They say necessity is the mother of invention. This adage certainly proved true for Liam Tyler ’28 (CLAS), a sophomore double-majoring in earth science and geographic information science, when he moved into the Innovation House at the beginning of his UConn journey.
In this dorm community, his neighbors were fellow tinkerers, engineers, and creatives, all interested in exploring innovative solutions to the world’s problems. And Liam encountered one such problem right away:
“If you’ve ever lived in a dorm, you know shower caddies suck,” he says. “They’re just not good. And they’re never the right size. So, I was thinking, having one that you could just change to be the right size for you, that would be super nice.”
During the spring semester of his first year at UConn, Liam joined Innovate Labs’ Innovate2Create program, a nine-week experience that helped him move his idea from concept to execution. He didn’t have any prior 3D modeling or printing experience, but he learned quickly with the support of Innovate Labs’ team, including lab manager Audrey Larson ‘26 (ENG), who started her own apparel business when she was a first-year student.
Liam’s concept became the ClickyCaddy, a modular and customizable shower caddy that allows people to choose any size and design that they like.
To his surprise, he took first place in the program’s culminating event, where each student in the cohort had an opportunity to pitch their inventions to a panel of judges.
“I did not expect that, but it was incredible,” Liam says.
The prize was a $1,000 scholarship put toward his UConn tuition. Since his victory, Liam has been pondering what’s next for ClickyCaddy – patenting the concept? Creating an online store to capitalize on interest from fellow students?
His initial experience with producing and pitching a product taught him that the concept is only the beginning; turning a product into a successful business requires a whole ecosystem of people helping with logistics, from production to web presence.
“Luckily, I have some friends that are studying marketing,” Liam says, adding that the concept continues to inspire informal collaborations among his friends as they think about upscaling the idea.
For Liam, creative problem-solving guides his interests in the classroom, as well. Over the summer, he completed an internship with Chandi Witharana, an assistant professor in the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment (NRE), working with geographic information systems (GIS) technology to assign coordinates to aerial images. He also worked on training an AI model to detect utility poles, which allows issues in the power grid to be easily located, prioritized, and fixed.
This semester, he is completing an additional independent study project with Witharana, centered on understanding landscape patches created by beavers – the environments beaver dams create. These projects revolve around Liam’s interest in geography and environmental structures, both natural and built.
Liam is pursuing the Environmental Earth Sciences Accelerated Degree program, which allows students to earn their master’s degree in just one year after receiving their bachelor’s. He is interested in how his expertise can align with natural disaster relief.
“There’s a lot of careers in geography that I just didn’t know even existed,” Liam says.
He cites the work of Christopher Burton, assistant professor in the Department of Geography, Sustainability, Community, and Urban Studies, who does research in this field.
In addition to his work on ClickyCaddy, Liam also applies his craftsmanship to a good cause. In his spare time, he volunteers with the UConn club Knit for NICU, which donates hand-crafted knit and crocheted gifts, like blankets and plushies, to infants in intensive care.
Month of Discovery
October is the Month of Discovery, when undergraduates are introduced to the wealth of research and innovation opportunities at UConn. This month, enjoy profiles of outstanding undergraduate innovators on UConn Today, attend a full slate of programming on campus and online, and register for Discovery Quest to launch your undergraduate experience to new heights.
