Four Poole Alumni Among 2025 Miller Fellows Cohort
The Miller Fellowship Program supports promising graduates as they transition from students to full-time entrepreneurs.
What is the Miller Fellowship?
Founded in 2014 by Dr. Tom Miller, the Miller Fellowship was designed to bridge the gap between graduation and full-time entrepreneurship. Many students face a tough choice after earning their degrees: take a traditional job or commit to their startup. The Fellowship ensures that promising entrepreneurs don’t have to choose between financial stability and their business dreams by bridging the gap between graduation and startup growth.
Each year, selected fellows receive:
- A monthly stipend ($1,000) to support their venture.
- Specialized mentoring from the NC State Innovation and Entrepreneurship team.
- Access to startup spaces, including the Albright Entrepreneurship Garage.
- Workshops and networking opportunities to refine their business strategies.
- This six-month fellowship (June–November) provides structured support, refining business models and fostering long-term success.
Meet the 2025 Miller Fellows Cohort
This year’s cohort represents cutting-edge innovation across industries — from education and fashion to smart home technology and outdoor gear.
Austin Ketola – Asobo Education
Austin is a computer engineering and economics graduate, as well as a native of Iron Station, NC. As the founder of Asobo Education (formerly TutorSmith), he has led the development a hyper-personalized learning platform that leverages AI-driven curriculum generation to help middle and high school students master foundational skills. It adapts to every student’s needs and provides gameplay to keep learning engaging and match students where they are at. Over the past three years he has bootstrapped the company to deliver over 350 tutoring sessions and is now preparing Asobo for classroom pilots.
At NC State, Austin has immersed himself in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, pitching at Wolf Den, the VenturePack Challenge and Triangle Tweener Madness. He was a part of the 2023 Andrews Launch Accelerator cohort. With the Miller Fellowship, he aims to accelerate Asobo’s rollout in schools and shape the future of personalized educational tools.
Batoul Al-Zoubi – Karam The Collection
Batoul graduated from the Poole College of Management with a bachelors in business administration with a concentration in IT. She is the founder of Karam The Collection, a premium streetwear brand dedicated to delivering high-quality, meaningful clothing inspired by the richness of Arab culture. Driven by values of kindness and authenticity, Batoul aims to scale Karam into a global fashion brand recognized for its cultural authenticity, timeless designs and uncompromising quality.
Receiving the Miller Fellowship will allow Batoul to make this vision a reality. She hopes to use the resources provided to strengthen the Karam’s business model, expand the product line and elevate their marketing strategies. In addition, Batoul is working to refine her supply chain, enhance inventory management and improve Karam’s current e-commerce platform to support larger demand.
Braden Champion – IronPlate Solutions
Braden, a business administration with a concentration in entrepreneurship graduate , co-founded IronPlate Solutions with his brother, Trevor. Their mission is bring consistency, speed and quality to restaurant kitchens through intelligent cooking tools — starting with EasySear, an automated grill system designed to streamline high-volume protein cooking. Born from firsthand experience working every role in their father’s restaurant, the brothers are solving the labor, consistency and cost challenges they have experienced first hand.
As someone who is passionate about building companies that solve real-world problems, Braden is excited to be a part of the Miller Fellowship. The Fellowship will allow him to focus fully on IronPlate post-graduation through mentorship and resources. He hopes to use this time to launch real pilot tests, refine their minimum viable product and lay the foundation to scale the business.
Matthew Nassif – Sesame
Matthew is a mechanical engineering graduate who has always been drawn to product design and entrepreneurship. After working on side hustles, he took his interest to the next level by joining the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program. In this program, he co-founded, Sesame, a smart lock that uses facial recognition, voice authentication and a pop mechanism to unlock and open doors. With Sesame, the team aims to help users securely and conveniently enter their homes.
Through the Miller Fellowship, Matthew is excited to take this idea from a prototype to reality. With goals to improve the reliability of the hardware, optimize user experience and build awareness of the product, he is excited to utilize the mentors and resources in the program.
Marko Sun – Nature’s Throne
Marko graduated with a degree in business administration — concentration marketing and a minor in Spanish. He is the founded of Nature’s Throne during his time at NC State. Nature’s Throne is a startup focused on solving overlooked problems in the outdoor space through simple and functional design. The first product is a camping chair that doubles as a portable toilet. After viral success on social media and $20,000 in funding, the product has a 450+ waitlist. After participating in nearly every entrepreneurship event at NC State, he is excited to be a part of the Miller Fellowship. During this time, Marko hopes to finalize product development, grow online presence and prepare for a crowdfunding launch, bringing Nature’s Throne to outdoor enthusiasts everywhere.
Outside of work with Nature’s Throne, Marko is a local real estate agent. From e-commerce and car washes in high school, to reality and Nature’s throne now, Marko has a passion for being creative and bringing ideas to life.
Andrew Chen – 3Bolt AI
Andrew, an industrial engineering graduate that is reshaping manufacturing with 3Bolt AI — an automated 3D printing venture designed to bridge the gap between prototyping and scalable production. With a mission to empower creators and makers, 3Bolt AI makes hardware manufacturing more accessible and easily scalable.
Andrew is refining 3Bolt’s technology and business strategy through the Miller Fellowship, aiming to streamline 3D printing for makers and manufacturers alike. He is passionate about driving innovation at the intersection of design, automation and manufacturing.
The Future of Innovation at NC State
Through mentorship, funding and strategic guidance, the Miller Fellowship empowers graduates to build venture-scale businesses, launch meaningful solutions and transform industries. Fellows gain critical entrepreneurial skills, access to valuable resources and a supportive community that helps them navigate the challenges of early-stage business growth.
For aspiring entrepreneurs at NC State, the program serves as a launchpad for innovation, proving that with the right support, big ideas can become a reality.
Learn more about NC State Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s Miller Fellowship program here.
This post was originally published in Entrepreneurship News.
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