A Note From Our Director
The origin of this bonus “Homecoming Issue” is simple: we have too many stories to tell. As you’ll see in this compilation, the number of Bucknellian founders and innovators to celebrate continues to grow! The App MakerSpace has brought a whole new cohort of participants and our events have been packed. The lead-up to Homecoming and the events throughout the weekend were an absolute joy. And the students and alumni engaging with the Center are too impressive not to give you an update. In this newsletter I hope you’ll find uplifting anecdotes and highlights of exceptional Bucknellians. A very special thank you to Jordan Rice for visiting as our Innovator-in-Residence and to Monica Laurence for spending ten days on campus as our Entrepreneur-in-Residence.
Best,
Erin Jablonski
Time to dig in!
Enjoy! If you have a story idea for an upcoming edition, send an email to Anna at anna.wiest@bucknell.edu.
Anna Wiest
PGCEI Manager of Marketing, Communications & External Relations
Innovator-in-Residence
Jordan Rice ’02
Few things attract college students’ attention like opportunities to engage with a Nike exec. In September, we hosted Jordan Rice ’02, Nike Vice President of Innovation Portfolio & Partnerships. During his week-long visit, students from across campus connected with Jordan in a variety of ways — from listening to him guest lecture in classrooms to meeting him for a one-on-one consultation in Taylor Hall.
Here’s what Jordan had to say about his stay.
Entrepreneur-in-Residence
Monica Laurence ’86
Monica Laurence has done it all.
A powerhouse strategist, she has shaped more than 50 startups in Silicon Valley. She’s the author of Quantum Surfing: The Innovator’s Guide to Being Lucky, Aligned, and Unstoppable. She’s an entrepreneur. She’s a coach. She makes leaders and founders luckier. And we were lucky enough to host her on campus for 10 days.
During her visit, Monica was among the panel of alumni angels who heard from 5 presenters during our Bison Venture Plan Competition.
She spent time in the E&I house, consulted with several student founders, and was a guest speaker in three classes as well as our Fall Founder Speaker Series.
Want to learn from this Bucknellian leader? Read Quantum Surfing, subscribe to The Mavericks Game Newsletter, and join The Mavericks Collective. Did we also mention she has a resort in Fiji? Check out Tavola for your next once-in-a-lifetime experience!
App MakerSpace Grand Opening
As we planned to welcome students and their families to Taylor Hall 210 during family weekend for the Grand Opening of our App MakerSpace, we decided what better way to showcase this space than by demonstrating exactly what students will build here?
So, we decided to host our first Hackathon the same day.
“Save the Bucky” by Phuc (Benjamin) Nguyen
Students were given just 17 hours to submit one HTML file of a science-fiction game that included the following:
The submissions were IMPRESSIVE. If you have some time to spare, take a go at some of these student-built games. Our winners were Phuc (Benjamin) Nguyen ’30 with “Save the Bucky” and Keith Le ’30 and Lam (Liam) Nguyen ’30 with “Signalbreaker: Neon Exodus.”
“Signalbreaker: Neon Exodus” by Keith Le & Lam (Liam) Nguyen
Since the hackathon and Grand Opening, we have hosted three workshops in the App MakerSpace: “Vibe Coding 101,” led by Computer Science Professor and Faculty Guru Brian King, “Build a Mobile App in 60 Minutes,” led by Art Professor and Faculty Guru Joe Meiser, and “Intro to App Distribution,” led by Austin Frankel ’30, founder of Study Share and Seat Maker.
Three student-founded ventures have hosted “Apps & Apps” testing sessions in the space – we provide appetizers for students who come to test founders’ apps. All testers also earn a coupon for a free milkshake. These events result in valuable feedback that our student founders and developers are using to improve their apps.
The App MakerSpace is staffed 20 hours per week by seven student consultants: Carter Applegate ’29, Vance Johnson ’29, Emanneul Mudungwe ’28, Ava Sklar ’28, Jaycie Mair ’27, Cody Coleman ’30, and Austin Frankel ’30.
Homecoming Recap
To kick off Homecoming weekend, we spent two extremely productive days meeting with Advisory Board members.
THANK YOU to Ron Benjamin ’67, Susan Corridoni ’92, Scott Ehrlich ’93, Doug Fastuca ’87, Tommy Franklin ’01, Nancy Grden ’73, Chad Hellman ’92, Francesca Joseph ’01, Monica Laurence ’86, Ceyda Maisami ’05, Vincent Mistretta ’86, Scott Perricelli ’94, and Sue Gegnas Perricelli ’94 for making time to help us plan our next steps.
During their Homecoming visit, a panel of Alumni Angels and Advisory Board members heard from five presenting teams in our first Bison Venture Plan Competition.
Presenters included:
- Ikusasa Founder Omuhle Ndhlovu ’27
- mylnk Founder Emanneul Mudungwe ’28
- BuckBlock Co-Founders Carter Applegate ’29 & Vance Johnson ’29, as well as Director of Expansion Jackson Williams ’29 and Marketing Associate Catalina Chanler ’29
- Avakas Lab Founder SooAh Lay ’27
- Club Ralley Co-Founders Jaycie Mair ’27 & Abby Platt ’26, as well as Developer Ava Sklar ’28
Find updates from these student founders below. ⬇️
SooAh Lay ’27
Avakas Lab
Through Avakas Lab, SooAh Lay developed the CanSat Learning Kit, which includes specialized tools and curriculum empowering young people to build, code, and launch a real satellite in five days. SooAh has run successful CanSat pilots and, this summer, conducted a research project titled “Bringing Space to Classrooms: A Modified Hands-On CanSat Program for Promoting STEM Education and Career Aspirations.” SooAh continues to build CanSat kits, maintain Avakas Labs’ digital infrastructure, and work with partner organizations.
Carter Applegate ’29 & Vance Johnson ’29
BuckBlock
Carter Applegate and Vance Johnson created BuckBlock, a device students tap their phones to for a few hours of uninterrupted, undistracted studying. Since launching the BuckBlock app on the Apple App Store early in the semester, Carter and Vance have set up BuckBlock stations in the Bertrand library, as well as several other locations across Bucknell’s campus.
The BuckBlock team recently expanded to include two PGCEI startup associates – Director of Expansion Jackson Williams and Marketing Associate Catalina Chanler.
The BuckBlock user base continues to grow. In just a few weeks, the devices have been scanned more than 700 times, and that number keeps climbing.
Jaycie Mair ’27, Abby Platt ’26, Ava Sklar ’28
Club Ralley
Club Ralley went live on the Apple App Store earlier this month! Jaycie, who co-founded the venture with three recent Bucknell graduates, worked closely with Ava Sklar this summer to develop the app.
Now, Jaycie and Ava are teaming up with 3 PGCEI startup associates, Madelyn Hudak ’27, Cat Naidich ’27, and Sophia Robinson ’27, to launch the brand. The Club Ralley team hosted a homecoming weekend “Ralley Run 5K.” More than 100 participants signed up to walk and run. More events are in the works, so go follow @clubralley on Instagram!
Omuhle Ndhlovu ’27
Ikusasa
Ikusasa creates dignified employment pathways for young Zimbabweans through waste-to-value enterprise, building skills and self-determined livelihoods from the ground up. Ikusasa recently completed field feasibility work in Bulawayo and Gwanda, and is working to commission a Black Soldier Fly (BSF) bioconversion hub in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. The hub will turn market food waste into protein-rich animal feed and organic fertiliser for local farmers, while giving young people hands-on training and a pathway into paid work.
Emanneul Mudungwe ’28
mylnk
Mylnk is a digital assistant built to help college students streamline the career planning process. This semester, Emanneul is working with PGCEI Startup Associate Jacob Zentner ’30 to build the mylnk brand. Check out their work on Instagram at @myl_nk.
Mike Molinet ’07
Dock
Bucknellian Founder Backed by Y Combinator
Mike Molinet is no stranger to the startup space. An experienced entrepreneur and innovator, Mike launched more than a dozen products and secured 17 patents at 3M while pursuing a few side hustles. Now he is launching company #7 – Dock.
Similar to the other companies Mike has founded, Dock was born out of a problem.
“Earlier this year I was running a bunch of AI agents myself. They wrote content, researched competitors, and prepped my meetings,” Mike said. “Every one of them was smart enough, and they still couldn’t get much done without me, because I was the only thing connecting them.”
Mike found himself copy-pasting between tools all day, so he started building.
Dock is a workspace where individuals and AI agents work as teammates.
“You hire agents for real business jobs like sales, support, marketing, and recruiting,” Mike said. “Each one has its own memory, schedule, email address, browser, and computer in the cloud. They message each other, hand off work, and share the same docs and tables as the humans on the team.”
Mike and his co-founder, Govind Kavaturi, launched the cloud version of Dock in September and continue to “build Dock with Dock every day.”
Backed by Y Combinator
Throughout his entrepreneurial endeavors, Mike has applied to Y Combinator four times. He got in this summer with Dock, and the YC experience reshaped the business.
“The funny part is that what we got in with isn’t what Dock is today. We applied with agent-to-agent messaging for power users running lots of agents,” Mike said. “During the batch I talked to about 500 people, and only about 5 really wanted it. So we changed course.”
“YC’s advice is simple: go talk to users. It’s annoying how right that is.”
Now, Mike’s goal is to make Dock the place where any individual or business can hire a team of agents and actually get work done. “I think every team is going to have agents working alongside its people, and the hard part will be getting them to work together. That’s the problem I want to own,” he said.
Mike’s advice to current students: “Start building with AI now. The more time you spend building with it, the more valuable your skill set will be.”
A Bucknell Roommate Inspires a Business
Lisa Cassidy toyed with the idea of starting a business for years. Finally, in October 2025, Lisa’s Bucknell roommate presented the perfect opportunity to do so. Two decades after meeting in Vedder Hall, Theresa Newhard ’04 would be Lisa’s first client at Cassidy Lab LLC.
Cassidy Lab LLC designs better organizational change, helping individuals and organizations achieve higher growth through tailored strategy, coaching, and leadership development.
With 15 years of experience as an IBM consultant, Lisa uses communications, facilitation, and strategy skills to help clients grow with a customized “Cassidy Change Strategy.”
Lisa had recently left the corporate world when Theresa, now President & CEO of the HMS School for Children with Cerebral Palsy, reached out in search of talent and change support for the nonprofit. Lisa and Theresa worked through the nonprofit’s period of transformation, creating the first-ever “Talent Playbook” and now delivering organizational change workshops and coaching.
“Today, I see many organizations rush past the human side of change – whether it’s an AI strategy rollout, new leadership, or policy changes,” Lisa said. “A dedicated change vision and plan helps increase productivity and lowers resistance.”
Lisa is conducting experimentation, testing, and creativity within Cassidy Lab as she navigates business decisions and explores opportunities.
If you know an individual or organization navigating a change and needing additional support, connect with Lisa at lisa@cassidylab.com.
Updates from our Alumni Angel Group
Brainforge is an AI-native implementation partner for companies that have bought AI tools but cannot turn them into governed operating workflows. They built that operating model for themselves first, using AI to deliver faster, operate leaner, and expand margins.
After years working hands-on across data engineering, product, and company building, Uttam kept seeing the same pattern: teams didn’t need another dashboard, another tool, or another strategy deck. They needed a partner who could take messy, scattered context and turn it into systems that worked every day – these days increasingly with AI! Their clients range from national home-services operators to well-known consumer brands, including CES, LMNT, and Insomnia Cookies. They are partners with major platforms like Anthropic, Snowflake, and ClickHouse.
In September, Uttam presented Brainforge to our Alumni Angels, who were excited to ask questions about this company and potentially get involved in its evolution.
Dawn Newsome ’90
Wisom.io
Dawn is the Co-Founder, President, and CTO of Wisdom, a company built to support aging in place, protecting independence, strengthening care, and restoring peace of mind.
“Wisdom brings together smart home technology, expert guidance, and real human support, so older adults, their families, and care teams can stay connected.”
Dawn presented Wisdom to our Alumni Angel group earlier this month.
Applications are OPEN!
The center is excited to work with Graduate Studies to launch two new year-long Master of Science programs in June 2027. We are now accepting applications for the Creative Enterprises and MedTech Innovation Master’s Programs.
The programs will operate as a cohort and lead to Master of Science degrees for students from any undergraduate program. The 8-course programs include a sequence of two summer courses followed by three courses in each of the fall and spring semesters.
Fall Founders
So far this semester, we have hosted five Bucknellian founders to speak at our weekly Fall Founders events. ➡️
All are welcome to join us at noon in Taylor Hall 210 for entrepreneurial and innovative insights (and free lunch). Here’s our Fall Founders lineup for the rest of the semester:
Daniel Anastasio, Pianist, creative innovator
Austin Frankel, “If you build it, will they come?”
Greg Furst, Omega Healthcare Investors, “The Investor Perspective”
Cristiano Bierrenbach, Heritage Auctions, “Always Being Entrepreneurial”
Doug Fastuca, “How to Buy a Business as an Individual”
BizPitch Info Session
Fall Founders Fun Lunch
Cristiano Bierrenbach ’96
Partner at Heritage Auctions
We will be hosting Cristiano Bierrenbach the week of November 9. He will be a guest speaker in a variety of courses and will be meeting with student groups. If you’d like to connect with Cristiano during his visit, email pgcei@bucknell.edu.
Brooke Molinaroli ’90
Founder of BAM Art Advisory
Brooke Molinaroli will be joining us the week of February 1 as our Nonprofit/Arts Leader-in-Residence. Brooke will spend the week engaging with students across campus. If you are interested in connecting with her, send us an email at pgcei@bucknell.edu.
Works in Progress
Living Learning Working Incubator & Housing
To scale our impact and sustain the thriving Bucknell entrepreneurship & innovation ecosystem, our immediate priority is expanding our physical footprint to provide space for founders.
Our Living – Learning – Working Incubator & Housing will blend interactive residential experiences, real-time venture building, and serendipitous learning to provide a transformative space that supports young Bucknellian founders as they launch their companies and learn to lead with agility, insight, and impact.
The Bison Venture Fund will provide early-stage ventures with seed capital, allowing the Bucknell community to invest at critical times of growth and drive entrepreneurial success. Bison Venture Fund interns will participate in screening, pitches, and perform due diligence for potential investments.
Graduate Fellowships & Assistantships
Support for graduate fellowships, assistantships, and internships will make our new +1 Graduate Programs more accessible to students who want to further their entrepreneurial education.
Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition Network
We are looking for alumni interested in leading an initiative to create a network that will match Bucknell business owners seeking an exit with aspiring entrepreneurs. If this sounds like you, send us an email at pgcei@bucknell.edu.
Get Involved
🧾Mentor students and young alumni
🏬List your company in the Alumni Marketplace Directory
💻 Email pgcei@bucknell.edu for more information on Design-Build-Launch and
Micro-Internships and the Entrepreneurship through Acquisiton Network.
Support
Your support makes this work possible. Please consider making a gift that will enhance opportunities for students to pursue their passions.
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Contact
Erin Jablonski
Director
erin.jablonski@bucknell.edu
Julie Guinn-Bailey
Administrative Coordinator
julie.guinn-bailey@bucknell.edu
Anna Wiest
Communications Manager
anna.wiest@bucknell.edu
Abby Gulden-Luthi
Liaison, Strategic Philanthropy Programs
afgulden@bucknell.edu