Dilshawn Gamage and Hetince Zhao compete for the Hult Prize

March 9, 2018

Two biomedical engineering undergraduates – Dilshawn Gamage ’19 and Hetince Zhao ’18 – are on teams competing in regional semifinals for the Hult Prize, the world’s largest social entrepreneurship contest.

First prize is $1 million in seed capital, presented by former president Bill Clinton at the United Nations in September. This year’s Hult Challenge, selected by President Clinton, is: “Harnessing the power of energy to transform the lives of 10 million people.”

Dilshawn, along with Annamarie Forestiere ’18 (business, music); Nicholas Cheng ’18 (financial economics, psychology); and Chase Lindemann ’19 (physics, economics), are competing in Dubai as Plate Technologies. Their project: To provide an alternative to open-fire cooking to populations in developing nations—portable stoves powered by renewable energy sources.

Hetince (at right in photo below), along with Allen Chen ’19 (neuroscience); Isaac Wong ’19 (computational biology, computer science); and Krista Pipho ’18 (cell and developmental biology) are competing in Singapore as UR Connected. Their project: To create a wearable assistive technology that aims to improve self-care and social interaction among isolated elderly populations in developed nations.

Hetine Zhao is seen at right in photo of the UR Connected team presenting their plan last fall.