UW nanoengineers win first prize at national NanoTechnology Entrepreneurship Challenge

University of Washington nanoengineers Ji Feng (left) and Anmol Purohit (second from left) receive an award check from Doug Freeman of Jones-Dilworth, Inc. (second from right) for being the top overall NTEC team, pictured with Matt Hull, NNCI Associate Director for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (right). Photo courtesy of Alison Kabrich, TechConnect, a Division of Advanced Technology International.

December 22, 2025

On June 10, 2025, University of Washington (UW) nanoengineers Anmol Purohit, Dr. Ji Feng, and Almond Lau won first prize at the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI) NanoTechnology Entrepreneurship Challenge (NTEC) Showcase for their project, “Synthesis of metal-organic framework (MOF) particles for removal of short and ultra-short chain PFAS from water”. As the top team, they received $3,500 in support from the NNCI and a $1,000 award from Jones-Dilworth, Inc. UW mechanical engineering professor Igor Novosselov, who advises Purohit and Lau in their doctoral research, served as the team mentor.

From left: Anmol Purohit, Dr. Ji Feng, Almond Lau, and Prof. Igor Novosselov pose with their prizes at the University of Washington’s Four Columns.

In the spring 2025 edition of NTEC, 22 teams were selected for a seven-week virtual entrepreneurship workshop, and each team received a $1,000 award to support early-stage project development. Four teams were selected to travel to TechConnect 2025 in Austin, Texas to deliver in-person pitches, where Purohit and Feng won an additional $3,500 in research funding.

NTEC is organized by the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI) to encourage innovation and entrepreneurial thinking among researchers using NNCI facilities. Designed as a pre-NSF I-Corps experience, NTEC provides experiential entrepreneurship education for teams led by undergraduates, graduate students, and post-doctoral scholars. NTEC teams learn about the importance of customer discovery and how to leverage NNCI resources to develop a nanotechnology-enabled minimum viable product (MVP).