2025 President’s Innovation Prize Recipient: Sync Labs

Who

• Melanie Herbert majored in electrical engineering at the School of Engineering and Applied Science (Penn Engineering.
• Alexandra Popescu majored in systems engineering at Penn Engineering.
• Mentors include Sid Deliwala, director of lab programs at Penn Engineering; John Ondik, program director of Wharton’s Snider Consulting; Nick McGill-Gardner, electrical and systems engineering senior lecturer; Cynthia Dahl, practice professor of law, Detkin Intellectual Property & Technology Legal Clinic; Brian Halak, professor of practice of Engineering Entrepreneurship; and Jeffrey Babin, professor of practice and associate director of Engineering Entrepreneurship and the engineering faculty director for Venture Lab.

What

Nearly a year after graduation, winners of the University of Pennsylvania’s 2025 President’s Innovation Prize, Melanie Herbert and Alexandra Popescu, are addressing a crisis in eldercare through their company Sync Labs. By providing caregivers a privacy-centered interface that leverages the power of AI, Sync Labs uses real-time intelligence to create a monitoring hub with camera sensors disguised as picture frames that detect eating and other daily habits—without ever streaming or recording video footage, ensuring privacy while collecting vital health data.

“Sync Labs has been called a gamechanger for caregiving,” says President J. Larry Jameson. “Melanie and Alexandra are helping seniors live with the independence they want and the support they need.”

Read More at Penn Today