“Love the problem.”
It’s a core tenet of the Meloy Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program, where Aggie engineers are developing into visionary leaders who address the world’s most significant problems.
“In today’s world, it’s expected that engineering students know more than just technical skills,” said Jim Donnell ’82, the program’s executive director. “Whether they start their own business or want to move up the corporate ladder, they must have business acumen and an innovative mindset.”
Introduced to the College of Engineering in the mid-2010s, the engineering entrepreneurship program provides real-world experiences that challenge students to think outside the box. Through numerous courses with world-class faculty and nine programs and competitions, students learn the foundational skills needed to make their big ideas a reality, such as leadership, customer focus, sales and marketing expertise, idea generation, design and financial comprehension.
The program’s vision is for the College of Engineering to be the destination of choice for students who have dreams of owning or running forward-thinking, impactful organizations.
“Students can build their own experience,” Donnell explained. “If they only have an hour each week, we have a seminar class where they can learn from successful business leaders’ career journeys. If they have more time, they can take courses, pursue the engineering entrepreneurship minor or get involved in immersive experiences like Aggies Invent, student pitch competitions or Engineering Inc.”
Explosive growth of the program was made possible in 2023 through a significant endowed gift from Shari ’83 and Chuck Meloy ’82 that provides program support and established two new awards for engineering students with entrepreneurial promise: the Meloy Fellows and the Meloy Innovators. In recognition, the Meloy Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program was named in their honor.
Each year, the Meloy Fellows program rewards 20 superstar juniors and seniors who have been identified as future industry leaders. Fellows are assigned a mentor, work with faculty members and receive a $10,000 award to relieve economic stress.
The Meloy Innovators program empowers 20 students or teams annually who are pursuing entrepreneurial ideas. These recipients receive $2,500 to take the next step in their journey, whether it involves purchasing materials, developing a prototype or participating in events with other entrepreneurs.
Sam Roth ’23, both a Fellow and Innovator award recipient, shared that the business he launched with his Innovator award helped him land his current role at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
“My brother, Jack ’27, and I designed professional-grade audio tailgate speakers to rent out on game day,” Roth explained. “When I interviewed with Los Alamos, I told them about all the problems we faced making the speakers and meeting the high demand. I also discussed the processes we put in place to serve our customers, and I think that’s what got me the job.”
As Aggies grow through the Meloy Program, Chuck hopes it will attract the next generation of entrepreneurs to Texas A&M University. “The program’s vision is for the College of Engineering to be the destination of choice for students who have dreams of owning or running forward-thinking, impactful organizations,” he said. “We’re hopeful that it will inspire students to look our way and investigate the many exciting engineering programs and resources Texas A&M has to offer.”
For students like Katie Calderon ’24 and Anish Easwaran ’25, the program and the Meloys’ generosity is doing just that by encouraging them to turn their big ideas into reality.
Thanks to the Meloy Program, Katie Calderon ’24 is paving the way for female golfers with specially designed clubs.
Katie Calderon ’24
Meloy Fellow and Innovator
Founder, Club Girl Golf
FROM: Houston, Texas
THE BIG IDEA: A former professional player in the Women’s World Long Drive Tour, Katie Calderon ’24 is no stranger to the world of golf. Working at golf shops to pay for tournaments, she noticed that women almost always needed custom-fit clubs. That’s when she had a big idea: She would become an Aggie engineer and design golf clubs specifically made for women.
LOVING THE PROBLEM: Calderon downloaded basic CAD software and created her first designs. After they went viral on social media, she continued sharing her work, building connections in the golf industry and researching the shortcomings of women’s golf equipment. “The traditional view for making women’s golf glubs is ‘shrink it and pink it,’” she emphasized, “meaning they take men’s club designs and just change the colors and height for women.” But men and women swing differently and have different centers of gravities, causing women to often be unsatisfied with their equipment.
PERFECTING THE SWING: After winning prize money in the Texas A&M Ideas Challenge with her company, Club Girl Golf, she filed for a provisional patent for her basic design of an adjustable weight system. At the bottom of the putter, a removable slot holds small weights that can be moved around to fine-tune the club’s balance. “I now have about 125 different iterations and combinations of the weights,” Calderon shared. “It’s a very simple weight system that anyone can adjust to find the right balance for them.”
ON THE GREEN: After years of brainstorming and designing, Calderon has grown Club Girl Golf’s social media presence to more than 500,000 followers and began selling its flagship Monarch Putter in October 2024. “I plan to keep growing Club Girl Golf from here,” she said. “I hope that in the future, we’re one of the top golf manufacturers for women.”
KEY DRIVER: Calderon emphasized that the Meloy Fellows Program and her mentor, Chris Curran ’87, were instrumental to the development of her idea, helping her conduct consumer interviews and learn to build her company. “I was active with the engineering entrepreneurship program before the Meloys established these awards,” she said, “but their gift opened up doors and allowed my company to progress as fast as possible.”
The Meloy Program connected Anish’s idea for treating snakebites with the opportunity to make his product a reality.
Anish Easwaran ’25
Meloy Fellow
Founder, Aegis Armor
FROM: Katy, Texas
THE BIG IDEA: Growing up, Anish Easwaran ’25 spent his summers at his grandparents’ small farm in India. While volunteering at a local clinic, he encountered a farmer with a snakebite who had traveled more than 30 minutes for antivenom. By the time he arrived at the clinic, the farmer only had two options: amputate his leg or die. That’s when Easwaran decided he needed to innovate to protect farmers in developing countries from snakebites.
LOVING THE PROBLEM: Easwaran dove into the issue, talking with 80 Indian farmers and working with the National Natural Toxins Research Center at Texas A&M University-Kingsville to learn the science behind a snakebite. After finding that expanding access to antivenom was not cost-effective, Easwaran and his business partner shifted their focus from treatment to prevention. “It’s only after penetration of the skin that you have to worry about a snakebite,” he said. “We decided to prototype wearable protection that directs the snakebite away from the skin.”
BITING BACK: Easwaran’s patent-pending product, called Aegis Armor, is made of layers of specially engineered fabrics covered in scrap car leather or vinyl and costs only $10 to produce. The device is waterproof and wraps around the shin and calf, where snakebites are most common.
POWER IN PARTNERSHIPS: Partnerships are essential to Aegis Armor’s success, as nonprofits and nongovernmental organizations purchase each kit at a breakeven price and distribute the protective devices at no cost to farmers and villagers in India. Easwaran has been recognized for his innovation and humanitarian work, becoming a finalist in the Aggie PITCH competition with Aegis Armor. He was also named a Clinton Foundation Global Initiative Fellow and has advocated for addressing the snakebite issue at the U.N. General Assembly.
FROM FELLOWSHIP TO FUTURE: Easwaran has his sights set on expanding the reach of Aegis Armor, but he shared that the Meloy Fellows program laid the foundation for his idea’s success. “It’s a very friendly community where we mutually mentor each other,” he said. “The program has shown me that we have people at Texas A&M who trust us and actively want to support us.”
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