“The Engineering and Design Review, I’m not going to lie, was really difficult, and really tough,” Maha admitted. “The judges and consultants really picked apart our project and our technology. But it was extremely helpful because then I relayed that information to our team at Berkeley, and I think it really helped them focus their efforts.”

There was good design and communications help, too. “Noel was really awesome,” Maha said, referring to Noel Wilson, creative director of Denver-based Catapult Design. “We had trouble trying to communicate our technology through pictures and Noel really understood what our technology does and he helped us come up with graphics that we could use in other competitions, to help inform the public and to describe our work to investors.”