University of Maryland students Ananth Kudaravalli, Maahe Kunvar and Alia Mulbagal placed first in the Innovation Lab at the 2026 Association of Schools & Programs of Public Health (ASPPH) annual meeting, held in Virginia in March.
“We wanted to tackle the interconnectedness of your health and your finances, whether you’re going past what money you have available,” said Kudaravalli, a junior studying global health in SPH and general biology.
The Innovation Lab brought together ten teams of undergraduate and graduate students to develop a plan guiding people aged 18-24 in public health challenges. Over the course of the weeklong lab, students work with consultants and design experts to create and pitch their solutions.
We wanted to tackle the interconnectedness of your health and your finances, whether you’re going past what money you have available.
Ananth Kudaravalli ‘27
Wanting to get more involved in public health, Kudaravalli and Kunvar found and joined the lab, recruiting Mulbagal in the process.
Kudaravalli, Kunvar and Mulbagal tackled issues in financial literacy among college students with their app prototype: “Harmoney.”
The group knew college students often have difficulty with balancing many monetary burdens at once, and so these innovators wanted to approach financial issues from a mental health perspective.
“Especially in college, and just the environment that a lot of students are in, there is a certain culture of what we consider retail therapy, where you tend to overspend sometimes and not realize it,” said Kunvar, a junior studying public health science at UMD’s School of Public Health (SPH), and neuroscience.
The app prototype simplifies financial literacy for users, helping them track their mental health alongside their financial decisions. It also provides resources based on users’ financial goals and needs, such as links to the UMD Office of Student Financial Aid website.
The app also considers aspects like users’ physical health to regulate finances. For example, in the app prototype, sample user Maya has Crohn’s disease.
“She had a flare-up of cramping, bloating and fatigue and the app noticed that she spent an extra $34 that week and it connected those two things,” said Mulbagal, a sophomore studying finance and mathematics.
This marks the second year in a row UMD students have won the award. SPH students won in 2025 with their concept for a sustainable fashion app.
“This award is a testament to the creativity, skills and interdisciplinary thinking of our University of Maryland students, and to win it twice in a row speaks to the great talents – and great potential for public health innovation – that we see daily in the halls of our School of Public Health,” said SPH Dean Boris Lushniak.
According to Tracie G. Seward, ASPPH’s senior director of educational pathways and undergraduate education, judges of the competition scored pitches based on the public health context of the problem, and the feasibility and potential impact of the solution, among other factors.
“I was impressed with Harmoney's holistic approach to wellness through a combination of financial and health monitoring,” said Eduardo A. Ruiz, ASPPH’s chief information officer. “As two of the biggest stressors in my life, I would personally benefit from such an app to improve my wellbeing.”
The students were delighted with their Innovation Lab results.
“At the end of the day, we were able to make an impact,” said Kunvar, “The project was something that was just really, really satisfying and really happy for all three of us.”
— Rachel Kebler ‘27