The 2024 Kessler Fellows have accepted internships and will spend the summer gaining firsthand entrepreneurial experience in industries ranging from supersonic airliners to a sustainable interior design company. This year’s fellows had an interest in international startups, with some heading to Shanghai, Kent, Edinburgh, and Wales to pursue their summer internships.  

Every summer, the College of Engineering’s Kessler Fellows program offers students the opportunity to gain experience working for a startup. The program is open to all juniors at Cornell University, regardless of major, who are interested in entrepreneurship.   

Fully funded through the support of Andrew Kessler ’80, the program offers students a weekly stipend and a travel allowance, allowing them to focus on their work. They also benefit from one-on-one sessions with Cornell Engineering Entrepreneurs-in-Residence, who provide personalized mentorship and help them find internships that align with their interests.  

This year, 20 fellows are completing internships through the program:    

• Akshay Undevia ’25 (mechanical engineering) is interning at Boom Supersonic, a company designing a supersonic airliner named the Boom Overture.  
• An Le ’25 (information science) is interning at Unicorn Communications Pte. Ltd., a company developing major telecommunications infrastructures, predominantly overseas in Asia, the Middle East, CIS, Europe, and Latin America.  
• Anna Ying ’25 (government and information science) is interning at Govly, Inc, an AI-powered intelligence and capture platform for public sector procurement.  
• Dylan Van Bramer ’25 (computer science) is interning at SafetyNet Technologies Ltd., a fishing technology company based in Kent, England that helps you catch your target species more consistently and sustainably.  
• Eliz Celik ’25 (biomedical engineering) is interning at Be Biopharma Inc., a company developing a proprietary class of engineered B cells as medicines that unleash the potential of cell therapies in applications beyond cytotoxicity.  
• Emuna Rouhani ’25 (information engineering) is interning at AlgoLink, an education/recruitment company focused on helping democratize educational, vocational, and financial opportunities.  
• James Jabara ’25 (chemistry and biology) is interning at Transcend Therapeutics, a company developing new drugs for the millions of people for whom current psychiatric medicines have not worked.  
• Armita Jamshidi ’25 (women’s health & computer science) is interning at AlgoLink, an education/recruitment company focused on helping democratize educational, vocational, and financial opportunity. 
• James Koga ’25 (computer science) is interning at Tipzy Inc., a payment platform based in Amsterdam that helps hospitality to improve operations, reduce costs and craft the best guest experience.  
• Jesse Cheng ’25 (computer science) is interning at Gaia Fertility Limited, a company based in England and Wales that is closing the inequity gap for families needing fertility treatment.  
• Krupa Sekhar ’25 (computer science) is interning at AdesignStorie, an interior design company based in the United Kingdom focused on making sustainable design a natural choice.  
• Matthew Wong ’25 (information science, systems, & technology) is interning at Pepper, a software company looking to create the complete eCommerce solution for food distributors.  
• Nirbhay Singh Narang ’25 (computer science) is interning at Sonia, an AI-powered cognitive behavioral therapist on your phone instead of the clinic.  
• Patrick Moore ’25 (chemical engineering) is interning at GRZ Technologies, a technology company based in Switzerland that creates solid state hydrogen storage and transforms it into on demand electric power.  
• Rachael Close ’25 (computer science) is interning at H20K Innovations, a technology company that optimizes industrial liquid systems with AI enabled precision automation.  
• Salvatore Natale ’25 (computer science) is interning at Synchron, a neurotechnology company designed to enable people to use their thoughts to control a digital device.  

• Sam Rebello ’25 (agricultural science & information science) is interning at Ceres Imaging, a software company, providing risk insights and data analytics for agriculture. 
• Shreemann Raghavan ’25 (applied economics & management) is interning at Strong By Form Spa, a company based in Santiago, Chile creating a high-performance Biocomposites for a sustainable future. 
• Tommy Kubicka ’25 (applied economics & management) is interning at Odys Aviation, a sustainable aviation company building vertical take-off and landing aircraft to cut travel time in half on the world’s busiest routes.  
• Zhu (Eric) Liu ’25 (computer science) is interning at Junxi Capital, a venture capital/ financial technology company based in China that manages a diverse investment portfolio using innovative algorithmic approaches and a new trading platform. 

While students work at their internships, they will have the opportunity to develop entrepreneurial skills, gain practical experience, and grow their professional networks. Additionally, they join a network of over 200 Kessler Fellows alumni to support them on their career paths.  

“My interest in entrepreneurship stems from a desire to blend my technical expertise in computer science with a vision for meaningful innovation,” Rachel Close said. “I am excited about the prospect of transforming complex challenges into groundbreaking solutions, particularly in fields like machine learning and robotics, to create a significant impact on society.” 

At the end of their summer startup experience, students return to campus for the fall semester and deliver a presentation about their experiences.   

“I hope to gain an understanding of sustainable architecture in the startup sphere, learn from and be inspired by my fellow cohort, and expand my skill set and perspective to improve the world through my own startup in the future,” said Krupa Sekhar.  

Students interested in joining the 2024-25 cohort can apply for the program when applications open this fall. More information about the program and the fellows’ summer journeys is available on the Cornell Engineering website.