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Yinyong Li and George Chang win First Prize in 2015 UMass Innovation Challenge

A team consisting of Yinyong Li (PS&E), George Chang (PS&E), Kris Kolewe (ChE), and Robert Flanagan (ISOM), have won this year’s top prize for their start-up, FogKicker, in the 2015 campus-wide UMass Innovation Challenge business plan competition. The team earned a prize of $25,000 and fast-track status in the prestigious MassChallenge Business Plan Competition. It also won the contest’s Audience Choice award.

FogKicker plans to market a coating that prevents fog formation on plastics, glass and other surfaces. The winning product, developed in Professor Kenneth R. Carter’s lab, is a novel coating that condenses fog-enabling moisture to a thin film of water. Its superior longevity includes its waterproof properties. The team’s target market is the sports goggle industry, notably snow sports, which have 25 million participants in the United States alone.

April 10, 2015