UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — An app that can help avoid allergy attacks when ordering meals from restaurants was the winning idea in the 2023 Bardusch Family IdeaMakers Challenge, held March 22 during Penn State Startup Week powered by PNC.

Meallergies received the top prize of $4,000 in the final pitch competition hosted by the College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST), which they’ll use to further explore and grow their idea. The finals concluded the six-week early-stage business idea competition where student teams were challenged to solve a problem by using digital innovation. 

Their solution highlights food allergens when ordering from restaurants by recommending safe menu items through personalized profiles that include dietary restrictions, preferences, and food allergies to prevent cross-contamination and allergic reactions. The team was inspired to develop the idea for the app after member Kaiden Halloran – who lives with a severe nut allergy – expressed dissatisfaction with allergen awareness and the lack of information on restaurant menus. 

“The previous day I had a severe allergy attack when I picked up a coffee,” Halloran explained. “I thought about how much more helpful it would’ve been if I knew what allergens were present in the coffee shop and how I could best notify staff.” 

To solve this issue, the team – which also included College of IST students Adam Kim, Sean McLaughlin, and Winston White – leaned on Halloran’s personal experiences to guide their thinking. 

“We thought of how big this could actually be, considering there are millions of people just like me who struggle with allergies when dining out,” he said. “It was easier for us to think about how to solve this issue once we followed the tracks of how I’ve personally dealt with this over my life.”

The $2,500 second-place prize was awarded to Local Lion Favors, who proposed a solution to coordinate gig-based services like cleaning and pet care for college students as they balance competing academic and personal demands. The team included College of IST students Max Coffee, Nick Drass, Aidan Fiermonte, and Samantha Kenny. 

The $1,000 third-place prize was awarded to physio(AI)d. Their solution proposed leveraging artificial intelligence to power a virtual coach that could provide more personalized physical therapy treatments. The team included College of Engineering students Shridhi Khandelwal, Nirmit Rathod, and Urja Singh. 

The competition started with 12 teams presenting short pitches to a panel of judges. The top seven teams were invited back to present final pitches to a new group of experts, which included David Hozza, lecturer, and Sharon Huang, professor, both in the College of IST. During the final event, Jamye Goldberg, founder of educational technology company Consequential Flowers, gave the keynote presentation on empowering young people to be bold in their ideas.

"All student teams pitched great ideas, gave polished and professional presentations, and provided insightful and thoughtful answers to our questions,” said Huang. “Meallergies and the other winning teams demonstrated a clear vision for their products and target markets that showcased innovative ideas with practical solutions. I’m excited to see the future development of their ideas because I strongly believe in their potential to be implemented and create a positive impact on people’s lives."

Lion Food Tracker, which proposed a data visualization app to minimize food waste on college campuses, was presented with the Dave Hall Award. The award is named for the late dean of the College of IST, who was instrumental in developing Startup Week and the IdeaMakers Challenge, and recognizes the team that best exemplifies the challenge’s spirit of collaboration and innovation. Team members included College of Engineering students Jude Bislig, Andy Chen, Minseo Kim, and Jack Liu, and College of IST student Britney Wang. 

Dave Fusco, associate teaching professor and director of experiential learning in the College of IST, organized the challenge and helped mentor students as they developed their ideas. He describes the event as a window into the minds of what our students are concerned about in today’s global challenges. 

Said Fusco, “I’ve always been driven by helping students find their passion and helping them get there. This event is important for me because it shows how students can work together in a short period of time to solve problems that are important to them.”   

The event’s format pushes students out of their comfort zones, helping them develop collaboration and communication skills that are critical for their future careers.  

“The event allows students to showcase how they can leverage technology to solve real-world challenges,” he said. “And since public speaking tends to be one of the things that gives students the most anxiety, this gives them a chance to improve on those skills.” 

The Bardusch Family IdeaMakers Challenge, supported by Penn State alumni Bob and Susan Bardusch, is a one-and-a-half month-long competition in which students receive mentoring from faculty, industry leaders and experienced entrepreneurs to develop their idea pitching skills for a chance to win prizes that advance their idea and professional network. In the final pitch challenge, interdisciplinary teams of undergraduate students present their early-stage business ideas where information technology is a core component of the business model. 

Learn more about the competition on the Bardusch Family IdeaMakers Challenge website.