Cornell University Students Represent New York In National Competition

A team of young entrepreneurs who attend Cornell University are representing Upstate New York, and hoping to make learning easier for those with disabilities.

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Learning math skills can prove especially difficult for students with cognitive, physical, and behavioral disabilities but the students at Cornell University’s entrepreneur team believe that they have found a way to make learning easier for those students and are about to take their idea to a national competition.

The team calls itself the “Al-Learners” and the students submitted their business idea to the Schulze Entrepreneurship Challenge with the hope of winning money to help them continue their dream. More than 100 business idea submissions were submitted by more than 60 colleges and universities from all across the United States and the idea formed by Cornell’s team was selected as one of the top 25 best ideas.

On Saturday, April 30, Cornell University’s “Al-Learners” will present their business idea to a panel of judges in Minneapolis and if the panel of judges selects their concept as being the best, they will win $50,000 in prize money.

In the business plan video from Cornell University posted on the website for Schultz School of Entrepreneurship, the founder of Al-Learning, Adele Smolansky explains that she watched her younger sister struggle to learn math and it was her sister who inspired her to create Al Learners which makes learning “engaging and accessible for kids with disabilities through personalized computer games and data analytics.”

Right now, the Al Learners program is offered for free but within the next year, Smolansky and her team hope to start “selling individual subscriptions to parents and therapists” and eventually subscriptions will be sold to schools.

Smolansky is part of a three-person leadership team and underneath them are a team of five in game development, five in software development, four in design, and five in business. The entire team is coached by Cornell University faculty as well as professionals in the industry.

Al-Leaners hopes to win the $50,000 grand prize to continue the development of its product, conduct research, and compensate team members.

Also representing New York will be students from the State University of New York at New Paltz who will pitch their idea for a product called Safe Sips which is a biodegradable disposable cup that will let consumers know when their hot beverage is at a temperature safe to drink.