OSU’s SCIVINCE team advances to Princeton TigerLaunch international finals, will compete for global $60,000 grand prize

Wednesday, February 18, 2026

Media Contact: Stephen Howard | Director of Marketing & Communications | 405-744-4363 | stephen.howard@okstate.edu

Armed with their revolutionary 3D printing device, the Oklahoma State University team of Soroosh Farsiani and William Petty, also known as SCIVINCE, took top prize at the Princeton TigerLaunch  Houston Regional Business Plan/Pitch Competition held at Rice University.

The world’s largest student-run entrepreneurship competition began with over 500 global applicants, but with this regional victory, SCIVINCE is now one of just seven teams remaining — one of just four from America — competing for the $60,000 grand prize at the TigerLaunch national finals at Princeton University in April. 

“This is a significant milestone for our team and for SCIVINCE,” said Farsiani, a Ph.D. candidate in the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology’s School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. “Standing out among more than 500 startups reinforces that our technology is not only innovative from an engineering standpoint, but also commercially viable. It validates the years of customer discovery, technical development and strategic refinement that went into building both the product and the business plan.

“For us, this competition is more than recognition; it is an opportunity to represent OSU on an international stage and showcase how research-driven innovation can translate into real-world impact. We are excited to continue advancing SCIVINCE and contribute to OSU’s growing reputation in entrepreneurship and advanced manufacturing. We are grateful to our business mentor, professor David Thomison, whose guidance has been instrumental in refining our strategy and strengthening SCIVINCE’s path to commercialization, and to Dr. Hadi Noori, our technical advisor, for originating the core idea behind our technology and supporting its development. We also received valuable support from John Nickel, assistant director of Cowboy Technologies, who helped us formally establish the startup and navigate the early stages of commercialization."

A mashup of the words science and convenience, SCIVINCE is an innovation that enhances the functionality of 3D print products while reducing manufacturing costs, particularly in the aerospace, health care and automotive industries. SCIVINCE has multiple print heads capable of printing from all directions, allowing users to customize layer orientation and material placement throughout the part. 

This advanced configuration enhances product strength and durability by 16%, delivers at least 20% faster and more efficient printing and empowers businesses to expand their offerings by manufacturing complex, multi-material designs that are impossible with current 3D printing technologies.

SCIVINCE began after Noori, a CEAT assistant professor in the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, planted the seed with Farsiani and helped it sprout. Noori’s mentorship and guidance was essential for turning the idea into an actual invention. 

Then, Thomison quickly became Farsiani’s go-to advisor for business-related questions. The George Kaiser Family Foundation Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship at the Spears School of Business has decades of experience crafting business strategies and commercialization plans, which he put to work in helping Farsiani and SCIVINCE. The two quickly recruited Petty, then an OSU MBA student with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, and Mahla Hosseini, a student in the MS in Business Analytics and Data Science program at Spears Business, to help on the business side. 

“I’m incredibly proud of the team,” Thomison said. “The team has applied extensive customer discovery market research, completed within CIE Scholars and the National Science Foundation I-Corp program over the last year plus, to develop a rigorously vetted, fully integrated high-technology startup plan. During this time, their professional growth has been impressive.”

Last April, SCIVINCE took the $21,000 top prize at the 2025 Entrepreneur’s Cup, Oklahoma’s premier collegiate business plan competition. They also won first place at the Riata Business Plan competition in the Rising Entrepreneur’s track in early February.

Another OSU product, Az-Tec LLC, took third place at the TigerLaunch Houton Regional. Developed by Steven Azzaro, a PhD candidate in Health & Human Performance, created the Az-Tec SwingRight, a patent-pending athletic training device that improves an athlete’s swing.

Az-Tec and SCIVINCE both sharpened their business skills at the Riata Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, OSU’s go-to hub for entrepreneurship. Click here to learn more about the center and its mission.