Funded by Singhal Family Seed Awards, CS student-run software ventures DevMinds and Pebl Health gave demonstrations of their products at the Pava Maria LaPere Center for Entrepreneurship’s Fuel accelerator Demo Day on April 22.
A collaboration between the Department of Computer Science and the Pava Center, the Singhal Family Seed Awards support student ventures in the Pava Center’s Fuel cohort to validate and develop ideas into products. Successful completion will prepare teams to scale up with the expectation that they will use the funds to develop product and business plans, evaluate and develop markets, identify customers, and grow their team.
Meet the Teams
Anika Mistry and Anvii Mishra with their Hustle Prize.
DevMinds is an AI-driven platform for therapeutic support that provides personalized, accessible learning experiences. Developed by Anika Mistry and Anvii Mishra and Anika Mistry, both undergraduates double-majoring in computer and cognitive science, this affordable, evidence-based alternative to in-person therapy can be implemented from your own home and enables users to practice social-emotional skills in an immersive and controlled environment, helping them gain independence and confidence in real-world interactions.
With the funding from its Singhal Family Seed Award, the DevMinds team is accelerating its research and development efforts to refine its AI-driven therapy modules and to expand its content with evidence-based strategies for therapists. Specifically, the team plans to invest in proprietary datasets, usability testing, and the development of dynamic learning modules to ensure its platform is both effective and personalized.
“This support is crucial in helping us bridge the gap between technology and special education, bringing an innovative and research-backed solution to neurodiverse learners and therapists,” says Mistry.
At Demo Day, Mistry and Mishra were excited to demonstrate their personalized therapy modules and showcase how they are leveraging AI to make special education more accessible and personalized, earning a $500 Hustle Prize in recognition of their improvement and progress in the Fuel accelerator. They look forward to continuing to share their progress, gathering valuable feedback, and connecting with educators, investors, and technologists who are passionate about driving innovation in neurodiverse learning.
Pebl Health team members Barak Reibman, Tarik Metin, and Ibrahim Jehanzeb.
To tackle the critical issue of late detection for neuromuscular disorders, frailty, and chronic illnesses, student startup Pebl Health is pioneering a pocket-sized smart device for remote health monitoring that provides an objective measurement of pinch strength, an innovative yet underutilized indicator of dexterity and overall health. Designed for ease of use by both patients and physicians, the device delivers quantifiable data for longitudinal health tracking, enabling real-time insights for proactive care and chronic illness management.
“Thanks to the support from the Fuel accelerator, we were able to build our first round of functional prototypes and bring our vision to life,” says Tarik Metin, a third-year computer science student and the chief technical officer of Pebl Health. “The Singhal Family Seed Award also allowed us to take the first steps in incorporating our company, patenting our technology, and manufacturing process control blocks and higher-quality demonstration devices.”
Having now showcased a working prototype and its companion software at Demo Day, the team—which includes fourth-year undergraduates Barak Reibman and Ibrahim Jehanzeb, third-year CS students Iason Mihalopoulos and Mohammed Siam, and students from the University of Maryland and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County—hopes to move forward with transforming how conditions like frailty are assessed and managed.