Dasia Taylor and NERD STEM Box won first-place and $3,500 at the University of Iowa John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center (Iowa JPEC) Startup Incubator Summer Track Demo Day on Aug. 7 at MERGE Iowa City.

NERD STEM Box is an innovative hands-on STEM education learning tool, used in homes or classrooms.

A total of $10,000 was awarded to four different businesses.

Other winners were Archaneon Supplements (second place, $3,000), ZIA Defense Systems, Inc. (third place, $2,500), and Dorm in a Box (people’s choice, $1,000). Tyler Graham and Johnathan Brown are founders of Archaneon Supplements, fitness supplements geared for the high-end gym rat, powerlifter, or bodybuilder. Craig Bantz pitched his business, ZIA Defense Systems, Inc., a professional-grade monitoring system that enhances K9 unit effectiveness and safety. Ava Graf’s venture, Dorm in a Box, helps students decorate and furnish college dorm rooms.

Demo Day featured 11 pitches. The startup incubator summer track is open to all University of Iowa undergraduate and graduate students, recent University of Iowa graduates, as well as faculty and staff looking to take their idea or startup to the next level. The program is open to individuals or teams of all majors.

The competition was judged by Paul Heath, director of the SBDC, Melanie Bimson, economic program manager for Greater Iowa City, Inc., and Gregg Barcus, entrepreneur-in-residence for Iowa JPEC.

About Iowa JPEC: Iowa JPEC fosters entrepreneurship and innovation across the state of Iowa by providing a range of educational, training programs, and support services for entrepreneurial ventures and existing small-to-medium size businesses. Iowa JPEC is dedicated to nurturing the growth of new ventures and assisting them in reaching their full potential.