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Srinivas Katkoori and team awarded $50,000 NSF ICorps Grant

March 19, 2018

An interdisciplinary team from College of Engineering (Dr. Srinivas Katkoori and Mr. Rajeev Joshi) and College of Nursing (Dr. Hsiao-Lan Wang) has been awarded the National Science Foundation (NSF) ICorps grant for $50K to evaluate market viability of PAfitMe. PAfitMe, proposed by Dr. Hsiao-Lan Wang, is a service technology to improve physical activity engagement by developing personalized physical activity prescriptions with exergames and fitness mobile applications (fitness app). This technology is a theory- and research-based service process that targets on maintaining physical activity engagement. PAfitME has potential to improve fitness function in individuals at any age and in any physical condition when he/she allows engaging in physical activity.

The objectives of the proposed I-Corps project are: (1) to determine what the customer segments and value propositions are for PAfitME technology; (2) to identify in what format PAfitME should be delivered to make a market/product fit (for example, mobile application, smart embedded system [hardware/software], web application, or a combination of these, integration with existing third-party apps, etc.); and (3) to establish the readiness to transit the PAfitME technology as a marketable service product. As part of this project, the team will attend the 6-week National I-Corps program and conduct at least 100 interviews locally/nationally. Possible outcomes from this project include a startup company, SBIR/STTR proposal, a complete business model for review by third-party investors, and professional development in the area of entrepreneurship. Drs. Wang and Katkoori will serve as Principal Investigators. Mr. Rajeev Joshi, a CSE PhD student, will serve as an entrepreneurial lead. Mr. Jeremy Ramos will serve as the Business Mentor.