Walking by the Leavey Center, students encounter an interesting sight — students immersed in bright yellow headgear, navigating the floor with an infectious blend of laughter and focus. 

What may seem like mere amusement are, in fact, student demos of groundbreaking work transpiring from former Georgetown University students, Steven Pang and Colton El-Habr’s newest advances in neurostimulation technology. Their startup, Orbit Technologies, aims at creating a much more immersive experience with video games by targeting the Vestibular System, or the motion center, in your brain.

According to El-Habr, CTO and co-founder of Orbit, the technology works by sending electrical signals to the motion center of the brain, stimulating it in the right way to make the user feel as if they are experiencing movements even when they are just sitting still.

Pang, one of the co-founders of Orbit, and El-Habr are pioneering the world of noninvasive neurotech in a way that is revolutionizing modern gaming. What started as dorm room ambitions has quickly become a company that has the capability to make magic and help improve the lives of millions. Everyday, the evolution of this bright yellow headgear serves as a reminder to Georgetown students that having the title “student” does not equate to inexperience or the inability to make real change.

When thinking about what attending university means, it often seems the case that a narrative emerges. You wake up, go to class, hope to find a booth in the Healey Family Student Center (HFSC) (spoiler, there are none), trudge up to Lauinger Library, struggle through work and wait until Thursday night comes. Wash, rinse, repeat. 

Just because we are students does not mean we must maintain this status quo. I urge students to break this cycle. It can be daunting to think about adding another event to our GCal, but startups such as Orbit Technologies are showcasing the true potential of university students who test the limit of their own abilities and education.

According to Monty Singer, senior analyst of Orbit, there is a disconnect between the experience of virtual reality (VR) and its audience. Similar to watching a movie with no sound, there is a missing element that the viewer can sense. Orbit brings this sound, or the missing element.

Orbit’s recent triumph was highlighted in a pitch at Demo Day, which is an event hosted by Georgetown Ventures, an on-campus student-run entrepreneurial club, and designed to highlight the achievements of student startups like Orbit. Ventures has been working alongside Pang and El-Habr in their journey to pioneer the VR landscape. 

From its early days in Georgetown Venture’s Launch Pad, a division that prides itself on working with early-stage entrepreneurs to translate their ideas into functional minimum viable products (MVP), to this semester’s involvement in Venture Accelerator, a division that works with start-ups in their following stages to growth, Orbit has been heavily involved in entrepreneurship on campus. Their company is one of the many other startups hosted at Demo Day, which has brought to light conversations about how students can be involved in entrepreneurship on campus. 

As an English major who has wandered her way into the landscape of student startups, I can tell you it does not take a major in the McDonough School of Business (MSB) to love entrepreneurship. It is easy to feel like an imposter in areas of student life that you feel challenge your capabilities, but that is exactly where one discovers that the limits you set for yourself do not exist. If you are a creative who would like to help a brand take their vision to the next level or a computer science student looking to build their resume by providing technical support to startups, then organizations like Ventures can help to support your goals. 

According to William Hansen (MSB ‘25) Ventures’ former director of community and the chief organizer of Demo Day, the day is an opportunity for startups to connect with potential future investors and mentors. It is also a way for other students and members of the Georgetown community to learn more about student entrepreneurship.

I urge all Georgetown students to attend the next Demo Day in order to support their peers in their ventures as well as expose themselves to potential opportunities.

As a result of their dedication, Pang and El-Habr have raised $750,000 in pre-seed funding this past semester, which appears to be only the beginning for the company. Orbit is not merely a startup success story; it represents a paradigm shift in how students engage with and contribute to the entrepreneurial landscape. Orbit is an ode to the hard work and dedication these young entrepreneurs put in daily for a brighter future. Pang and El-Habr, both tireless workers, are prime examples of how work ethic and perseverance directly relate to success.  

More than that, however, Orbit is showcasing how we as Georgetown students have the unique opportunity to leverage our intellectual curiosity to take on meaningful projects. College is not only a time of surviving finals, it is a time for realizing that there is a potential for real-life application of the lessons we learn in class. 

In the future, Orbit hopes to move from the world of immersive video gaming and into using their tech to cure neurological diseases, and Pang and El-Habr plan on expanding their work with the goal of expanding technology’s ability to interact with the brain. They are just getting started, and with the help of groups like Georgetown Ventures, all students have the capacity to transform their ambitions into a reality.

Natalie Price-Fudge is a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences.