![\"Tom](\"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Tom-Burden-2025.jpg\")
Tom Burden, who graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering technology in 2014, successfully pitched his invention, Grypmat, on the ABC reality show “Shark Tank” in 2017.<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve wanted to be an inventor ever since I was a kid,\u201d Burden said. \u201cNow I\u2019m grateful to be in a position to support the next generation of inventors and entrepreneurs and to encourage them to take advantage of many of the same opportunities that I had as a student at UToledo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Burden developed his non-slip tool mat while studying mechanical engineering technology at UToledo, and he won the UToledo Business Incubator\u2019s Pitch & Pour Competition, now the Tech419 Pitch Competition, before he graduated with a bachelor\u2019s degree in 2014.<\/p>\n
Burden and Grypmat went on to secure an investment deal through an appearance on the ABC reality TV show \u201cShark Tank\u201d in 2017.<\/p>\n
Today Grypmat is used by the military, NASA and NASCAR, among others.<\/p>\n
Burden has been recognized on Forbes\u2019 \u201c30 under 30,\u201d and his invention has been featured on the cover of Time magazine. Burden also received the UToledo Alumni Association\u2019s Edward H. Schmidt Outstanding Young Alum Award in 2021.<\/p>\n
“From Basement to Billionaires\u201d is the first of several presentations the alumnus will host at the College of Engineering in September.<\/p>\n
Burden also will participate in an alumni panel during the Mechanical Engineering Alumni Network of Experts and Scholars (MEANES) program at 1:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 12, in the Brady Center and discuss academic and professional opportunities with first-year students on Monday, Sept. 15.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re looking forward to welcoming back Tom Burden,\u201d said Dr. Hossein Sojoudi, chair of the Department of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering. \u201cOur 2030 strategic vision is built on innovation, entrepreneurship and strong industry integration in education. What better way to bring that vision to life than by engaging with our alumni and community? Engineering and entrepreneurship go hand in hand, and we hope our students will be inspired by Tom\u2019s story of success that began right here where they are now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tom Burden, the inventor of the flexible, non-slip tool mat Grypmat, will present \u201cFrom Basement to Billionaires: The Grypmat Story\u201d at 1 p.m. Friday in Nitschke Hall\u2019s SSOE Seminar Room (Room 1027).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":908,"featured_media":94314,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,1,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94313"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/908"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94313"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94322,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94313\/revisions\/94322"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Tom](\"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Tom-Burden-2025-150x150.jpg\")
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