The Unconventional Path
Lily Stone ’27 wants to make the world more welcoming to those who are neurodivergent and on the autism spectrum like herself.
As someone who processes the world in a different way than a neurotypical person does, she can be prone to anxiety and sensory overload in certain situations.
So the Stevens student is working to launch Amplifly, an app that can help neurodivergent people know when a challenging situation may be coming — before it occurs. Using biometric data from the smart wearable Oura Ring, which tracks information such as heart rate, body temperature, sleep quality and physical activity, the app will use the body’s signals to determine when an episode may be occurring.
“Sometimes your body will exhibit those signs before your brain notices it, so it’ll tell you, ‘Stop right there,’” Stone says, “[The app] will also give you insights and ideas on what to do in the moment to help you out, as well as noticing when you might be most productive, because neurodivergent brains can do some pretty cool stuff, but can get stuck in little things.”
Amplifly captures the essence of the iSTEM@Stevens program — giving students like Stone, who think outside of the box and thrive in hands-on environments, access to the resources they need to find a problem they are passionate about solving, and helping them create a tool or form a company to tackle that problem.
Stone embodies the kind of innovative thinking iSTEM was created to nurture — students who possess the creative problem-solving skills essential for tackling complex challenges. The program recognizes that many groundbreaking innovators throughout history have taken nontraditional paths to success, often thinking and learning in unconventional ways.
For Stone, that journey involved taking part in Launchpad@Stevens, a year-long entrepreneurship program that all iSTEM students engage in, and the summer boot camp, in which students are given funding to ramp up their project.
Through those resources and more, iSTEM aims to foster the next generation of entrepreneurs and tech industry disruptors. The program recruits high school students who have demonstrated an ability to create and innovate, many of whom thrive in nontraditional academic environments. Through entrepreneurship classes, faculty coaching and networks of peers, alumni and industry professionals, iSTEM students spend their time solving real-world problems by creating cutting-edge technologies and launching successful businesses.
This approach has never been more relevant. As artificial intelligence reshapes the job market, the creative, non-linear thinking that characterizes iSTEM students positions them not as job seekers, but as the architects of tomorrow’s economy. While AI automates routine tasks, these unconventional thinkers excel at the innovation, intuition and entrepreneurial problem-solving that can’t be replicated by machines, says Mukund Iyengar, iSTEM’s director and an electrical and computer engineering associate professor at Stevens.
Iyengar says iSTEM is all about harnessing these students’ superpowers.
“It’s remarkable what happens to the human brain when you remove fear, when you believe in students and give them freedom and resources and jack up their ambition,” he says. “We’re not looking for perfect test scores or flawless transcripts. We’re seeking students whose minds work differently — the creative spirits, the underdogs, the ones who see problems others miss and solutions others can’t imagine. We tell them, ‘You’ve got what it takes to change the world. Go for it!’”
Always Asking ‘Why?’
While all iSTEM students take part in Stevens’ core curriculum, little else in the program looks like a traditional college experience. It is built around setting up students to independently launch a company or product and gain employment in the tech industry, from building prototypes to product development to incorporation.
iSTEM aligns with Stevens’ philosophy of redefining excellence by tapping into the strengths of students who learn differently and using that difference as fuel for innovation.
The highly selective program — there are 12 incoming first-years for the 2025–26 school year and 69 total students since iSTEM’s 2019 inception — looks beyond traditional metrics to identify students with demonstrated creativity and innovation. Still, many come to iSTEM with top-notch transcripts and test scores.
The program boasts a 91% retention rate and 100% employment post-graduation, according to its 2024 annual report. Student-led companies have raised $5 million in venture capital funding, and 29% of students have started companies, with more than 20 ventures created.
The iSTEM program grew from the longtime idea and vision of distinguished engineer, entrepreneur, philanthropist and Stevens emeritus trustee Emilio A. Fernandez, reflecting his personal experience. Fernandez contributed start-up funding to launch the program and subsequently gifted a substantial endowment to ensure permanent funding, with an additional $7.5 million in matching gifts from others, which allows the program to expand, enhance recruitment, implement a pre-college summer program, strengthen support systems and formalize an iSTEM alumni network.
“Looking back on my own academic experience, I was bored in a traditional classroom environment and would have benefited from the support of a program like iSTEM,” Fernandez says. “I’m proud to support Stevens in nurturing these remarkable individuals and ensure that all students are able to reach their fullest potential.”
While some students launch their own companies, others go on to work for major firms such as Google, BMW, Oracle, Intel and S&P Global.
During her years at Stevens, Diana Rosado ’24 launched Imagication, a metaverse-based college tour program that allowed students who couldn’t travel to campuses to walk around them in the metaverse and have live conversations with representatives from those universities.
Rosado is now a software engineer at Johnson & Johnson, working on the virtual reality team. Part of her job includes creating virtual and augmented reality training modules. If a medical technician is looking to learn how to use a device, Rosado and her team are able to create an environment in which they can do so in an interactive, hands-on manner.
She carries the lessons of Stevens and iSTEM with her — to question something if she thinks there’s a better way and to find new solutions herself.
“We’re always just asking ‘why?’ like a child. But I think it’s that creative mind that transforms that question into initiative,” she says. “We take that initiative, we execute on an idea, and it might fail, but we’re not deterred from it.”
Justin Trugman ’20 M.Eng. ’21 also couldn’t shake the entrepreneurial mindset.
He launched a company and nonprofit at Stevens and worked at Google X. After graduating with a master’s in computer engineering, he worked for healthcare start-up Caregility, eventually becoming VP of software development. In November 2023, Trugman was ready to launch his own company again and co-founded BetterFutureLabs.
He describes the company as a “venture studio.” Unlike traditional venture capital firms that fund existing companies, BetterFutureLabs builds companies and staffs them, coming on board as co-founders. It focuses on business-to-business problems that can be solved using teams of AI agents.
The venture studio’s first two companies will soon launch, including one that can aid in insurance fraud investigations by leveraging AI to help conduct investigations substantially faster than a person working alone can.
He says Stevens left an imprint on his professional life.
“There’s the tactical skills like becoming a good engineer and business leader. But there’s also the soft skills, like the sense of urgency,” he says. “Once you’re outside of education and into the workforce, you need to be able to pick up new things on your own and pick them up quickly to be competitive.”
The iSTEM Journey
To get students into the creative mindset at the start, iSTEM students take Intro to Entrepreneurial Thinking their first year, a class in which they build, and then move on from, one idea a month. The idea is to show students that they can design and build, and to help them find areas they’re passionate about. One student discovered a way to 3D-print hair clips based on people’s hair type. Another created an app that gave specific directions for where to catch public transportation in Hoboken, including details such as what side and part of the street to stand on.
By the end of sophomore year, students settle on the idea they want to pursue. Many will have gone through the 12-month Launchpad program in which they learn from real-world entrepreneurs and try to come up with a commercially viable idea and build a business.
“We torched the syllabus — creativity can’t be prescribed. So in iSTEM, there is no syllabus,” Iyengar says. “What that really does is remove fear and consequences for trying and failing. But the overall culture is so intense that everyone’s trying to do something ambitious ... people want to do the best work of their lives.”
iSTEM students earn bachelor’s degrees in engineering — most often computer engineering and mechanical engineering — and iSTEM courses are taken in place of Stevens’ other general electives, including the first-year entrepreneurial thinking course and the sophomore courses Innovation 1 and 2, where students are taught how to take an idea and turn it into a company. Like all Stevens students, iSTEM students work on their capstone project — their company or product — during senior year.
As students develop their ventures during junior and senior year, they participate in monthly pitch sessions with Iyengar, assistant director Zita Doktor and a panel of alumni and advisers. Between feedback-rich meetings, students use hackathons and peer collaboration to continuously iterate on their ideas — refining, redesigning and reconceptualizing until they’re ready for the next pitch.
Funding to form and build companies is provided by iSTEM after successful business pitches. (Stevens does not take an ownership stake in companies launched by students.)
Startup Garage
Students in iSTEM aren’t simply left to their own devices — the program offers abundant resources, from equipment to expertise. The Startup Garage, which opened in 2023 and was renamed for Emilio A. Fernandez in 2024, gives students access to everything they need to build something, including workstations, a media room, augmented and virtual reality equipment, laser cutters, 3D printers, drones and high-end servers for running code.
The Startup Garage is also a great gathering place where students bounce ideas off of each other.
“Having as many eyes on our pitch deck before ‘game day’ is a real benefit,” says Aidan Nestor ’26.
Launchpad is where Nestor and his co-founders came up with the idea for Aventix, a company he incorporated in 2024 with two fellow iSTEM students, Aidan Ruck ’26 and Jack Patterson ’26. Patterson suggested that event ticketing was broken, and as a frequent concertgoer aware of large ticketing companies’ many infamous issues — including drastically marked-up resale tickets and fake resale tickets — Nestor jumped on board.
Aventix is an NFT-based event ticketing company. Using NFT technology, Aventix prevents fake ticket sales and offers in-depth analytics on events, attendance and ticket transfers. This fall, Nestor is cold-calling and door-knocking to find partners willing to try out Aventix.
An Engaged Network
In addition to the Startup Garage and Launchpad program, students have access to an engaged network of alumni and industry professionals, from investors to tech entrepreneurs to those in the legal field. Many come to the monthly pitch meetings and hackathons.
Support from corporate sponsors has also boosted iSTEM. Global consulting firm HDR supported the Startup Garage with a $100,000 gift, and a $50,000 matching gift from online learning platform Chegg is helping startups led by iSTEM and Launchpad students with materials, supplies and technology.
Doktor, since she joined the program, has spearheaded more social events, including monthly “alumni retreats” — evening events for iSTEM alumni to come to Stevens and network with each other and meet the program’s current students.
Thanks to funding from Fernandez’s 2024 gift, the iSTEM community will soon expand via the iSTEM Network: a group of colleges that Stevens will work with to launch their own iSTEM programs. Launched this fall with George Washington University, the vision for the iSTEM Network calls for onboarding more partner institutions between 2026 and 2032. Partners receive a complete program blueprint, training and support, resource sharing, startup funding and ongoing assistance.
Champions of the program, like Nestor, note that iSTEM keeps Stevens at the forefront of innovation. As he has moved through the program and continues to refine Aventix, this remains the program’s greatest strength.
“The whole idea of iSTEM is trying to find people who think outside of the box and work differently,” he says. “There are so many different people from different areas, and iSTEM is searching for these people. That philosophy is well-represented and celebrated.”
– Marc Shapiro
Interested in supporting the iSTEM program? Contact Sarah Wells at [email protected]