Announcements

The Chancellor’s Innovation Prize at Texas Christian University is a new program that recognizes students, faculty and staff who are advancing practical, AI-enabled solutions to improve university operations and support student success. This inaugural year’s competition focused on Operational Artificial Intelligence, and the university recently announced prize winners – those whose ideas rose to the top of an extraordinary field of creative submissions.

“The Chancellor’s Innovation Prize is far more than a competition; it is a call to action for our campus community to collaborate, create and innovate,” said Chancellor Daniel W. Pullin.  “Together, we can turn bold ideas into practical solutions that shape the future of TCU.”

Launched as part of the TCU’s strategic focus on innovation, the competition invited participants across campus to develop ideas to pilot that address real operational challenges through the purposeful use of artificial intelligence.

After a competitive, two-round process, three winners were selected — one in each category:

Student Category: Matthew Neves won the student category for FrogPass, an attendance engine for TCU Athletics that predicts student turnout for each home game and rewards students with bonus points for attending underattended events. “The goal is simple: help more students show up, stay engaged and feel connected to the programs and traditions that make TCU what it is,” Neves said.

Mia Hernandez van Deelen and Carlota Castelltort Pinto were named runners-up for ELEVAR, a mentoring platform that enables TCU departments or organizations to launch structured mentorship programs with AI support for matching, scheduling and program design.

Faculty Category: Junyu Zhang, Xiaolu Zhou, Ph.D., Happy Herman, Kelly Lee and Rylea Dunlap won the faculty category for FrogOrg, an AI-powered platform that consolidates TCU student organization operations into one connected system. Zhang said, “I have a desire to take what I have seen firsthand and translate it into a system that better supports every student leader and every advisor doing this work across campus.”

Austin Graybeal, Ph.D., was named runner-up for FrogForward, a conversational AI advisor that builds prerequisite four-year degree plans prototyped in Kinesiology with the goal of scaling across TCU.

Staff Category: Joy Tuider won the staff category for Procure.IQ, an AI decision engine that guides faculty and staff through contract, procurement and payment requirements at the point of entry. Managing over 3,000 contracts annually, she was motivated to maximize efficiency for her four-person team. “This recognition validates the belief that a small team can create meaningful impact through thoughtful, strategic work,” Tuider said.

Caroline Collier and Corey Zapata-Smith were named runners-up for the TCU Content Intelligence System, an AI-powered platform that makes TCU’s stories on people, programs and research more coherent, visible and discoverable across traditional and AI-powered search environments.

Each winning team received $5,000, with additional opportunities to further develop and scale their ideas in partnership with university leadership.

The inaugural competition drew participation from across campus, with students, faculty and staff contributing ideas that reflect both the creativity and problem-solving mindset driving TCU’s momentum.

Builders + Backers announced a partnership with Texas Christian University to equip TCU CREATE participants with Builders Studio®, an AI-powered platform that guides entrepreneurs from idea to launch and beyond. Through this partnership, selected applicants gain access to the same venture-building infrastructure used by entrepreneurs across the country, amplifying the program's existing support structure.