4/23/2026 Urvashi Jha and Julia Park
Written by Urvashi Jha and Julia Park
A MechSE-affiliated entrepreneurial team has won the Grand Prize in the Cozad New Venture Challenge at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The top award includes over $120,000 in total funding and prizes: $100K from TechNexus Venture Collaborative, $10K Paul Magelli Innovation Award from Illinois Ventures, and $10K from Origin Ventures.
Archean Sciences, co-founded by MechSE Associate Professor Mattia Gazzola and Austin Ellis-Mohr, a PhD student in electrical and computer engineering, is the winning startup through which they’re growing real human neurons on a chip and using them to transform how we develop drugs and run AI.
Today, testing treatments for neurological conditions (like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s) is slow, expensive and often inaccurate because lab models don’t reflect how the human brain works. Archean changes that by enabling faster, more predictive drug testing while also offering a far more energy-efficient alternative to traditional computing chips, which consume enormous amounts of energy. Neurons, by contrast, are extraordinarily energy efficient. Archean’s biological computing system can run AI workloads at a fraction of the energy cost of conventional silicon chips.
“This funding will allow us to build out our operations and team, expand our technical moat through targeted R&D, and iterate on our products and services,” said Ellis-Mohr. “More broadly, it marks an important early step in our effort to commercialize technology developed at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in service of our mission to advance science and improve health.”
Gazzola added, “I think that beside the monetary prize, the real value of the program lies in the coaching and exposure to potential investors. We really had to ‘rewire’ our brains and literally learn a new communication language, very different from the scientific one we are used to. Cozad helped us sharpen our message and understand mechanisms we are typically not concerned with in academia.”
A MechSE Senior Capstone Design team also saw success at the competition. PedalPro was one of four teams to each win $5,000 as part of the Landuyt Business and Engineering Partnership Prize.
The undergraduate student team – Mary Chronopoulou, Daniel Chun, Daniel Kim, and Bella Tortorici – under the faculty guidance of Gazzola, developed the innovative bedside mechanical pedal device. PedalPro is an affordable, lightweight, portable device that promotes active lower-leg movement to improve blood circulation and reduce the risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) during periods of immobility. Current methods used in hospitals to prevent DVT have limitations that include high cost, problems with patient compliance, and potential side effects. By replicating more natural movements, PedalPro shows greater results than passive compression and boasts lower operational costs for hospitals compared with pneumatic systems.
Now in its 26th year, the Landuyt Center for Entrepreneurship (name pending approval from the Board of Trustees) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign hosts the Cozad New Venture Challenge. This year, Illinois’ largest venture creation program attracted more than 350 teams and over 900 students and awarded more than $700,000 in investments and prizes, including its first-ever $100,000 grand prize.
Open to all U. of I. students, the semester-long program guides teams through every stage of venture creation — from validating an idea and refining a business model to pitching investors and tapping a broad network of mentors and resources. Since its founding in 2000, Cozad has awarded more than $5 million in funding and prizes and helped launch some of Illinois’ groundbreaking startups. This year, the program introduced four specialized tracks — Healthcare Transformation, Technology, Consumer Packaged Goods, and Online and Multi-Industry Innovation — giving teams targeted guidance tailored to their ventures.
Jed Taylor, Landuyt Executive Director of the Landuyt Center for Entrepreneurship and Assistant Dean for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Grainger Engineering, said, “Seeing a record number of teams this year and awarding our first-ever $100,000 grand prize reflects just how far this program has come and the incredible depth of entrepreneurial talent at Illinois. The transformational commitment from the Landuyts gives us the ability to grow this program in every dimension — larger prizes, deeper mentorship and more pathways for student ventures to reach the market.”
Beginning in February, participants developed their business concepts through workshops on customer discovery, value propositions, finances and presentation techniques. Last week, the competition advanced through two key stages: Demo Day on April 16, where about 200 teams pitched to nearly 300 judges at the Illinois Conference Center, followed by the Finals on April 17 at the I Hotel, where eight finalists competed for top prizes.