Post Date and Author: 
- by  Abby Weingarten

By Abby Weingarten

“Set to shape the future of business in Tampa Bay,” 25 entrepreneurs under age 25 were featured in the Tampa Bay Business Journal (TBBJ) on Friday—and New College’s Antonia “Toni” Ginsberg-Klemmt was one of them.

The 22-year-old physics thesis student has already garnered national attention, having earned a $10,000 OZY Genius Award in May—a coveted honor given to only 10 college students pursuing “projects or ideas that have a positive impact on society.” Ginsberg-Klemmt’s patent-pending invention is called GismoPower—a collapsible mobile solar carport with an integrated electric vehicle charger (which can easily fit into a garage in case of a hurricane) that she designed for the New College campus.

Also, two months prior to the OZY recognition, Ginsberg-Klemmt helped make New Crew SRQ (a rowing team she founded at New College) the first multi-school collegiate rowing team on the Florida Suncoast. And, on November 10, Ginsberg-Klemmt will be a guest speaker at the Sarasota County UF/IFAS Extension’s 16th Annual Sustainable Communities Workshop.

So how did Ginsberg-Klemmt score her latest nod in the TBBJ?

“Lauren Coffey, a reporter for the TBBJ and Tampa Bay Inno, reached out to me through Facebook. I assumed she read about GismoPower and the OZY Genius Award and she messaged me, stating that she was interested in writing up a small story on me and my solar carport invention,” Ginsberg-Klemmt said. “She did not initially mention that she wanted to include me in her story on Tampa Bay’s ‘25 under 25’ until she emailed me afterwards, which, of course, was a wonderful surprise and a great honor!”

And what does this mean to Ginsberg-Klemmt and her future?

“To me, this means that the importance of robust and innovative solar systems is being recognized. This wave of the renewable energy movement is promoting the initiative to make solar and renewable energy,” Ginsberg-Klemmt said. “We cannot wait until the last minute to combat the inevitable energy crisis that the world faces. This is the Sunshine State. Solar should be ubiquitous and more affordable to the general public—not a rare luxury accessible only to the affluent population.”

By the time she is 30, Ginsberg-Klemmt told the TBBJ that she sees herself working for a company that specializes in renewable energy—“not only in solar, but also in devices that generate electricity through ocean currents, waves, tides and pressure differences.”

To read more about Ginsberg Klemmt, click here and here.

To learn more about GismoPower, click here.

To read the full story in the TBBJ, click here.

Abby Weingarten is the senior editor in the Office of Communications & Marketing.