The Lewis Family Awards exist to honor the memory of brother and sister, Drew and Nancy, by encouraging others to be “who they are, enjoy everything they do, and make a difference within their community.” The Lewis family legacy to make others’ lives easier through volunteerism and philanthropy lives on through this wonderful opportunity in the University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver) community. The Lewis Family Awards offer two separate awards–the Make it Mater and If I Can’t Fix It Milestone, all to champion the development of innovative solutions that address the world’s most challenging problems.  One-time cash awards totaling more than $5,000 are distributed via two competitions in both fall and spring semesters, to the CU Denver and CU Anschutz Medical Campus (CU Anschutz) students, staff, faculty, or community members for the successful design and development of working product prototypes that have high potential to move toward commercialization.  The awards committee and the Lewis Family have identified the following winners for the fall 2021 semester:

Make it Matter – Winner

• 1^st Place – Colorado Oral Strengthening Device. Elizabeth Cuadrado, Dannie Fink, Matthew Clary, Megan McDonnell, Robert Elliot, Aaron Treat. CU Anshutz

If I Can’t Fix It Milestone Winners

• Ghost Print, Nikolas Dowling, Oscar Maldonado, Atiayo Viafora. CU Denver.

This semester’s winners will receive a cash prize, judge’s recognition, and public acknowledgment. Other submissions receiving judge’s recognition as excellent innovations:

• Smart Classroom, Tai Nguyen, Fredrico, Ivan, Nicole, Ngan. CU Denver.
• Ticket Me, Eric Sherman, Matthew DeVries, Lucas Johnson, Aaron MuCune, Matthew Ward. CU Denver.
• Mod Mask, Awoh-manyi Bate, Annes Benoucef, Alexander Moon, Ada Amolo. CU Denver.
• A Breath of Fresh Air, Brenton Yu, Jacob Bradly, Wais Aslamy, Miguel Leal. CU Denver.
• Organic Chemistry Submission, Andrew Colson, David Frost, Hunter Lazar. CU Denver.

Congratulations to our innovators their success!  We look forward to supporting the talented students at CU Denver, as they leverage the many resources available within the Inworks Innovation Initiative and to continue to develop those innovative concepts. 

Faculty, staff, and students at CU Denver, Inworks, and the College of Engineering, Design and Computing are tremendously grateful to the Lewis Family for their support in creating the Lewis Family Awards program. This semester’s award opportunity was a high-value developmental experience for the applicants and we hope you will join us in celebrating our culture of innovation, creativity, and ingenuity in the CU Denver and CU Anschutz communities.  Learn how to participate by visiting the Lewis Family Award Webpage and follow these links for more information about the signature offerings available to support creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship at CU Denver and CU Anschutz.

• College of Engineering, Design and Computing Capstone Design Course
• College of Engineering, Design and Computing First-Year Design Expo
• Design Horizons Labs Entrepreneurial Fellows Program
• Comcast Media and Technology Center Design Innovation Projects