UB RISE Special Thanks

UB RISE Committee

Shannon Hashemi, DBA, Chair
Meredith Gaffney, MPH, Vice Chair
Julie Demers, MA, CRA, Coordinator

UB RISE Subcommittee chairs

Elizabeth Fles, PhD, Fred Ferraro, MS, Vinod Dhar, PhD, Sherri Dente, Esq, Lorraine Taylor (’76), Bill Moran (’74), Eric Lehman, MA, Rebecca Bruckenstein, MA (‘16)

UB RISE members

Michael Ciolfi, DC, Khaled Elleithy, PhD, Amy Nawrocki, MFA, Mohammed Aljamal, MA (‘21), Elizabeth Alves, MEM, Siobhan Blaze, Marco Bonett Matiz, PhD, Deanna DiLuggo, EdD, Fredrick Dombrowski, PhD, Rosaura Frias, MSDH, Maria Gherasimova, PhD, Trina Henderson, Kristy Huntley, PhD, Prathyusha Jaddu, Kevin Kelliher, PhD, Caitlin McGuire, Myia Powell-Baldwin, MA (‘16), Abhi Patel, MSM (’21,’24) Yvrose Romulus, MA (‘16), Nadine Spring, PhD (’06), Stephanie Staffey, MA, Cliff Thermer, EdD, Jennifer Weiss, LAc

Faculty competitive poster judges

Christine Hempowicz, EdD, CRA (’10), Managing Director, McAllister & Quinn

Monette M. Ferguson, EdD (’17), Executive Director, Alliance for Community Empowerment

Vita A. Vernace, PhD, Director Natural Sciences, Goodwin University

UB/GU faculty/staff student poster judges

Jessica Andre, Begum Aliya, Justin Caithaml, John Chick, Deana DiLuggo, Donna Eastabrooks, Kitty Engelmann, Fred Ferraro, Elizabeth Fles, Rosaura Frias, Ashley Guest, Navarun Gupta, Abu Gafar Hossion, Cassidy Haigh, Kristy Huntley, Kevin Kelliher, Mary Lamothe, Art McAdams, Patricia Mulcahy-Ernt, Leticia Orozco, Mayank Patel, Rachel Rogers, Nadine Spring, Md Khabir Uddin, Jeffrey Vance, Matthew Van Voorhis, Peiqiao Wu, Xingguo Xiong

UB/Goodwin staff volunteers

Allison Chann, Janice Faye, Bill Foglio, Rob Gerowe, Stephen Giambra, Richard Hebert, Scott Hughes, Matt Kuhar, Ian McDonald, Jack Mindek, Ivan Moreno, Karrie Morin, Jason Sagaci, Malhar Sharma, Patricia Varvella, Ben Travers, Trinadh Venna, MS (’16), April Vournelis

UB student judges

Ashama Thapa Magar, Alaina Rinchere, Bipin Dhungana, Bushra Rayyan, Carleen Thomas, Chetna Rana, David Morrissey, Ernest Dinh Cuong Nguyen, Esther Ayodele, Godwin Agyei-Owusu, Hari Sriya, Hillary Deane, Jannatul Ferdaus Liza, Kevin Katrodiya, Likith Reddy, Lucia Tomiello, Mihir Patel, Naima Dewan, Nalini Naidu Gorajana, Nisita Pansuriya, Santosh Thalluri, Shivakantha Naganaik, Venugopal Pentalu

External volunteers

Bruce Lorentzen, Hope Nyarady

UB alumni judges/volunteers

Jim Andrews (’93), Deepalakshmi “Dolly” Balaji (’22), Dennis Brotherton (’86), Hosik Choi, MS (’99, ’07), Garry Hoffman, (’87), Claire Victoria Loe, Marcia Lorentzen, EdD (’76, ’01, ’11), Bill Moran (’74), Gordon Stier (’77), James H. Swain, (’75), Lavanda Wright (’16)

UB Industry Advisory Board members

Jim Andrews, Barbara James, Bill Moran, Mike Roer

UB Fusion Ensemble: Russell Fisher, Riley Nystrom, Jaydn Sandy, Mya Hall, Tif Serrano, Marvin Fenwick, Samantha Wilson, Barry Tenesaca, Logan Molinari, Evan Solis, Olivia Southwick, Gabriel Vasconez, Marisa Crawford

High school poster advisors

Lindsey McCarthy, Sara Reeves, Amity High School; Kirk Shadle, MS (’06) Bridgeport Regional Vocational Aquaculture School; Shannon Hashemi, DBA, Easton Country Day High School; Sue Dougherty, Stamford High School; Abu Gafar Hossion, The Bridge Academy; Dionne Cross, Warren Harding HS

UB faculty poster advisors

College of Engineering, Business & Education

Abhilasha Tibrewal, MS (’00,’01), Ahmed El-Sayed, PhD (’11, ’16), Arthur McAdams, PhD, Ausif Mahmood, PhD, Dan Tenney, PhD (’20), Jani Macari Pallis, PhD, Junling Hu, PhD, Khaled Elleithy, PhD, Lauren Francese, EdD, Navarun Gupta, PhD, Peiqiao Wu, PhD (’22), Peter Cavanaugh, EdD, Sarosh Patel, PhD (’12), Xingguo Xiong, PhD, Zheng Li, PhD, Ali Baker, PhD, Harold Hartmann, Jr., CFP, Timothy Raynor, DBA, Christopher Szpryngel, PhD, Congsheng Wu, PhD, John Chick, EdD (’10, ’19, ’23), Deana DiLuggo, EdD, Kerry Jones, EdD, Laura Morello, EdD, Patricia Mulcahy-Ernt, PhD, Jeffrey Vance EdD, (’18)

College of Health Sciences

Robert Femminella, PhD, Meghan Gonick, ND, MSAC, Lisa Laughlin, Michelle Lea, PA-C, Nadine Spring, PhD (’06), Margaret Zayan

College of Science & Society

Michael Brelsford, Abu Gafar Hossion, PhD, Cassidy Haigh, PhD, David Peterson, EdD, Spiros Katsifis, PhD

UB staff poster advisors

Elizabeth Alves, MEM, Julie F. Demers, CRA, Brenda Harrison, DHSc, Aamir Kadri, MS, Eric Lehman, MA, Sandeep Mannava, MS (’19), Alden Minick, JD, Trinadh Venna, MS (’19)

Goodwin University Marketing & Communications

Phil Moore, Erica Goulet, Peter Decoteau, Abby Levandoski, Bri Gagne, Grace Kuraska, Meg McAdams, Geonna Snyder, Charissa Bass, Jacob Toomey, Codi Alberti, Susanna Seery, Maryam Aqdas, Sibley Muschinsky, Kim Frutuoso, Sebastian Trabucco, Sara Kennedy

Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety

CT Highway Safety Office: Bryan Pavlik & Pratiti Tagore, PhD

KEA Technologies: Maura Campbell, Project Manager and Research Coordinator; Michael Willis, VP of Operations; Rebecca Shannon Spicer, Epidemiologist and Senior Research Scientist; Sarah Seidman, Senior Software Engineer (Remote)

Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety (ACTS) Representative George Bishop

Event volunteers

Evans Awuah, Panindra Balisetti, Shreya Baniya, Victor Cardenas, Cem Celik, Alvin Jonah Francis, Karen Garza, Joshua Howell, Aiden Hughes, Soniya Karki, Aminata Konate, Juan Carlos Magdaleno, Lucas Mah, Juana Lizbeth Monter, Ernest Dinh Cuong Nguyen, Godwin Agyei Owusu, Mansi Panchal, Ashwini Pandit, Dhruvin Patel, Leslye Quizhpi, Nagasai Bhargav Siddineni

Student posters & alumni awards

Barbara James (’74, ’77)
Ajay Shrestha (’02, ’06, ’19)
Gordon Stier (’77)
Lorraine Taylor (’76)

Gold Sponsors

UB Offices of the President, Provost, Innovation, Strategy, and Advancement, and Finance

Alumni & Friends Sponsors

UB Board of Trustees Treasurer, Barbara James (’74, ’77), William “Bill” Moran (’74), Ajay Shrestha (’02, ’06, ’19), Gordon Stier (’77), Lorraine Taylor (’76), Pina Demers

Business/faculty donors for special prizes

Faculty Competitive Award

Climate Innovation Award

Michael Roer (’08)
Judges: Joe Ziskin, Adviser to the UB Innovation Center, George Logan, Aquarion Water Company, Mike Roer, Entrepreneurship Foundation

Optimizing Business Profitability Through the Use of Artificial Intelligence Award

Dr. Shannon Hashemi, CMA
Dr. Al Daneshfar, CMA

Quantum Computing Applications Award

Khaled Elleithy, PhD

University of Bridgeport Student Business Plan Pitch Competition

Bauer Hall Innovation Center, Elena Cahill, JD (’91), Sherri Dente, Esq
The NorthEast Community Innovation Corp. (NCIC)
Tradewinds Shopping Center, Middletown, CT
Judges: Dan Tenney, PhD (’20), Gad Selig, DBA, Shannon Hashemi, DBA, Bill Moran (’74), Art Landi ('75)

UB offices & Student Club Sponsors

Admissions Office
Purple Knights Coffee & Ernest C. Trefz School of Business
UB Clinics
BRIDGES Student International

Student Entrepreneur Club, VP Elena Cahill, JD (’91)
Psychology Club, Dr. Elizabeth “Elise” Fles
American Society for Mechanical Engineering (ASME), Dr. Junling “Joyce” Hu

High School Sponsors

ANGIE’S at AQUA Seafood Market
Bridgeport Aquaculture School 60 St. Stephens Road, Bridgeport CT 06605