Three faculty members and 24 students from the U of A College of Engineering have been selected to join the inaugural cohort of FLIPspace: Advanced Mobility Arkansas, a cutting-edge program by VentureWell designed to address transportation issues in Arkansas and empower regional innovators to create impactful solutions.

The seven-month program gives participants access to federal intellectual property such as software and technology, innovation lab space and expert mentorship, equipping teams to design and launch solutions that improve the efficiency, safety and sustainability of how people and products move throughout Arkansas.

Projects developed during FLIPspace will seek to address challenges such as limited transit access in rural areas, efficiency of freight systems and sustainable mobility options for communities.

Associate professor Sarah Hernandez, teaching assistant professor Lekshmi Sasidharan and assistant professor Suman Mitra, all with the Department of Civil Engineering, will participate on two of the program's 11 teams.

"The program is introducing our students to the world of research commercialization," Hernandez said. "Through the program, we engage with expert venture capital groups, patent developers and product developers. This is something we don't traditionally cover in our engineering programs and is valuable for students looking to become entrepreneurs."

Each team will participate in a culminating pitch competition where they present their ideas to Highway Ventures, a Bentonville-based venture studio, for potential funding and incubation.

College of Engineering students selected for the program are:

• Geoffery Agorku, civil engineering
• Bekzod Akhmuratov, industrial engineering
• Mohammad Tahir Ansari, civil engineering
• Neda Adeli Ardabili, industrial engineering
• Karla Diaz-Corro, civil engineering
• Anindya Debnath, civil engineering
• Baldev Giri, civil engineering
• Brenda Hernandez, industrial engineering
• Leire Ashqui Lopez, civil engineering
• Lika Mamiseishvili, civil engineering
• Arna Nishita Nithila, civil engineering
• Adedolapo Ogungbire, civil engineering
• Toluwanimi Ogundipe, civil engineering
• Uttamasha Anjally Oyshi, computer science
• Saurav Pokharel, civil engineering
• Pratik Pokharel, civil engineering
• Anik Roy, civil engineering
• Milad Sangsefidi, mechanical sngineering
• Sagar Silwal, civil engineering
• Najee Stubbs, mechanical sngineering
• Joel Takow, industrial engineering
• Mubarak Thanni, civil engineering
• Amarjeet Tiwari, civil engineering
• Mehdi Zolali, civil engineering

"This program equips innovators with the tools, resources and connections to transform Arkansas' transportation landscape," said Tara Loomis, program director of Federal Innovation at VentureWell. "FLIPspace represents a collaborative effort to shape the future of mobility in Arkansas."

This program is supported by the Walton Family Foundation, Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer, Highway Ventures, the Licensing Executives Society, Venture Mentoring Team and the Institute for Integrative and Innovative Research at the U of A.

Learn more about FLIPspace: Advanced Mobility Arkansas and the selected cohort.