Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

After ten weeks with their heads in the financial books, building business plans, and getting a crash course on customer discovery, student founders from the University of Tennessee had the unique opportunity to showcase their progress to community members and ecosystem partners. The Summer Studio is an annual offering of the Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

There was a lot of respect in the room. These students, ranging from Sophomores to Ph.D. candidates, could have embraced their summer breaks, but instead they spent the summer breaking in their businesses. The portfolio of companies coming out of the Summer Studio was diverse, including AI optimization, exercise science, culinary, community building, and much more.

For example, one of the companies, Grain Fitness, founded by Marius Bryce Pierre Jardret, a biomedical engineering senior from Knoxville, is developing a strength-focused exercise gaming platform designed to remove traditional barriers to exercise.

Jardret explained during his demo day pitch that his goal was to gamify fitness in a way that is fun and engaging for all ages. In his prototype product, his program reads human body movement and uses it to navigate a variety of games.

On display at demo day, attendees could try the game “Squatty Bird” for themselves.

 

 

Another company, JobWillow, founded by Jack Ford, is focused on helping current college students and recent graduates land jobs. One of the biggest challanges as a college student, Ford explained, is finding companies who are interested in hiring young talent.

According to the website, applicants can see the moment their application is read, and every employer on the platform commits to replying within two weeks.  Additionally, students get a limited number of applications each week, which prevents students from mass-applying to jobs they’re not fully familiar with or interested in.

Sherleen Mwaura had an attention-grabbing presentation for her startup, SherSpinz. Her goal is to amplify underrepresented artists through music discovery, live radio programming, and community engagement.

Mwaura said she had always had a passion for discovering and supporting local artists, and there is a whole community of people who are dedicated to doing the same. Sherspinz aims to bring those people together ahead of shows to cultivate a close-knit communtiy. In fact, Mwaura shared that she is organizing her first event coming up on September 9, ahead of the Isaiah Rashad show at the Mill & Mine.

For the first time, the Summer Studio demo day featured both a presentation portion and a booth set-up to allow community members, business partners, and ecosystem builders to interact with the student founders directly.

This year, the Summer Studio had the most startup teams yet. See the full list of participants below.

Meet the 2026 cohort

• RouteWerx, created by Ben Colgrove and Subhash Tadiparthi, Ph.D. candidates in biosystems engineering and soil science, delivers predictive fleet routing for precision deicing, helping public works departments reduce salt usage and operational costs through technology installed directly on snowplows.
• Goal Set, founded by Carson Derr, a finance senior from Brentwood, Tennessee, helps users achieve goals through accountability and community support.
• AdviseAI, created by Swagat Khot, a sophomore from Memphis majoring in industrial engineering and minoring in computer science, helps academic advisors respond more efficiently to student inquiries.
• Arbor AI, founded by Winston College of Law J.D. candidate Patrick Ragozzine, provides legal research and document-management tools for small law firms.
• JobWillow, founded by Jack Ford, is creating a trust-based platform connecting students with internships and employment opportunities.
• Anna McClure (UT Ph.D., ’25) founded an AI platform that uses instructor-informed artificial intelligence to streamline speech evaluation and feedback for educators.
• Grain Fitness, founded by Marius Bryce Pierre Jardret, is developing a strength-focused exercise gaming platform designed to remove traditional barriers to exercise.
• HighHeat, founded by Josef Govednik (UT, ’26), uses advanced analytics to help baseball pitchers at all levels improve performance and development.
• Syntrae, founded by Tan Hoang (UT, ’25), applies data science and quantitative modeling to help individuals better understand and strengthen personal relationships.
• SherSpinz, founded by Sherleen Mwaura, a music business administration senior from Knoxville, amplifies underrepresented artists through music discovery, live radio programming and community engagement.
• Cameron Delaney Creative, founded by Cameron Wright (UT, ’26), provides marketing, branding and content creation services to help small businesses grow their presence and reach new audiences.
• ZeroCross, founded by Zara Malik, a graduate student in computer science, data mining and intelligent systems, is building a commercial kitchen venture focused on a gluten- and nut-free production space for globally inspired flavors.
• A college-themed café concept, in development by Jade Owen, a Nashville native and junior finance major, designed as a hub for productivity, dining and community events.
• CodeBrosAI, founded by computer science senior Simon Buhl of Franklin, Tennessee, is reimagining the graphing calculator through on-device AI tutoring and enhanced connectivity.
• Hixson AI, founded by Evan Elg (HCB, ’25), develops custom AI systems for mid-market organizations.
• Lunara Works, led by Tekobo Dongmo (UT, ’26), is building an AI-powered receptionist for home service businesses.
• Big Al’s Hot Mustard, founded by Alex Del Vecchio, produces a clean-label condiment brand sold across the U.S. and internationally.
• Vetra, founded by Avi Patel, a finance senior with a marketing minor and an entrepreneurship minor from Johnson City, Tennessee, helps automotive repair shops streamline quoting, job handoffs and day-to-day operations through intelligent software.
• Tornado Logistics LLC, led by Samuel Pierce and Quinten Jones, provides end-to-end logistics and contracting solutions powered by its proprietary Tempest System.
• Helose, led by biomaterials graduate student Julian Pratt, uses AI analytics to improve operational performance in ambulatory surgery centers.

 

---