news & events

Ready to start building a business? Applications for the Happy Valley LaunchBox powered by PNC Bank Fall 2023 FastTrack Accelerator program are open with a deadline set for midnight, Sept. 4. FastTrack Accelerator is a 10-week program that helps early-stage startups better refine their target audience, test the market and build an actionable plan to acquire customers or expand their business. As part of the program, participants gain access to: 1-on-1 expert mentoring, with access to 70+ advisers 1-year subscription to SOLIDWORKS and POWr.io plug-ins Funding for one semester intern through the Penn State College of Engineering School of Engineering Design and Innovation (SEDI)...

State College community member Aquito Young, like a lot of parents, would tuck his 9-year-old son into bed each night. However, when Aquito would go check up on him hours later, he would notice the covers had fallen off his son’s legs and feet. For Aquito, this was his ‘a-ha’ moment to create a solution. “My son is 17 now — it took some time for that idea to finally actualize,” Aquito said. “My background is in social working, where I was always trouble shooting and solving different issues, and it made sense that I always wanted to start my...

Münire Bozdemir has loved storytelling and learning since she was little. However, she grew up in a small town in Turkey at a time when it was not easy to find books. She was born during the aftermath of the 1980 Turkish coup d’etat — a time when books were heavily associated with political ideologies either due to their content or authors, she said. Motivated by a strong desire to tell stories, Bozdemir earned her bachelor’s degree in language education and her master's degree in cultural studies, and moved to the U.S. where she received her master of fine arts...

Eight Penn State student startups have been selected into the 2023 Invent Penn State Summer Founders Program. The Summer Founders Program provides teams with at least one Penn State student founder a $15,000 grant to work on their startup, social good, or nonprofit idea over the summer at Happy Valley LaunchBox powered by PNC Bank. “We have an incredible group of student startups selected into this year’s program,” said Elizabeth Hay, Jack White Family Director of Happy Valley LaunchBox. “The Summer Founders Program has featured some of Penn State’s best student startups and founders, who have achieved great success in building their...

As a soil science graduate student teaching at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, Zoelie Rivera-Ocasio found herself searching for ways to make studying soil more interesting in outreach activities for undergraduate students. In one of these outreach activities, she made soil-based paints for the students. The activity went so well, and she enjoyed the process so much, Rivera-Ocasio decided to pick up the activity as a hobby, she said. When she moved to the United States in 2021, the hobby turned into a serious business pursuit. Now a soil sciences and biogeochemistry doctoral candidate in the College of Agricultural Sciences at...