Zevez Zalay, a third-year finance and marketing student, has long been fascinated with the idea of community. After spending a day searching for a local spoken-word poetry group in Rochester, Zalay worked to envision a platform that offers a different experience. Zalay and their business partner, third-year software engineering student Nathan Jackson, are the creators of GroupSoup, a social engagement platform that brings people together for recurring meetups hosted at local businesses. The goal is to foster organic, authentic community building while helping small businesses increase foot traffic and gain customer insights. ‌ Pete Schuck/RIT From left, Nathan Jackson and Zevez Zalay present GroupSoup, a marketplace platform that helps drive foot traffic to local businesses, during Demo Night of the Bernard Kozel StartUP Program @ Saunders. “There’s no convenient catalog for people looking to organize meetups unless you’re willing to cold message businesses on Facebook or send out emails, which is a tedious process,” Zalay said. “We want to connect people who want to build community with businesses that want to bring people through the door.” The Bernard Kozel StartUP Program @ Saunders is helping student teams like GroupSoup turn innovative ideas into the beginnings of tangible businesses. As the program concludes its first cohort as a newly established program under the Saunders College of Business, named in honor of Bernard Kozel – well respected for his roles as a businessman and entrepreneur, innovator, investor, and connector. Eight student-led companies are reaping the rewards of a unique support system designed to help them thrive. Pathways for student entrepreneurship are not new to RIT. This program was originally founded in 2011 by professor Richard DeMartino and the late Rich Notargiacomo, former director of RIT’s Venture Creations business incubator, and later run by director Anthony Testa and Evan Vershay under the RIT Student Accelerator name until its rebranding in early 2025. In all, 167 teams and 479 students have participated across the last 23 cohorts. The effort is made possible by many benefactors, including support from the Bernard Kozel Endowed Fund for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The program, open to all RIT students, is a 12-week immersive summer experience, offering guidance, hands-on learning, and networking opportunities for the student teams. The teams invest into their projects full-time and are given an honorarium to help build their ideas and meet at least twice a week as a group. They have alternative sessions with coaches, who have decades of business experience, and guest speakers from the world of business and leadership. The program culminates with Demo Night, where the teams showcase their business ideas in front of friends, family, and potential investors. One such venture is Endo Automation, which was supported through the Sarah Ramsey Strong Fund, and founded by graduate software engineering students Devaj Mody and Shridhar Vilas Shinde, and Lex Baker, a second-year computer science major. Their solution to a critical modern farming issue: a low-cost, AI-enabled drip irrigation system that uses soil moisture and rainfall sensors to optimize water usage. “We noticed the issues with farmers across the board, especially those in more arid regions in India and the United States,” said Mody. “Water shortages, loss of crops, and the expense to run a farm are all barriers for them. We basically decided to design a system that's able to carry out irrigation at a fraction of the cost, with all the benefits that the farmer would have.” The Endo Automation team designed and perfected their system in Rochester over the summer. The product is already gaining traction. The team has planned deployments this month at four farms in India, including a large vineyard. They’re also eyeing applications to World Bank initiatives for agricultural innovation. ‌ Provided The 23rd cohort of the Bernard Kozel StartUP Program @ Saunders was led by program director Anthony Testa, front, second from right, along with support by, from front left, coaches Steve Brookstein and Richard Condon, the 2025 Bernard Kozel Mentor of the Year. Along with GroupSoup and Endo Automation, this summer’s teams included: CYPER, an affordable cybersecurity assessment platform for small-to-medium businesses; ModuCore, a company which creates personalized organizers geared toward lifestyle artisans; Bone Bros, a semi-custom shoe brand bridging the gap between modern footwear and foot health; CollegeGO, an affordable one-stop shop for students and parents to simplify the college application experience; OpenSeek, an education and employment platform for early career UX designers; and Obscura, a breakthrough technology which prevents AI theft of art. A major addition to this summer’s format was the introduction of co-op students, provided with support from Saunders College, who were embedded into the startup teams. “That was a great experience,” said Baker. “It was a different look into managing others who may not have a stake or equity in the company like the three of us. We had to learn how to manage those different expectations, which was great to learn.” “The co-ops added a new dynamic,” added Testa. “Integrating any group of people into a process is not without hard work. The Kozel teams are learning entrepreneurship, but they're also learning how to be leaders and managers on the fly, which is really cool in this safe space.” Throughout the 12 weeks, the teams also formed a tight-knit community. They supported each other regularly through impromptu design feedback and help troubleshooting customer discovery hurdles. One example is through the OpenSeek team, who helped teams like Endo Automation with UI/UX work. A shared Discord group allowed the students to stay connected and share resources in real-time. “This was definitely one of the more connected groups we have had,” added Vershay. It's always encouraged by Anthony and me, but at the end of the day it's on them to really make it happen and connect with each other. They were great about that this year.” The 2025 cohort marked a turning point for the program. It drew a record number of applicants—24 in total—allowing staff to accept the most committed and promising eight groups. “We had alumni and long-time supporters telling us this was the strongest cohort they’d ever seen,” Testa said. “These students came ready.” Applications for the 24th cohort in the summer of 2026 are open on a rolling basis. Interested student teams are encouraged to apply early and reach out for guidance.  

When cybersecurity student Emery Rios got an email about winning an RIT award, they immediately thought it was suspicious. Luckily, after a bit of investigation, Rios was able to confirm that the email was not a phishing attack. Rios, a combined accelerated cybersecurity BS/MS student, was selected for the Norman A. Miles Award for Academic Excellence in Study for the 2025-2026 academic year. The award is given to a student who began their studies as a first-year student at RIT and is entering their final year of undergraduate study with the highest grade point average across the university. Recommendations from deans are also considered.  ‌ Provided Yin Pan, professor in the Department of Cybersecurity, was selected by Emery Rios for the Norman A. Miles Award for Academic Excellence in Teaching. A second component of the award allows the student to recognize a faculty member who contributed to their success at RIT. Rios selected Yin Pan, professor in the Department of Cybersecurity, for the Norman A. Miles Award for Academic Excellence in Teaching. “Professor Pan is so caring, understanding, and truly wants students to succeed,” said Rios. “She is really deserving of this award for the impact she has made on every student, not just me.” Rios chose to attend RIT after finding a love for cybersecurity through a special program in high school. They were also a big fan of Penelope Garcia, the technical analyst on the TV show Criminal Minds. “Digital forensics can be like a crime scene investigation, but doing it on a device,” said Rios, who is from Waldorf, Md. At RIT, Rios enjoyed taking a class in social engineering—where they got to complete a tailgating assessment—and working on a USB baiting attack field experiment that was later published at a cybersecurity conference. As a third-year, Rios took an advanced computer forensics course with Pan. “Emery stood out right away, always asking insightful questions and an enthusiasm to learn new things,” said Pan. For a group project in Pan’s class, Rios worked on a forensic analysis for open source cloud technology. They completed an overview of existing tools, identified limitations, and studied how to modify tools to fit in cloud forensics. “I gave them a 100,” said Pan. “That is very unusual, but I couldn’t pick out anything unsatisfactory.” Rios has since become a teaching assistant (TA) for two of Pan’s computer forensics courses. As a TA, they grade assignments and host open office hours to help other students with technical questions. During the summer, Rios did a cybersecurity co-op with Dick’s Sporting Goods, at the Security Operations Center near Pittsburgh. Outside of class, Rios enjoys being a Resident Advisor and was a Performing Arts Scholar for acting. They are also president of RIT Cosplay Troupe, which meets weekly and holds events and performances throughout the year. Rios is known for cosplaying Dungeons & Dragons characters. As part of the Norman Miles award, Rios is earning a scholarship and Pan will receive funds to support faculty professional development activities. Pan plans to use the money to attend an interesting conference or to support research. She hopes to get a laptop for students who are interested in studying how features in the newest Microsoft Windows system impact forensic analysis.