Stories ⋆ UCF Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership

April 13, 2021

Eco-Friendly Activewear Wins 2021 UCF Joust New Venture Competition

Soarce, founded by Derek Saltzman, Mason Mincey, Matthew Jaeger and Patrick Michel, is an advanced materials company developing sustainable nanocellulose technologies that transform underutilized biomass such as hemp, seaweed and grasses into high-performance industrial materials. Its proprietary nanofiber technology can strengthen and reinforce composites while reducing weight and material costs, enabling applications across industries including aerospace, automotive, energy and manufacturing.

February 26, 2021

UCF Graduates Win ‘People’s Choice’

Yaupon Brothers American Tea Co., founded by UCF brothers Bryon and Kyle White, is a beverage company reviving yaupon, the only caffeinated plant native to North America, as a locally grown alternative to traditional imported teas and coffee. The company grows and processes organic yaupon in Florida to create antioxidant-rich, naturally caffeinated teas while building new agricultural opportunities for farmers and promoting a sustainable crop that requires little water and no fertilizers or pesticides.

June 11, 2020

UCF Entrepreneurship Graduates Earn $5,000 to Launch New Businesses

FLUIX, founded by UCF alumni Abhishek Sastri and Eduardo Castillo, is an AI infrastructure company developing autonomous systems that optimize the energy use and performance of data centers and other critical facilities. Its A.I.M.I. platform connects fragmented HVAC, cooling, water and computing systems, using self-learning AI to dynamically manage infrastructure, reduce energy consumption and unlock additional computing capacity without requiring proportional increases in power.

April 5, 2018

Precision Periodic Unveils First Clean Process Critical Mineral Refinery for Nickel, Cobalt, Manganese

Precision Periodic, founded by Dylan Weitzman and Brandon Carpenter, is an advanced materials and critical minerals technology company developing proprietary Nano Beads™ and modular refining systems for the sustainable extraction, separation and purification of valuable materials. Originally developed to address environmental challenges from phosphate mining, the company has expanded its technology into critical mineral refining, developing a modular, clean-process refinery capable of converting nickel, cobalt and manganese feedstocks into battery-grade materials with minimal waste and water use, while also pursuing applications in battery recycling, mining, water treatment and isotope enrichment.