My name is Ameya Deshmukh and I am a doctoral student at The Ohio State University studying Biomedical Engineering. My family moved to the United States from India in 1998 in search of higher education and greater opportunities. As a recent immigrant, my father worked his way through a PhD while my mother completed her Master’s, all while raising me and my brother. Watching my parents pursue the highest degrees in their respective fields inspired me to eventually do the same.
In my pursuit of higher education and entrepreneurship, I realized there was a gap in the market for academic help resources for college students. Many of my own peers were giving up on their dreams because they didn’t have the resources available to succeed. I have observed this same feeling of defeat as a private tutor for middle and high school-aged students. I knew that there had to be a better solution to the disorganized academic-help market at Ohio State and on college campuses. From this, the idea for PeerUp was born, an idea that has been validated and refined for product commercialization and launch.
My vision for PeerUp is strongly supported by a team who not only compliments my skillset, but is equally passionate about improving the lives of college students– people just like us. Matt successfully piloted a mobile safety application on Ohio State’s campus and understands how to engage appropriate stakeholders. Charles has been developing mobile and web applications for more than 5 years and continues to refine his skills through the pursuit of a Master’s in Software Engineering at the University of Southern California.
Together, our hope is that, through PeerUp, college students everywhere will achieve their dreams as my parents did and as I will too.