Skip to main content

Meet the Finalists in the 2026 StartUP Columbus LaunchCon Competition

This Friday, November 13, 2026, StartUP Columbus and CSU's Turner College are sponsoring the next evolution of the city’s acclaimed BizPitch event known as LaunchCon Columbus presented by Wells Fargo, a Shark Tank style competition awarding $40,000 in total prizes to the best new business pitches. The finalists for this year's competition are Sergio Garcia for RIF Robotics, Elsie Lappin for Echo Science, Isabella Barreiro for Chifforo, and Victor Nguyen for Prestige Foods.  
Garcia earned a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez in 2011. In 2014, he added an M.S. in electrical engineering, while in 2017 he earned a doctorate in electrical engineering, both from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is the Co-Founder and CEO of RIF Robotics, which develops robotics and automation solutions to help healthcare workers in hospitals' sterilization and processing departments. Lappin earned a B.S. in civil engineering from Georgia Southern University and and will graduate in December of this year with an M.S. in civil engineering from Georgia Southern University. She has completed an internship with the Georgia Department of Transportation and is currently serving as an intern with the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education. She is the founder of Echo Science, which uses artificial intelligence to inspect welds on critical infrastructure. Barreiro is an interior design student at Auburn University. This past summer she completed a pre-college summer enrichment program in interior design at the Savannah College of Art and Design. She is currently the CEO of Chifforo, a peer-to-peer marketplace where college students can buy, rent, and sell clothing, all-in-one, on a single app. Nguyen earned a B.S. degree in computer science from the TSYS School in 2018, and M.S. in computer science from Kennesaw State University in 2020. He is the owner of Prestige Shrimp in Columbus. From 2015 to 2018, he was an Information Technology Support Specialist at CSU.  
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ABDC Releases 2025 Journal Review, Now Ranks Journal Edited by Phil Bryant

The long-awaited journal review being conducted by the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) has been released and there are a number of news items that relate to faculty in the Turner College. One of these is the ABDC's decision to now include  Compensation and Benefits Review in its journal rankings. This is big news for the Turner College as its editor, Phil Bryant , is a professor of management in the Turner College. The ABDC is proposing that the journal enter its system for the first time as a C-rated journal. Acting Turner College Dean Tesa Leonce sits on the journal's editorial board, while Turner College management professor Mark James has guest-edited an issue of the journal. Published by SAGE,  Compensation & Benefits Review is the leading journal for senior executives and professionals who design, implement, evaluate and communicate compensation and benefits policies and programs. The journal supports compensation and benefits specialists and academic ex...
1 comment
Read more

The New Financial Times Top 50 Business Journals Just Released

The newest list of Top 50 journals in business has been released by The Financial Times . This list is used by many of the top business schools around the globe to evaluate business faculty. Containing only 50 journals, this list is generally too restrictive to use as an assessment tool at most business schools. The typical business school employs longer lists constructed by the Chartered Association of Business Schools, the Australian Business Deans Council and Scimago. The new FT Top 50 list is provided below. Congrats to Turner College faculty who have published from this list in the past, such as Charles Boster (accounting), Deborah Kidder (management), Laurence Marsh (management), Frank Mixon (economics) and Ed O'Donnell (marketing). Academy of Management Annals Academy of Management Journal Academy of Management Review Accounting Review Accounting, Organizations and Society Administrative Science Quarterly American Economic Review American Sociological Review Contemporar...
Post a Comment
Read more

Deborah Kidder's Tenure as Dean of the Turner College Set to End on December 12th

The Turner College community was informed this morning that Deborah Kidder 's tenure as Dean of the organization is set to end on December 12, 2025. An e-mail communication to Turner College faculty from CSU Provost & Executive Vice President Dustin Anderson states, " I am writing to share that Dr. Deborah Kidder will be stepping down as Dean of the Turner College of Business & Technology, effective December 12, 2025. Under . . . Kidder's guidance, the college achieved a number of milestones, such as maintaining our AACSB accreditation, and the establishment of a Business Transfer Articulation with Columbus Technical College. We appreciate . . . Kidder’s service and contributions to the college during her time as Dean.  In the interim, . . . Tesa Leonce-Regalado will be appointed Acting Dean to lead the college while we conduct a national search . . .  John Finley has agreed to serve as Acting Associate Dean to support our faculty and students during this time as w...
Post a Comment
Read more