Richard Fu Richard Fu (M.S., Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, ‘06, ‘12), president at Agrivolution LLC, announced that the company has received a $73,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to work with Connecticut farmers to determine the feasibility of year-round, indoor agricultural production. Fu started the company in 2012 as a graduate student at UConn. Agrivolution will use the funds to explore whether hydroponic and other indoor growing techniques will work in Connecticut.

Mark D. Aramli  (B.S. Mechanical Engineering, ’97) appeared on the February 3, 2015 episode of the ABC television show “Shark Tank” pitching BedJet, a climate control system for beds. A NASA space suit designer-turned-entrepreneur, Aramli is the inventor and principal engineer of this patent-pending bed heating or cooling system.  Initially funded by a Kickstarter campaign, BedJet debuted at the 2014 Las Vegas World Market trade show.  Aramli earned an MBA in finance from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.