For the 11th year, Stony Brook University hosted its annual WolfieTank competition, encouraging students to develop and present entrepreneurial ideas. The event, inspired by the television show Shark Tank, took place on November 5 at the Charles B. Wang Center and featured participants from various disciplines including medicine, engineering, business, and the arts.
David Ecker, director of iCREATE and founder of WolfieTank, emphasized the event’s ongoing impact. “It feels successful to me every year because we get to empower entrepreneurs and get them to really develop and showcase their work,” Ecker said. “We need to have a way of showcasing their entrepreneurial ideas, and this is a way.”
Ecker highlighted the diversity among participants as a key strength: “We have an ecosystem of students that we never expected, ideas coming from medicine, engineering and business, all seeing the same thing going on in the marketplace,” he said. “We cultivate that through our classes, through our activities, and through what we’re trying to live with here on Long Island and throughout the world.”
The first-place award went to Kelly Kaon, a second-year medical student who founded Dermatological—a community-based organization focused on skin health education. Kaon explained her organization’s mission: “Dermatological at the forefront is a community-based organization where we truly listen to our members talk about their skin diseases and skin disorders,” she said. “It’s really a safe place for them to talk about it.” The group has expanded nationally with 15 branches reaching over 30,000 people. Kaon plans to use her $2,500 prize for publishing a children’s book on skin health.
Second place was awarded to EmoAI Translator team members Robbie Torres, Woochul Lin, Minjun Lee and Moonkyu Jun for developing an AI-powered translation system aimed at improving communication in hospitals. Torres cited miscommunication as a significant issue: “According to the data, 25% of patient safety incidents are miscommunication,” he said. “That’s almost one in four people every single day that happens.” The technology not only translates language but also interprets emotional tone. “It automatically detects your tone,” Torres added. “Based on that, it demonstrates whether you’re feeling anger, sadness or happiness.”
Ecker noted that many past participants have gone on to start nonprofits or businesses after competing in WolfieTank. He stressed the importance of real-world feedback provided by industry professionals serving as judges: “These competitions allow our students to talk to outside professionals who are doing this in the field. They’re entrepreneurs. They’ve been in the trenches. Their feedback is invaluable.”
This year’s judging panel included Derek Peterson (Soter Technologies), Michael Lane (Long Island Capital Alliance), Danielle Tedesco (HealthPlan Services), and Bob Williams (IVMatters). The event was organized collaboratively by several university divisions—College of Business; College of Engineering and Applied Sciences; Division of Information Technology; Office for Research and Innovation—and supported by external partners such as Soter Technologies, Softheon, IVMatters Inc., Carter DeLuca & Farrell LLP; Marcum; and Long Island High Tech Incubator.
To all participating students Ecker offered encouragement: “Anything is possible,” he said. “Your ideas really have a place here. We cultivate ideas. We want to nurture them to be successful. Every idea is valuable, and if you keep working at it you’re going to take that and live a success.”
Ecker concluded by reinforcing WolfieTank's role at Stony Brook: "If you can do it here at college," he said,"you’re going to be more successful in your career."