Creating Tomorrow’s Entrepreneurs: A Look Inside the UC Davis Student Startup Center
On a weekday afternoon inside the Diane Bryant Engineering Student Design Center at the University of California, Davis, the familiar hum of 3D printers and CNC mills competes with an unexpected sound: country music and laughter. A room fills with students, who are awkwardly moving to the beat as they try to follow a line-dancing instructor’s steps.
The event is called “Unscripted,” part of the Student Startup Center’s efforts to help students become comfortable with being uncomfortable. The next day, in the very same room, the tone will shift dramatically for “VCs @ UCD,” where a visiting venture capitalist will stand before students and bluntly assess whether their ideas are investable.
These two events capture the Student Startup Center’s goal of preparing students across campus to engineer solutions to the problems of today and tomorrow.
Where Ideas Become Action
The Student Startup Center’s model is grounded in three pillars: curriculum, programming and space, all aligned to help students launch, grow and sustain startups that solve problems that matter, said Aaron Anderson, director of the center.
Curriculum
Each quarter, the center teaches four to six courses in entrepreneurship. One of the most popular, ENG 008 — “Intro to Entrepreneurship,” enrolls over 500 students each year.
Anderson is especially proud of the recently launched ENG 198 — “Innovation for Impact,” colloquially known as “Hacking For…,” which has quickly become their signature course. This course provides students with a head start on their startup ideas by pre-sourcing problems from industry partners who have real-world challenges that need to be addressed. Each “Hacking For…” course tackles a new topic, ranging from healthcare to climate.
Programming
The center hosts an event every day, such as their Startup Speaker Series and Pitches & Popcorn events, collectively drawing nearly 10,000 student attendees each year.
Popular programs include Entrepreneurship in Residence, a milestone-based support track that helps students unlock early funding. The center’s largest program, PLASMA, is a 12-week accelerator where a dozen top teams meet weekly, receive mentorship and culminate in a demo day where students can earn tens of thousands of dollars in prize funding.
Space
Located inside the Diane Bryant Engineering Student Design Center, the Student Startup Center maintains workspaces where students can drop in to work on their startups or meet with collaborators whenever events aren’t in session. Next door, a rapid prototyping lab provides the tools needed to turn concepts into testable prototypes.
What Success Looks Like
While the Student Startup Center sees many engineers and is located in an engineering facility, it’s open to all majors.
“We work with any and all students from across campus,” Anderson said. “And they’re doing pretty remarkable things.”
Just in the last year, four Student Startup Center alums have gone to Y Combinator, a three-month investment incubator program in San Francisco, aimed at helping startups take off. More than a dozen Student Startup Center teams have gotten angel or venture investments.
While the center has produced striking startup success stories, Anderson is quick to note that success isn’t measured in revenue, investments or accelerator acceptances.
“Giving our students this experience where they learn the skills of entrepreneurship is a huge positive outcome, whether or not they become founders themselves,” he said. “We try to complement the traditional classroom learning model with real-world entrepreneurial experiences.”
These hands-on learning skills are crucial, as they stick with students long after they graduate. For Anderson, a successful experience with the center often involves taking the risk to learn and develop something, even if it fails.
“What we have found with our students who do put in a good-faith effort and did not succeed in their startups, they get hired at better companies because they have demonstrated the grit, tenacity and problem-solving skills that most people their age have not,” he said.
From Classroom Idea to Startup of the Month
A recent standout success story for the student startup center is that of Kavya Khare, an electrical engineering alum who embarked on her startup journey with an idea, workshopped at K-12 summer camps. She wanted to create a robotics kit that makes STEM learning more approachable for younger students.
Through the 2024 PLASMA cohort, Khare and her co-founder spent weeks refining the concept, testing early prototypes and answering tough questions from industry mentors and investors. During that process, they developed SnapBots, modular snap-together robotics cubes designed to teach core engineering principles through play.
“Participating in weekly sessions and workshops gave our startup journey structure and momentum, with clear, incremental steps from idea to prototype,” she said. “Internal mentorship, guest speakers, and opportunities to connect with industry professionals helped us see beyond just the technical side.”
Her company, The Make Box, has since earned significant recognition, from winning $17,500 at the 2025 Big Bang! Business Competition to being named Comstock’s Magazine’s Startup of the Month in August 2025.
“Centers like the Student Startup Center offer students a place to turn passions or problems they care about into real products and solutions,” she said. “They can help students spark a love for entrepreneurship or help them build more confidence, and ultimately can be a stepping stone for a successful business that can help many.”
UC Davis Student Startups Engineer a Better World for All
Student startups emerging from the center increasingly reflect the College of Engineering’s strategic vision for Next Level Engineering with socially responsible entrepreneurship and a commitment to engineering a better world for all. These student-led ventures tackle complex challenges to:
- Develop intelligent systems and automation
Tallyrus, an AI-powered essay grading tool, won third place at PLASMA Demo Day 2024. The tool was created by computer science alumni Gautham Pandian ’25 and Ashwin Chembu ’24 for time-strapped educators to have rapid, detailed and tailored feedback on student writing. - Strengthen climate resilience
SeaNails is an all-natural, biodegradable, waste-based extension nail manicure company founded by Sarika Kumar ’23, mechanical engineering, and a group of other UC Davis students. They competed in PLASMA Demo Day 2024 after taking ENG 108 — “Launching a Company.” - Advance human health
APERIS, named Most Investable at PLASMA Demo Day 2025, is an implantable device that drains excess fluid between the lungs and the chest wall, founded by Arushi Patel ’25, biomedical engineering. - Transform mobility
Data Pigeon, a smart AI-powered data infrastructure platform, gives cities real time, actionable insights into street activity, project management and optimized mobility operations. The startup competed in PLASMA Demo Day 2025, and was co-founded by computer science students Senara Millawabandara ’26 and Suhani Shokeen ’26, along with a student at Sacramento State, Sina Vaghefi.
Powered by Mentorship and Industry Insight
Behind much of the Student Startup Center’s impact is a broad network of industry partners and alumni mentors who donate their time, guidance and insight to students working to solve the problems of the future.
“One simple phone call with a mentor has accelerated our student ventures by months, and sometimes years,” Anderson said. “I want our mentors to know that their life experience can tremendously alter the direction of our students' careers in super positive ways.”
These partners also contribute to funding the growth of programs and help source problems for student startups to solve. Through partner support, students avoid dead ends and work on solutions that become truly meaningful startups.
Centering the Future
As the Student Startup Center continues to grow, Anderson hopes that every student on campus, regardless of their major, feels empowered to explore their ideas, build new prototypes and create startups that innovate and push boundaries.
“Come to the center and make serendipitous connections,” Anderson said. “Find the partner you never would have found otherwise. Great things can happen. No great startup was ever launched from the bedroom — you had to get out in the real world.”
Sometimes, that “real world” begins with the courage to try something new and unfamiliar, like a pitch, a prototype or a few hesitant dance steps.
