates wirelessly with your smart devices to keep you informed about your health.  

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