UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Student and faculty researchers in Penn State’s Department of Electrical Engineering presented their work at the 2026 Electrical Engineering Student Research Poster Competition, which took place on April 6 in the Electrical Engineering West Building at University Park. Among the presenters were awardee teams from the department’s two new EEntrepreneurship programs, who showcased their progress toward commercializing their research.
Student entrepreneurs were awarded through the Be an EEntrepreneur program, while faculty entrepreneurs were awarded through the Be a Deep Tech Faculty EEntrepreneur program. Applicants for both programs submitted their proposals in fall 2025, and the awardee teams were selected by a committee of experts and received funding for a full year starting Jan. 1. During this competition, the teams presented on their work so far.
“An entrepreneurial mindset can help students in many ways, including landing higher paying jobs,” said Madhavan Swaminathan, William E. Leonhard Endowed Chair and department head of electrical engineering. “It is therefore critical that we support a program on entrepreneurship within the department.”
The Be an EEntrepreneur program supports undergraduate and graduate student teams. Over the course of the program, students identify a real-world problem and conceptualize a solution, working on their projects as part of their entrepreneurship and capstone coursework. Students also gain experience in creating intellectual property, building prototypes, conducting market analyses, developing preliminary business plans and pitching entrepreneurial ideas.
The Be a Deep Tech Faculty EEntrepreneur program supports tenure and non-tenure line faculty researchers. Faculty awardees receive seed grants to create early-stage prototypes based on invention disclosures submitted to Penn State’s Office of Technology Transfer (OTT) or application for a provisional or utility patent. The seed grant is expected to serve as a bridge to Penn State’s GAP Fund and Fund for Innovation, which accelerate licensing and company formation.
Sergei Getman, a fourth-year undergraduate student majoring in electrical engineering who presented work at the poster contest, received funding from the Be an EEntrepreneur program. The award has supported Getman’s team in the development of a low-cost, scalable and portable oscilloscope that allows customers to measure electrical signals across entire systems rather than limited subsections.
Getman is advised by David Cubanski, associate teaching professor in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS).
“The EEntrepreneur program has been very valuable for me,” Getman said. “As an engineer, I wanted to dive into the hardware, but I didn’t know what customer discovery was. I might have had a harder time figuring it out by myself.”
Elvis Sangmen, a first-year doctoral student in electrical engineering, also received funding from the Be an EEntrepreneur program and presented his work at the poster competition. The award has supported Sangmen’s team in the development of printable, multimodal biosensors that monitor plant health in real time, helping farmers gauge the effects of changes in the soil and identify the best ways to promote a productive harvest.
Sangmen is advised by Aida Ebrahimi, Thomas and Sheila Roell Early Career Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and associate professor of biomedical engineering.
“I learned skills from my entrepreneurship course that would be useful for a company,” Sangmen said. “We talked about sales, crowdfunding, pitching to investors, trademarking and other aspects of starting a business. We also got to hear from guest speakers who gave us advice and encouraged us to keep pushing with our ideas.”
Another participant in the poster competition, Xingjie Ni, associate professor of electrical engineering, received funding from the Be a Deep Tech Faculty EEntrepreneur program. The award has supported Ni’s team in the development of a tiny, ultrathin meta-encoder that allows cameras to capture wavelengths outside of the RGB color model, enhancing imaging techniques in fields like agriculture and healthcare.
“There’s really a gap between how the technology works and how to develop a prototype,” Ni said. “I think this kind of program helps us bridge the divide between lab research and market production.”
Both EEntrepreneur programs provide awardees with mentoring and support to facilitate successful outcomes. These resources include coaching opportunities through the U.S. National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program and the Create-X summer initiative at the Georgia Institute of Technology, which empower researchers to move ideas from the lab to the market.
Proposals for the EEntrepreneur programs are accepted during the fall semester of each year, and work on awarded projects begins in the spring semester.
The Be an EEntrepreneur program was launched in collaboration with the College of Engineering’s School of Engineering Design and Innovation. The Be a Deep Tech Faculty EEntrepreneur program works closely with OTT.