Students earn international recognition for innovative AI startup

NDSU doctoral students Pooyan Vahidi Pashaki and Benjamin Vahidi Pashaki recently earned runner-up honors at the Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge, an international competition celebrating student-led ventures that tackle global challenges through innovation and impact.

Representing their startup, Elevate BioTech, the pair received a $1,000 prize for their project aimed at transforming orthopedic surgery through artificial intelligence. Their project focuses on a software platform designed to improve surgical planning for ACL reconstruction by providing personalized, data-driven recommendations.

The platform uses AI to analyze patient-specific anatomical and biomechanical data, offering tailored guidance to surgeons. The goal is to enhance precision, reduce complications and improve recovery for patients undergoing ACL procedures.

Pooyan and Benjamin are pursuing their degrees under the mentorship of professors Kalpana Katti and Dinesh Katti, longtime faculty members known for their work in engineering and biomedical research.

Pooyan and Benjamin previously participated in the Center for Entrepreneurship and Family Business Problems to Possibilities program, where they were received a scholarship to develop their startup. Their participation in this program provided them with the opportunity from the center to compete in the Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge.

The Problems to Possibilities program focuses on social entrepreneurship ideas to equip students with critical systems thinking skills and community collaboration to solve real-world issues with innovative, research-backed solutions.

The students were guided through the year-long Problems to Possibilities program and advised for the Fowler challenge by Onnolee Nordstrom, Ozbun chair of entrepreneurship, and Jennifer Schillinger, P2P program coordinator.

The Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge, hosted by the University of San Diego, brings together student innovators from around the world to showcase solutions that address pressing social, environmental and health challenges.

For more information about NDSU’s research and student innovation, visit www.ndsu.edu.