ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½ students don’t wait until they graduate to begin changing the world.

Emboldened by a campus culture of exploring β€œwhat if?” and the university’s support system of expertise and resources to back them, five Knights who started their companies while they were still students are making undeniable noise in their respective industries β€” so much so that Forbes just honored them on its annual 30 Under 30 list.

The ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½ engineering grads are recognized among peers from the likes of Stanford, UC Berkeley, MIT, Yale, Princeton and Columbia.

Man in blue professional jacket and khaki pants holds black tube with wires on ends while standing in front of brick wall
Joe Sleppy ’18, CEO of Capacitech, appears on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 – Energy & Green Tech list. (Photo by Antoine Hart)

Joe Sleppy ’18 serves as CEO of Capacitech Energy, which is making supercapacitor technology practical by delivering plug-and-play, modular systems that eliminate power quality issues in data centers and microgrids responsible for downtime and equipment damage.

β€œΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½ encouraged me to think outside of the box,” he says. β€œΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½ is an innovative university because they’ll ask, β€˜Why not?’ I think I share the same philosophy with running Capacitech. Let’s try it. The world is watching. Let’s use innovation and entrepreneurship to make it better.”

Four men sit on a gray couch side by side with plants on the ledge behind them
From left to right: Matthew Jaeger ’22, Mason Mincey ’23, Derek Saltzman ’23 and Patrick Michel appear on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 – Manufacturing & Industry list. (Photo courtesy of Soarce)

Mason Mincey ’23, Derek Saltzman ’23, Matthew Jaeger ’22 and Patrick Michel are co-founders of Soarce, which takes underutilized plant resources like hemp, seaweed and grass and transforms them into nanomaterials eight times stronger than steel.β€œWe’re on pace to build what we feel is going to be the largest global nanocellulose production facility in the world,” Saltzman says. β€œAnd we are not afraid to say that and stand behind it. That’s a big dream, but that’s kind of what we’re here to do β€” make big changes.”

These grads all credit their rise in large part to the immense support and knowledge they gained from ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½β€™s and . ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½ invested $10-20,000 of alumni-funded awards from the annual competition and UpStarts program to support their venture development.

β€œCapacitech and Soarce illustrate how investments in technology development and entrepreneurship education can work together to increase innovation diffusion and societal impact,” says Cameron Ford, William and Susan Crouse Endowed Professor of Entrepreneurship and Director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership and Blackstone LaunchPad at ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½. β€œThey also illustrate the arduous, fraught, years-long paths that entrepreneurs commonly travel when no one is watching to achieve β€˜overnight’ success. We are immensely proud of the example they are setting for current and future Knights by combining their disciplinary expertise with entrepreneurial knowhow to positively impact others.”

To learn more about how these Knights are putting in the work today that is shaping the future around us, check out their stories (with video) on ΒιΆΉΣ³»­΄«Γ½ Today: