Software and data sets help students contribute to sustainable digital development

 

POSTED ON Apr 29, 2022

 

A business degree coupled with internships helps drive success. Recently, Mount Saint Mary’s University’s “Lives of Significance” web page featured Louis (Lou) Tonon, who discovered that transportation wasn’t a problem specific to the Mount while doing research for an internship assignment.

In partnership with Mateo Ruiz de Somocurcio, Lou launched a ride-share app in the fall of 2017 called Campus Drive. “The difference between Campus Drive and companies like Uber and Lyft is availability,” he told his alma mater.

Currently, Mateo is Campus Drive’s chief operating officer. Each milestone was met with support from professors, alumni, and fellow students, the university said.

Within a year of their launch, demand grew from 100 to 1,100 users. Campus Drive now operates at four colleges including Ferris State University (Michigan), McDaniel College, Washington College, and the Mount.

“Our plan is to raise another round of funding, so we can upgrade our technology. Our goal is to launch at 10 more schools this fall,” Lou explains. Software upgrades will be completed after another round of funding which will allow a product students can be happier with—where they can schedule rides in advance and always be able to get a ride.

In April 2022, the Mount announced that two students, Tyler Powell and Joseph Valle, have worked to bring a new app called MOOV to Mount St. Mary’s University.

The app was begun last summer by Kevin Camson, a senior at Notre Dame. Powell, who was already doing contract work as an app builder, helped with MOOV and became a co-founder. The app launched at Notre Dame last August, and in the first few days over 3,000 students joined. When Powell came back to the Mount last fall, he asked Valle if he would want to help bring the app to the Mount campus and beyond.

Following graduation, Powell and Valle plan to work full-time on MOOV, helping to standardize the app and bring it to campuses across the country. “We think the connections between students and their schools and communities are something really valuable and are capable of changing students’ experiences for the better,” noted Valle.