Students

Engineering students turn industry challenge into AI startup ‘built by engineers, for engineers’

Charles Ferrer — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 18:32:10 +0000

Engineering students turn industry challenge into AI startup ‘built by engineers, for engineers’ Charles Ferrer Tue, 09/01/2026 - 12:32

Charles Ferrer

Sami Yohannes and Caleb Woldemichael are the ultimate go-getters ready to change how engineering firms do business.

As current juniors at CU �Ǹ�Թ�, they’ve co-founded a startup company, YW Holdings, to streamline the slow, manual processes companies depend on to run engineering firms.

“It’s pretty exciting being able to leverage our STEM degrees and start our own company,” Yohannes said.

Yohannes (middle) and Woldemichael (right) meeting Campos (left) for the first time at EngiNearMe, a summer bridge program.

Yohannes, who is studying computer science, and Woldemichael, who is majoring in mechanical engineering, developed the business through a connection with alumnus and entrepreneur Marco Campos (CivEngr’98), who they met years before either of them set foot on the �Ǹ�Թ� campus.

By attending EngiNearMe, a summer STEM program offered through the college, during their senior year of high school, they first connected with Campos, founder of Campos Family of Companies and a longtime supporter of student engineers.

“We went up to talk to Marco and were just curious about his company,” the students noted.

What began as curiosity about his business turned into mentorship, starting with advice on where they would go to college. Both were weighing other options at the time, and Campos made the case for CU �Ǹ�Թ�, mentioning the college’s resources through the Campos Student Center, formerly BOLD, and the vast opportunities the university has to offer.

After enrolling here, they continued to reach out to Campos for guidance.

As their courses progressed, they both realized they had a shared desire to apply what they’ve learned so far in their engineering journeys to solve real-world problems.

Yohannes' coursework in computer science gave him a good basis of the fundamentals of software development and critical thinking skills in calculating risk and probabilities. Through Woldemichael's engineering internship at Lockheed Martin, he learned how engineers take complex problems by working within constraints to build solutions. He mentioned carrying that same mindset into the startup by understanding the engineering workflow, then building solutions around the problems people face every day.

‘Built by engineers, for engineers’

YW Holdings co-founders Sami Yohannes (left) and Caleb Woldemichael (right) with Marco Campos (CivEngr’98) and Mike Venturini, chief administrative officer of Campos EPC.

Marco Campos encouraged Yohannes and Woldemichael to start their own company, urging them to find a problem they could solve and turn it into a business, putting their entrepreneurial spirit to work.

In speaking with employees and leaders at Campos Companies, a portfolio of energy infrastructure companies, the students identified a widespread pain point — the request for proposal (RFP) process, which oftentimes is a lengthy endeavor used by many industries to bid on projects.

“It’s a time consuming process that takes a lot of money and resources,” Woldemichael said. “We utilized AI to streamline and automate processes that save time for engineering-construction firms.”

They also did their due diligence, reaching out to executives leading construction companies to ask about their RFP experience. This largely came through cold outreach on LinkedIn and leaning on office hours at the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship.

What they heard was consistent: RFP work is cumbersome, manual and often lacks standardized processes. They also heard a common frustration, that past attempts to bring AI into construction workflows had failed because tech companies didn’t have the inside knowledge of the construction industry.

These two young men are motivated, intelligent and ready for the next level. They are my protégés, and I’m very proud of what they have accomplished. I stand with them and hope the rest of the community embraces them and others that meet challenges head on and overcome.

Marco Campos (CivEngr’98)

“That’s where we saw an opportunity,” Woldemichael said. “We created a tool and a company that’s built by engineers, for engineers."

Work on the RFP project began in February, starting with research and close collaboration with Campos leaders. What followed was a fast-moving build out where the agent tool was developed and tested. That success led to a bigger proposal, not just fixing processes inside Campos EPC, but spinning the work into its own entity, Campos Process Improvements.

The platform has already automated roughly 60% of the bid-qualification-through-RFP workflow, freeing engineers from tedious administrative work so they can pursue more projects with less overhead.

“At the end of the day, we want firms to bid on more projects and ultimately generate more revenue,” Yohannes said.

Paying it forward

The two are now on the other side of an equation.

Through the Campos Foundation, founded by Marco Campos and led by Deanna Campos, Yohannes and Woldemichael have become mentors of their own, working with the high school cohort of the Campos Scholars program. The initiative works with students from DSST Public Schools, the same schools the two attended.

Yohannes and Woldemichael host a lunch and learn with the Campos Foundation scholars from DSST Public Schools on the importance of internships, scholarship opportunities, work/life balance and finishing high school strong.

In conversations with these students, topics ran the gamut from college life, scholarships, entrepreneurship and what the transition from high school to a university engineering program looks like, all aimed at helping the scholars succeed in STEM. This direct mentorship for students at DSST was similar to what Yohannes and Woldemichael received from Campos themselves.

The work has changed how they think about their own company. Inspired by the impact Marco and Deanna Campos have created through the Campos Foundation, which is funded by 1% of revenue from the Campos companies, Yohannes and Woldemichael have made a similar commitment. They have pledged 1% of their own company's revenue to expand access to STEM education and invest in schools across Eritrea and Ethiopia, the communities that helped shape their lives.

Both students hope their story shows the impact experienced professionals can have on students.

“Marco put his trust in us, even though we’re just students to some people,” Yohannes said. “It’s crazy what can happen when you put your trust in students and what can happen when students take that first step and take initiative.”

Woldemichael hopes this message resonates with professionals reading about their success: “Extend your hand to students. If a student is reaching out on LinkedIn, organize a quick 30-minute call. I think you’ll be really surprised by how motivated or inspired a student will be.”

With the RFP tool now deployed and additional projects in the works, Yohannes and Woldemichael say their ambitions with Campos Process Improvements reaches well beyond one company.

“No large problem is unique to one company. By helping Campos Companies first, we want to shake up the whole industry,” said Woldemichael.

Sami Yohannes and Caleb Woldemichael turned an industry challenge into an AI startup, developing a tool that helps engineering and construction firms streamline the time-consuming RFP process.

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Yohannes and Woldemichael with Campos Foundation scholars in their 2026 summer celebration where they spoke about the transition from high school to college in STEM fields and entrepreneurship in engineering.

CU Engineering celebrates record-breaking year for fundraising & alumni engagement

emad5542 — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 19:32:43 +0000

CU Engineering celebrates record-breaking year for fundraising & alumni engagement emad5542 Tue, 07/21/2026 - 13:32

Keith Molennar, Deanna Campos-Miller, Caleb Woldemichael, Marco Campos, Justin Schwartz (Credit: Jesse Petersen)

Emily Adams

Undergraduate students attend a graduate school fair in the Campos Student Center, which has been renamed in honor of donor Marco Campos.

The College of Engineering and Applied Science’s donors went above and beyond in fiscal year 2026, giving more than $60 million that will benefit the college’s student success, faculty support and inclusivity initiatives.

The fundraising total tops the college’s previous record of $47 million.

“While we are proud to celebrate our most successful fundraising year to date, this achievement truly belongs to our donors,” said Assistant Dean of Advancement Kristen Gallagher. “Their vision, generosity and belief in our mission are transforming lives and expanding what is possible.”

Dean Keith Molenaar said the support will strengthen the college’s ability to attract and retain world-class faculty, expand “life changing” opportunities for students, and advance research and educational programs that address society’s most pressing challenges.

“This milestone reflects far more than a successful year of fundraising — it represents the extraordinary trust our donors place in our students, faculty and the transformative power of higher education,” he said. “We are deeply grateful for their generosity and confidence in our mission.”

The college is also celebrating an impressive milestone in alumni engagement, which includes volunteering, event participation and other ways that alumni choose to stay connected to their alma mater. Nearly 9,000 engineering and applied science alumni engaged in at least one event last year, besting the previous record of 7,167.

The college’s alumni engagement team plans to continue many of its signature events — including Leading with Impact and the popular Homecoming Tailgate — in 2026, said Lauren MacKay, director of alumni and donor engagement.

Alumni: Stay connected!

Make sure your email address and other contact information is up-to-date so we can keep you informed about exciting news in the college, invite you to upcoming events, and share volunteer opportunities.

Update your contact info

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Target acquired

Hanna Nordwall — Thu, 21 May 2026 16:12:59 +0000

Target acquired Hanna Nordwall Thu, 05/21/2026 - 10:12

Charles Ferrer

NIH internship inspires student’s career interest in “new world” of cancer treatment

Janeth Marquez Rubio (BioMedEngr’25) always wanted to make a difference in the medical field.

Little did she know that journey would take her to the National Institutes of Health, one of the world’s leading research centers, where she spent a summer helping advance a promising new approach to treat cancer.

"Walking by Nobel Prize winners and having my office next to an esteemed physician was surreal."

During her NIH internship, Marquez Rubio worked with radiopharmaceuticals, a growing new class of drugs designed to deliver precise doses of radiation directly to cancer cells.

Unlike traditional radiation therapy that targets broad regions of the body, radiopharmaceutical therapy provides highly targeted doses of radioactive material — in this specific research case, Actinum-225 — that bind to cancer cells and destroy them.

“I didn’t know anything about radiopharmaceuticals,” Marquez Rubio said. “Learning about this new world of drugs and realizing how it could someday cure cancer was fascinating.”

Mentored by NIH medical physicist Roberto Maass-Moreno, she focused on the challenges of bioimaging and dosimetry — determining how to measure and deliver the right dose of radiopharmaceuticals for clinical trials — and compiled data for an upcoming clinical trial.

“We know you can’t use a one-size-fits-all method for doses,” she said. “Being able to measure the effects of the drug accurately is key for future clinical trials.”

Early experimental results showed improvement in cancer cells after treatment with radiopharmaceuticals and Actinum-225, giving scientists hope that this method could one day transform the future of radiation oncology.

Working alongside leading researchers and physicians gave Marquez Rubio a rare glimpse of research up close.

“It would be incredible to conduct clinical trials on the very radiopharmaceuticals I worked with,” Marquez Rubio said. “This internship has inspired me to one day work at the NIH again, so that is the hope.”

Marquez Rubio got her initial research experience in Assistant Professor Rob MacCurdy’s Matter Assembly Computational Lab in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering. There, she explored microfluidics — how fluids behave at tiny scales — and co-authored a paper she later presented at an international conference, an experience she says was pivotal in building her confidence.

“Having those incredible research experiences as an undergraduate student made me prepared and competitive,” she said.

CU �Ǹ�Թ�’s biomedical engineering degree allowed Marquez Rubio to take courses in both mechanical and electrical engineering, helping her draw connections with bioimaging tools like CT and SPECT machines during her internship.

Her interest in radiopharmaceuticals is growing as she pursues her accelerated master’s. She chose the topic for multiple assignments and noted how some of her professors wanted to learn more about it, given how new it is in medicine.

“As a first-generation student, I still couldn’t believe I conducted research at the NIH that could one day cure cancer.”

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Explore. Achieve. Lead.

Hanna Nordwall — Tue, 19 May 2026 21:54:23 +0000

Explore. Achieve. Lead. Hanna Nordwall Tue, 05/19/2026 - 15:54

The Smead Program provides excellence in research, academic programming, and personal and professional enrichment for the brightest minds pursuing graduate- and faculty-level research in aerospace engineering.

A unique community within the larger Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the �Ǹ�Թ�, the Smead Program emphasizes ground-breaking interdisciplinary research and leadership through a multi-pronged approach:

PhD Student Scholars
Faculty Fellows
Visiting Professorships
Distinguished Post- Doctoral Associates

Learn more

2025 Student Scholars

Madison Lin
Research: Trajectory
design and optimization

Hasani Spann
Research: Modeling and timing
of orbits and orbital transfers

2024 Student Scholars

Sarah Kinney
Research: Fluid structure interactions
in hypersonic applications

Lisa Ventura
Research: Decision-making for autonomous
aircraft, robot and human interactions

2023 Student Scholar

Cate Leszcz
Research: Characterizing
uncertainty in hypersonic
aerothermodynamic environments

2022 Student Scholars

David Dezell Turner
Research: Astrodynamics

Evangelina Evans
Research: Astrodynamics
for cislunar space applications

2021 Student Scholars

Sarah Luettgen
Research: Dynamics of the
Earth’s upper atmosphere

Mitchell Wall
Research: Hypersonics
and reentry vehicles

Meet the Smead Scholars – some of the brightest minds pursuing graduate research in aerospace engineering today, thanks to generous donors.

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Engineering students compete in national hospital design competition

Susan Glairon — Tue, 19 May 2026 20:43:58 +0000

Engineering students compete in national hospital design competition Susan Glairon Tue, 05/19/2026 - 14:43

Susan Glairon

Four CU �Ǹ�Թ� architectural engineering students participated in a national healthcare design competition typically geared toward graduate students, collaborating with multidisciplinary teams to design a cancer center for Houston’s underserved Third Ward community. The experience challenged students to think beyond technical engineering and consider patient comfort, community needs and healthcare access in the design process.

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New flight simulator lab for engineering education

Jeff Zehnder — Mon, 18 May 2026 20:09:57 +0000

New flight simulator lab for engineering education Jeff Zehnder Mon, 05/18/2026 - 14:09

Jeff Zehnder

Flying the (virtual) skies

Jackson Clark pushes to full throttle, pulls back on the yoke, and eases into the right rudder pedal as he soars through the sky on a clear day – all without leaving the Aerospace Building.

In a room packed with the latest in flight simulator technology, students are testing out virtual aircraft, not to become licensed pilots, but to study the engineering of aircraft design.

The Undergraduate Flight Simulation Studio is a new facility at the �Ǹ�Թ�, giving students in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences hands-on aeronautical experience.

“You can teach with a book or on a MatLab plot, but students don’t really understand until they fly it,” said Charles Hoke, an associate teaching professor who led development of the center.

Funded with major support from aerospace engineer, attorney, and passionate CU �Ǹ�Թ� advocate Richard F. Schaden, the facility has seven simulator bays stocked with flight yokes, rudder pedals, and aircraft throttles, complete with the myriad switches, buttons, and lights that comprise actual plane cockpits.

Students also have the option of wearing virtual reality headsets for a 360-degree experience.

“As a pilot, I have flown in flight simulators over the past 35 years to demonstrate compliance with the performance, stability and control of aircraft as they were designed,” said Schaden, who visited the lab for an official unveiling May 7. “Now, here in the lab, students can experiment with design changes to see the effects on the performance, stability and control as modified by them as engineers. This allows the students to experience immediate engineering feedback in ways that may be more precise than they could achieve through wind tunnel tests ”

The lab allows students the chance to test classroom projects and new aircraft concepts. It also offers the ability to show how small changes in existing planes alter their airworthiness.

You can teach with a book or on a MatLab plot, but students don’t really understand until they fly it." - Charles Hoke

“Standard flight simulators are for pilot training,” Hoke said. “That’s not useful for engineers. We want to get into the guts of these things, change the parameters, and learn about aircraft dynamics.”

The lab will be a standard component of sophomore-level courses, impacting over 300 students per year. It will also be available for clubs and other projects.

Students have already been able to use the facility to test plane designs they developed as part of spring semester capstone senior projects. By loading 3D models of their aircraft into the simulator, they were able to collect high fidelity data on drag and aerodynamic performance for analysis

“It has been really cool to see senior project teams come in and use the tools,” said Clark, an aerospace master’s student who helped build the facility. “It’s incredibly immersive and shows the vision for this lab is immediately being applied.”

Hoke also emphasized the simulator’s value as a learning tool.

“When teams design an airframe, they get the chance to fly at �Ǹ�Թ� Model Airfield, but you’re lucky to get 1-2 flights. With this simulator, they could fly their designs for hours and hours and get more data for analysis. When I came to CU �Ǹ�Թ�, I made it my mission to create a facility like this. It’s very exciting to see it come to life.”

Jackson Clark pushes to full throttle, pulls back on the yoke, and eases into the right rudder pedal as he soars through the sky on a clear day – all without leaving the Aerospace Building...

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27 CU �Ǹ�Թ� engineering students earn presitigious National Science Foundation fellowships

Jeff Zehnder — Wed, 13 May 2026 22:19:27 +0000

27 CU �Ǹ�Թ� engineering students earn presitigious National Science Foundation fellowships Jeff Zehnder Wed, 05/13/2026 - 16:19

Jeff Zehnder

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has bestowed 27 Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) awards to �Ǹ�Թ� engineering students.

The national awards recognize and support outstanding grad students from across the country in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields who are pursuing research-based master’s or doctoral degrees.

Awardees receive a $37,000 annual stipend and cost of education allowance for the next three years as well as professional development opportunities.

CU �Ǹ�Թ� is ranked 14th among all U.S. universities and eighth among public institutions.for NSF GRFP fellowship recipients for 2026, with 40 awardees across all majors.

Learn about each CU Engineering recipient below

The National Science Foundation has bestowed 27 Graduate Research Fellowship Program awards to �Ǹ�Թ� engineering students...

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Two CU Engineering undergrads earn national Student Employee of the Year recognition

Charles Ferrer — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 16:54:50 +0000

Two CU Engineering undergrads earn national Student Employee of the Year recognition Charles Ferrer Wed, 04/08/2026 - 10:54

Arianna McCarty (left) and Braden O’Brien (right) earn 2026 Student Employees of the Year national recognition.

Arianna McCarty, senior in chemical & biological engineering, received the National Student Employment Association award in leadership and Braden O’Brien, senior in electrical & computer engineering, was named the overall student employee of year and category winner in technology & innovation.

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ME outreach program brings big engineering dreams to small rural towns

Alexander Servantez — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 21:56:29 +0000

ME outreach program brings big engineering dreams to small rural towns Alexander Servantez Wed, 04/01/2026 - 15:56

Associate Research Professor Daniel Knight and Professor Michael Hannigan are leading an outreach program that connects CU �Ǹ�Թ� students with rural high schools to introduce hands-on engineering experiences in the classroom. The initiative, known as the Science and Engineering Inquiry Collaborative (SCENIC), serves 12 schools and nearly 700 high school students across rural Colorado each year, turning local questions about air and soil quality into real-world research projects.

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Cyber team reaches national cyber defense competition after first place regional finish

Charles Ferrer — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 16:50:33 +0000

Cyber team reaches national cyber defense competition after first place regional finish Charles Ferrer Wed, 04/01/2026 - 10:50

A team of computer science students earned first place at the 2026 Rocky Mountain Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition, marking the team’s first time qualifying for its national cyber defense competition.

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Students

Engineering students turn industry challenge into AI startup ‘built by engineers, for engineers’

‘Built by engineers, for engineers’

Paying it forward

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CU Engineering celebrates record-breaking year for fundraising & alumni engagement

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