Connor Gallagher-Moore ’19, ’22 (left) and Howard “Tony” Treser ’22 (right) were honored by the Texas Business Hall of Fame Foundation.
JULY 6, 2022 — The Texas Business Hall of Fame (TBHF) Foundation has honored two UTSA graduate students with awards for their accomplishments in entrepreneurship and leadership.
Connor Gallagher-Moore ’19, ’22 is the recipient of the 2022 Carlos and Malú Alvarez Award and Howard “Tony” Treser ’22 received the 2022 Harvey Najim Future Texas Business Legend Award.
Gallagher-Moore and Treser are among 44 students recognized by the TBHF Future Texas Business Legend Awards Program, which provides scholarships to student and veteran entrepreneurs at participating Texas universities.
“The entrepreneurship ecosystem at UTSA is such that students who possess good ideas and great work ethic are able to take advantage of many opportunities and resources to help them succeed,” said Randolph Quinn, executive director of student innovation and entrepreneurship at UTSA. “Starting a company is no small task.”
Quinn added, “It requires commitment, enterprise and above all, resilience—qualities both Connor and Tony exemplify. Being recognized by the Texas Business Hall of Fame is a great honor for them and for UTSA, and I’m excited to follow their future careers as they continue to solve problems with innovative solutions.”
The TBHF recognizes the accomplishments of outstanding Texas business leaders by celebrating their stories and contributions. Additionally, the organization recognizes student and veteran entrepreneurs through the Members of the San Antonio business community enshrined as TBHF legends such as Graham Weston, Carlos Alvarez and Harvey Najim, among others.
Gallagher-Moore and Treser are recent graduates of the Margie and Bill Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design and were winners of the 2021 Big Rowdy Idea Competition.
Treser graduated with a master’s degree in biomedical technology commercialization in May. He is the founder and CEO of the company T4 Movement, which won first place at the recent 2021 Big Rowdy Idea Competition. The team’s “biolab in a box” captures data from two-dimensional cameras to create highly accurate biomechanical analysis, helping pinpoint the root cause of a patient’s back pain.
Treser’s own experiences were the origins for the invention. After years of suffering from chronic back pain due to a sports injury, he quit his job as a tech account executive to pursue a master’s at UTSA with the intent to develop an effective, affordable and commercially viable solution to alleviating back pain. While at UTSA, he saw an opportunity to advance the invention through the Big Rowdy Idea competition.
This month, T4 Movement will be competing in CableLab’s 10G Challenge for a chance to win up to $100,000 in startup funds and the chance to leverage the emerging 10G network to support their biomechanical evaluation solution.
Additionally, T4 Movement was recently accepted into the prestigious U.S. National Science Foundation Innovation-Corps (NSF I-CorpsTM) Teams program, which provides real-world, immersive instruction that allows scientists and engineers to evaluate a technology’s commercial opportunity and raise critical public and private funding to support their innovations. The team will be participating in the program this fall.
Gallagher-Moore graduated with his master’s degrees in mechanical engineering in May. His team earned third place in the 2021 Big Rowdy Idea Competition for its HelioSucrose product.
The team’s concept involves building modular drop-in-place solar-powered EV charging stations for large companies to support EV fleets, without relying on the electric grid or taking up extra space. Gallagher-Moore is also co-founder of hatchTank Innovations, a green energy startup company he launched while in school at UTSA.
Gallagher-Moore, Treser and the other Texas Business Hall of Fame Award recipients will be recognized at the organization’s annual induction dinner in the fall.
SIE is a cross-disciplinary effort linking innovation to commercialization. Bolstered by its position as a Blackstone Launchpad partner, the program provides space—both physical and mental—to foster innovation and entrepreneurship among all UTSA students, faculty and the San Antonio community through education, real-world experiences, resources and support to create new technology-based ventures, serving as a catalyst for progress in the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem.
As part of the UTSA Career-Engaged Learning academic support division, the experiential learning opportunities offered to students through the SIE program help advance the university’s classroom to career initiative. These programs provide students with a greater understanding of marketable skills needed in the workplace and are particularly important in linking classroom success to life after graduation for historically underserved populations.
As part of its strategic plan, UTSA aims for 75% of its undergraduate students to participate in some type of experiential learning by the time they graduate.
SIE hosts two competitions each year—the $100K Student Technology Venture in the spring and the Big Rowdy Idea in the fall—to give students hands-on experience in entrepreneurship and pitching for first-round funding. In addition, SIE hosts an Entrepreneurship Boot Camp twice a year and offers resources and guidance to students interested in entrepreneurship year-round.
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This event will acknowledge graduating seniors from the McNair Scholars program at UTSA before inducting the new cohort of scholars into the program.
North Paseo Building (NPB 5.140), Main CampusAt this memorable celebration, UTSA graduates will be introduced one-by-one to cross the stage and accept their doctoral degrees.
Arts Building Recital Hall, Main CampusRoadrunner Walk is an event for graduating students to have a memorable walk on campus to celebrate an important milestone and their achievements. Graduates will walk along the Paseo while being celebrated by the UTSA community, friends, and family members.
Student Union Paseo, Main CampusCelebrate the accomplishments of College of Education and Human Development, College for Health, Community and Policy, College of Sciences and University College.
Alamodome, 100 Montana St.Celebrate the accomplishments of Alvarez College of Business, College of Liberal and Fine Arts and Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design.
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