TX Filter Takes Home Inaugural Maseeh Innovation Competition Prize
The Cockrell-McCombs collab is on a mission to improve desalination efforts through their reverse osmosis membrane coating technology.
Team TX Filter; Evan Segura (left) and Jacob Lucia (right)
Team TX Filter, led by environmental engineering student Evan Segura and accounting student Jacob Lucia, took home first place—and a $6,000 prize—in the first-ever Maseeh Innovation Competition finals held last month.
Their innovative reverse osmosis membrane coating technology aims to improve the current desalination process in public water infrastructure by reducing fouling and buildup of silica and other particulates on membranes, while still drastically minimizing the flow of contaminants that can bypass. This optimization will help ensure communities have access to the cleanest drinking water possible.
At the late March event, the pair was accompanied by three finalist teams that took to the stage to pitch their technologies to an impressive panel comprised of entrepreneurs, startup mentors and Cockrell School of Engineering alumni, including:
- Mark Desantis, adjunct professor of entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University and former CEO of Bloomfield Robotics.
- Jim Dechman, CEO, Veros Systems at Baker Hughes
- James Truchard, co-founder of National Instruments
- Weston Waldo, assistant director of Longhorn Ventures
Jim Dechman provides students with feedback following pitch presentations.
The winning engineering-business duo plans to build on the momentum of the funding prize by applying for the Small Business Innovation Research program, a federal seed fund powered by the Small Business Administration. Participation in the SBIR program will open up opportunities for additional grant funds and IP protection. After continued stress testing of their product, they also hope to use the prize funds to expand their pilot program across multiple industry segments.
The pitch competition buoyed Segura’s technical expertise on the desalination/reverse osmosis market and reignited his love for public speaking and learning new skills.
Evan Segura pitches TX Filter technology.
“I’m most proud of the website I developed for the project, and I look forward to updating it as time progresses. I invested a lot of time into the UI/UX and learned a great deal of TypeScript and HTML. Overall, this competition pushed me to learn useful skills and helped me think not only from a technical engineering perspective, but also from a business mindset,” Segura said.
The student participants weren’t the only ones leaving the competition motivated and encouraged.
“Serving as a judge was an inspiring experience. I was consistently impressed by the caliber of the teams and the world-class innovations coming from both the students and faculty here at UT Austin,” said Waldo. “This competition is more than just a contest; it provides the critical catalytic funding that allows these teams to bridge the gap between a brilliant idea and a viable business. We are incredibly grateful to the Maseeh Foundation for their vision and continued sponsorship in making this possible.”
Javad Mohammadi (right) presents the prize check to the winning team, alongside CAEE chair Bob Gilbert (middle) and judges Jim Dechman and Weston Waldo.
Javad Mohammadi, program lead and assistant professor in the Fariborz Maseeh Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, echoed Waldo’s excitement around the event, emphasizing “this competition is the launch of something much bigger.”
“We’re excited to continue building a community of entrepreneurs and innovators across CAEE and the Cockrell School of Engineering, encouraging our students and faculty to bring their ideas out of the lab and into the real world.”