2019-2020 James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellows
Shrey Agrawal
Master of Integrated Innovation for Products and Services/Integrated Innovation Institute, Carnegie Institute of Technology
Shrey is a first-year Master's student in the MII-PS program, which is an interdisciplinary program across engineering, design and business. Before pursuing his degree at CMU, he completed his undergraduate degree in engineering at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He is passionate about consumer products, sustainable technology and innovation to make the lives of people easier by democratization of technology.
Apart from that, Shrey is interested in listening to music, playing guitar and likes playing badminton and basketball and lastly, talking to people. Feel free to reach out to talk about good music, grab a coffee or a small chat.
Melissa Bizzari
Masters in Business Administration, Tepper School of Business
Melissa is a first year MBA student at the Tepper School of Business. Prior to Tepper Melissa worked in various business operations and marketing roles at ClearEdge Partners a Boston based IT Consulting firm. Her main expertise lies in CRM and marketing automation solutions. Outside of work Melissa was captain of the Boston Blades, a professional women’s hockey team. Melissa graduated with a BA in Communication and minor in Environmental Studies from Boston College where she also played Division I ice hockey.
Melissa loves connecting others and building community. She is excited to join cross campus clubs like GEC (Graduate Entrepreneurship Club) and D&B (Design and Business Club) to facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration across all CMU programs. While at Tepper and participating in the Swartz Fellows program Melissa plans to combine her passion for technology and sports. As someone connected to sports Melissa is always looking to discuss emerging league business models, fan engagement and performance tech. Her entrepreneurial interests lie in startup business operations and venture capital.
If you’re interested in sports tech, business operations or just a big hockey fan feel free to connect with Melissa!
Rogerio Bonatti
PhD in Robotics, School of Computer Science
Rogerio is a PhD student in Robotics at the School of Computer Science. He is passionate about using the topics of his research in artificial intelligence and machine learning to develop robust robot intelligence in real-life settings. Rogerio aspires to build products that positively impact people's lives, making it safer, faster and cheaper for us to do activities which are currently dangerous or that take too many resources. He believes that his current research can become the basis for scalable robot autonomy solutions to be used in different markets such as agriculture, logistics and construction.
Prior to joining the PhD program, Rogerio completed his undergraduate degree in Mechatronics Engineering at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and also spent one year at Cornell University as a visiting student. During the Summer of 2019 he extended his CMU work at Microsoft Research, developing novel computer vision techniques to bridge the gap between learning behaviors with simulated and real-life data. He has also sought experiences outside the domain of research, having interned in management consulting at McKinsey & Co. and with additional experiences in banking and finance. Rogerio's goal is to combine his interdisciplinary knowledge into an entrepreneurial venture.
During his free time, Rogerio likes to practice sports, such as mountain biking in Pittsburgh's parks, or swimming to stay active. He also loves to meet new people. Whether you’re already part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem at CMU, an experienced professional or just want to discuss something geeky with him, feel free to reach out!
Emily Ellis
Masters in Business Administration, Tepper School of Business
Emily is a first-year MBA candidate at the Tepper School of Business. Prior to Tepper, she worked in various roles at Mondelez International, which included leading the US chocolate research and development platform at Mondelez International as well as launching new brands in the health snack space. Prior to Mondelez International, Emily earned her BS in Food Science from Penn State University where she held three internships at Campbell’s, Nestle and Mondelez International.
Emily’s entrepreneurial interests lie in the food and consumer product space, specifically in the health food area. As someone who has a love for travel, Emily is always looking for international food ideas to bring back to the US. Along with immersing herself in the Pittsburgh entrepreneurial ecosystem, Emily is looking forward to contributing to TWIB (Tepper Women in Business) and the GEC (Graduate Entrepreneurship Club) as a committee member. Emily is passionate about using food as a power for disease prevention and nourishment. She loves to talk about the food system and how tech can be leveraged to improve the food industry as we know it today, so email her if you are interested in talking about any of the above!
Christianne Francovich
Master of Design, School of Design
Christianne is currently a Master of Design candidate at the CMU School of Design. Throughout her educational and professional work, she designed solutions by combining creativity and imagination with engineering.
Prior to starting at CMU, she worked as a designer at Vanderlande. Vanderlande is a global supplier of automated material handling systems, clients include Amazon, FedEx and airports such as Atlanta and JFK. She gained experience in designing dynamic products and systems within a complex, technical and multi-stakeholder environment, both in the Netherlands as well as internationally. She also was one of the founding members of the first-ever User Experience team which aimed to improve the usability and experience of Vanderlande’s product portfolio.
Before Vanderlande, Christianne earned her BSc in Industrial Design Engineering at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. Christianne continues to be interested in the value of design within companies and is interested in exploring what design can bring to the entrepreneurial field.
Isha Hans
Master of Design, School of Design
Isha is currently a MDes candidate at CMU’s School of Design. She is interested in using Human-centered approach to design and integrating it with technology to make people’s lives better. Her entrepreneurial interests lie at the intersection of spatial design and technology in the healthcare sector and smart cities. She is particularly curious about the adaptability and scalability of new technologies like Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence for these sectors.
For 5 years prior to coming to CMU, Isha ran two separate businesses simultaneously: freelance architecture practice and an art brand under the name ‘PumBhirri’. Along with these, she also taught ‘Architectural Theory’ at architecture schools across Mumbai. Pursuing multitude of things has informed her ability to understand varied perspectives and she continues to be interested in working in interdisciplinary projects.
Isha also enjoys speculating future scenarios and watching Sci-fi shows. Feel free to reach out to her to collaborate on an Interdisciplinary project, or just chat about Design, Architecture, Augmented Reality, Speculative futures!
Aparna Jaggi
Master of Science in Engineering & Technology Innovation Management/Master of Science in Materials Science and Engineering, Carnegie Institute of Technology
Aparna is a final year dual Masters’ student studying Engineering & Technology Innovation Management and Materials Science & Engineering. Her research interests lie in the field of energy storage devices and she is passionate about bringing innovative ideas to the market.
Hailing from Singapore, Aparna received her Bachelor’s degree in Materials Science & Engineering at Nanyang Technological University, where she completed a two-year research project, leading to a publication in the Journal of Materials Chemistry. At CMU, Aparna is working towards combining her passion for materials with engineering management knowledge, so that she can one day fulfill her dream of running her own company in the materials industry.
When not thinking about batteries, Aparna enjoys travelling to new places and eating good food. Like every other young person, she spends too much time streaming videos online, cooking shows being her guilty pleasure. She also loves meeting and talking to new people, so feel free to reach out!
Mihir Joshi
Master’s in Chemical Engineering/Master’s of Science in Technology Ventures, Carnegie Institute of Technology
Mihir’s entrepreneurial interests lie within the sustainability space, which is why he chose to pursue a master’s in Chemical Engineering. He is particularly interested in deploying sustainable design strategies to produce consumer products, making alternate energy sources price-competitive, and repurposing carbon dioxide. This diverse set of interests is what led him to pursue a Master’s of Science in Technology Ventures as well, a program that focuses on developing business, design and engineering skills.
Prior to arriving at Carnegie Mellon University, Mihir completed his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), where he studied Chemical Engineering and Technology & Management. At UIUC, created a new route to market for Kraft Heinz and he developed an economic feasibility model for CO2 electrolysis, amongst other things. Studying at the intersection of business and engineering, along with internship, research and consulting opportunities related to corporate innovation is what drove him towards entrepreneurship.
During his free time, Mihir enjoys traveling, playing various sports and trying new restaurants. Feel free to reach out to Mihir if you are interested in talking about sustainability developments, startup ideas or sports - he loves to meet new people!
Daniel McDade
Masters in Business Administration, Tepper School of Business
Dan is a first-year MBA student at the Tepper School of Business. Prior to joining Tepper, Dan received his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Boston University. After graduating from BU, he went on to work for a variety of technology firms including Accenture and PayPal. Most recently, Dan was a Product Manager and Principal Data Scientist at a software analytics startup, InsightSquared. In this role, he led customer discovery, product development and go-to-market activities for innovative AI SaaS products that served thousands of users worldwide.
Throughout his education and career, Dan has developed a passion for inventing solutions to seemingly unsolvable problems and creating disruptive breakthroughs in businesses. Dan’s entrepreneurial interests lie utilizing analytics and machine learning to increase productivity and improve people's lives.
During his free time, Dan enjoys outdoor activities like kayaking and hiking. He is also an avid reader, movie buff and an amateur comedian. Feel free to reach out if you want to talk about startups, entrepreneurship or just to have a laugh.
Austen Sybert
Masters in Business Administration, Tepper School of Business
Austen is a first-year MBA candidate at the Tepper School of Business. With his proven ability to turn data into positive business outcomes, his post-grad goal is to grow a business by supercharging their data capabilities. His current startup research centers on solving a consumer problem by creating a platform that uses IoT and AI technology to personalize and widen the availability of a service.
Before starting at Tepper, Austen was a Technology Consultant with Accenture Digital's Applied Intelligence practice. There, he helped clients in a variety of industries use analytics and AI to drive impact at scale in their organizations. To achieve this success, Austen held a wide range of roles for his clients, including Product Manager, Program Manager and Development Team member.
For his undergraduate education, Austen studied Engineering and Entrepreneurship at Johns Hopkins University. Outside of working and learning, Austen loves endurance sports and backcountry skiing.
Austen is eager to collaborate and is a versatile team player with diverse experiences implementing the teams, processes and technology to generate optimal business outcomes from data.
Lois Weisfuse
Master of Science in Health Care Analytics & Information Technology, Heinz College School of Public Policy
Lois is a first-year Master’s in Health Care Analytics who is interested in the intersection between health care and technology. Prior to pursuing her degree at CMU, she worked as a senior data analyst at a health insurance technology startup in New York City. During her three years there, she linked disparate data sets together and helped build her company’s first internal and client-facing analytics dashboards. Previously, she received her undergraduate degree in Epidemiology at the University of Rochester.
Currently, her entrepreneurial interests include eliminating barriers to high-quality, mental health care, preventative medicine and value-based care through SaaS products. She is passionate about startups focused on making data-driven, business decisions. As a Swartz Fellow, she is excited to be a part of the CMU startup ecosystem and share her passion for digital health with her peers.
Brian Yan
Masters of Artificial Intelligence & Innovation, School of Computer Science
Brian believes that Artificial Intelligence has great potential to improve our lives by revolutionizing whole industries. He is on a mission to use AI to not only help machines understand people, but also help us better understand each other. In his current work, he is exploring big data problems that may unlock the next generation of customer experience and business intelligence.
Prior to CMU, Brian was a Strategy Consultant at Accenture. Brian helped clients in the communications, media and technology industries modernize by structuring technology investments and executing large-scale transformations. Now, he is continuing to pursue his passion for technology-driven innovation by deepening his domain knowledge and immersing in diverse communities of thought. As a Swartz Fellow, Brian is appreciative of the great ideas that are born from collaboration across disciplines.
Brian is always excited to chat about tech., economics, arts or sports - reach out if you want to grab coffee!
Thank you to our Swartz Center Patrons
