Celebrating the Winners of the 2025 Minnesota Crucible Prize

Congratulations to the winners of the 2025 Minnesota Crucible Prize, sponsored by Navjot Singh (PhD ChE ’94) and Nithya Iyer Singh (MS Pharmaceutics ’94). The Minnesota Crucible Prize competition invited participants to present a 10-minute pitch followed by five minutes of Q&A to a panel of two commercialization experts. The top three teams were awarded prizes of $2,000, $500, and $250.

This year's winner is CEMS graduate student Zachary McAllister with his pitch for "SurfactInc," which hopes to usher in a new future of synthetic surfactant treatments and eliminate the hundreds and thousands of unnecessary deaths due to newborn respiratory distress syndrome (NRDS) around the world.

Congratulations to all the finalists. Below are listed the top 3 teams along with an honorable mention.

1st Place: Zachary McAllister with "SurfactInc"

SurfactInc® is committed to ushering in a new future of synthetic surfactant treatments and eliminating the hundreds and thousands of unnecessary deaths due to newborn respiratory distress syndrome (NRDS) around the world.

2nd Prize: Rohith Saradhy and Nileena Nandakumaran with “Femtotime”

Femtotime has developed a novel refractometer technology that helps manufacturing industries dynamically control production processes and assess product quality by providing robust and reliable refractive index (RI) measurements at a fraction of the cost of traditional equipment.

3rd Prize:  Lina Abu-Absi, Sri Aashrita Boddu, and Yejin Kwon with ”Innovative Elements”

Innovative Elements commercializes per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) phytoremediation method that bolsters the hemp plant’s natural ability to remove toxic chemicals from the environment with the help of ultraporous mesostructured silica nanoparticles.

Honorable Mention: Ruth Bello, Luca Buiarelli, and Valentina Camelo Vega with “BoozeBites Co.”

BoozeBites are gummies infused with alcohol and beneficial compounds such as zinc and vitamin B, designed to mitigate hangover effects the day after being consumed.