Skandalaris Announces Six Finalists for the 2026 Global Impact Award

The Skandalaris Center is excited to announce six finalists for the 2026 Global Impact Award. The Global Impact Award was founded in 2013 to support the vision and passion of Washington University in St. Louis students, postdoctoral researchers, and recent alumni who are creating ventures that are scalable, sustainable, for-profit, and quick-to-market with proof of concept for a broad impact. Up to $75,000 is available to these finalist teams thanks to the generous support from Suren Dutia and Jas Grewal.

“We were impressed to see so many diverse industries represented in our applicant pool this cycle, all of which are having a societal impact and looking to scale,” said Cyril Loum, Venture Development Manager. “I am excited for these six ventures as they continue their path towards the finals, receiving mentorship and guidance along the way. The Skandalaris Center is here to support them during the program, but we look forward to how we can continue to help them grow long after the competition concludes.”

2026 Global Impact Award Finalists:

Alkamy Carbon

Rushil Koppaka (EN ‘24) 

Alkamy Carbon removes CO₂ from wastewater using natural minerals, improving water quality and creating reliable, permanent carbon credits.

CardioVis

Heath Rutledge-Jukes (MD ‘27)

CardioVis is an AI-powered surgical copilot that integrates real-time multimodal analysis of intraoperative video, TEE, and device telemetry to provide context-aware guidance that standardizes robotic cardiac surgery and accelerates surgeon training.

GenAssist

Joe Beggs (EN ‘20)

GenAssist develops advanced biomaterials to regenerate skeletal muscle after trauma.

nCase Technologies

Matt Bitner-Glindzicz (SI ‘22) and Dani Wilder (MD ‘26)

nCase Technologies makes NALOX-1, a discreet, durable soft-thermoplastic keychain case that removes barriers to everyday naloxone carriage – enabling faster overdose response and saving lives at scale.

NeuroFore

Hamasa Ebadi (PhD ‘28), Joe Hess (BU/EN ‘27), Evan Tan (GB ‘25) 

NeuroFore has developed a patent pending machine learning algorithm that analyzes non-motor symptoms to detect and diagnose Parkinson’s disease earlier than has ever been possible.

uFab

Tyler Richards (EN ‘22) 

uFab builds etchant-free, laser-based circuit board printing systems that compress a whole circuit-board factory line into a single machine, enabling ultra-fast, on-shore hardware manufacturing that can finally compete with overseas fabs on price.

---

In April, these six ventures will compete for the award at our GIA Finals in front of a panel of judges. Winners will be announced at the Washington University Innovation & Entrepreneurship Awards, presented by the Skandalaris Center, on April 15, 2026. We’ll share event details and registration in the coming weeks and hope you can join us for this fun and celebratory occasion!