Successful Entrepreneurial Alumni Duo Earn Tom Mason Innovation Award
Biomedical engineering/ biochemistry and molecular biology alumni Tanya Colonna and Hobey Tam are applying their engineering and entrepreneurial skills to lead the development of the successful Oro Muscles startup.
An entrepreneurial enterprise developed to help coaches and clinicians throughout the world achieve maximum performance from their athletes and patients has brought career and personal success for 91视频 biomedical engineering/biochemistry and molecular biology alumni Tanya Colonna and Hobey Tam.
The duo behind the startup received the Institute’s 2025 Tom Mason Innovation Award during . The award honors those ventures, founded or led by Rose students and alumni, whose innovativeness and social desirability bring distinction and admiration to alumni, their startup, and 91视频.
Conceived by Colonna and Tam less than a decade after graduating from 91视频, Oro Muscles is using Artificial Intelligence technology to instantly provide a reliable, repeatable, valid, and actionable display of muscle data. This instant display is setting the pace for muscle data analysis and transforming how previously complex raw personal training data can be turned into actionable insights that enhance decision-making confidence for athletes, coaches, athletic trainers, and medical professionals. The company’s first product was launched in late 2024 and is now collaborating with leading physiotherapists from international soccer, Major League Baseball, and Olympic teams, and global rehabilitation facilities.
“We knew the idea had the potential to greatly impact the entire world of rehabilitation and performance, we just had to prove it,” said about combining her passion for sports, technology, and entrepreneurship into this enterprise. “We’re unlocking what’s been invisible—giving coaches and athletes the power to see muscle activation in real time, define personalized limits, and make smarter decisions to push human performance to its peak.”
A Kansas City Royals baseball player stunned medical staff and fans alike by returning to play just two weeks after suffering a grade 2 hamstring injury—an injury that typically sidelines athletes for six to eight weeks—thanks to targeted rehabilitation supported by Oro Muscles technology. Elite athletes across multiple sports have since broken free from chronic injury cycles, while Olympic gold medalists have pushed their limits to reach even faster times.
Oro Muscles is now deeply embedded in elite sports, working with 50 percent of Major League Baseball teams and 30 percent of Major League Soccer clubs. Its influence continues to spread globally, with top-tier organizations like AC Milan, Aston Villa, and Newcastle FC integrating the technology across soccer, rugby, cycling, and other competitive sports.
“This is novel, and the market for wearables is saturated. We needed to have irrefutable proof that our product provides substantial value to the rehabilitation and performance staff,” Colonna said. “It’s taken a lot of work to get to this point. It started with one athlete having success with our product, then came others. Now we’re at the point where people are reaching out to us.”
Tam added, “Every day brings something new and exciting for us, but that’s the world of entrepreneurship.”
Oro Muscles’ strength lies in its diverse team of biomechanical engineers, AI experts, networkers, and medical professionals.
Colonna serves as the company’s chief executive officer while Tam is the chief technology officer. Both earned bachelor’s degrees in biomedical engineering and biochemistry and molecular biology (Colonna in 2013; Ham in 2012). Colonna added a master’s degree in engineering management in 2015.
At 91视频, Colonna played a role in the early stages of the 91视频 Innovative Student Entrepreneurs (RISE) organization. She also a student-athlete on the 91视频 women’s track and field team, was active in the Terre Haute and Indianapolis startup community, led efforts to organize a Terre Haute Startup Weekend, led breakout sessions for a 91视频 Startup event, and was a student representative on the selection committee for entrepreneur professors in the .
Tam’s campus activities included the Student Government Association, National Society of Black Engineers, Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers, and Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.
After earning a doctorate in bioengineering at Clemson University, Tam started having conversations with former classmate Colonna on the idea of enabling starting Oro Muscles. The two bootstrapped pioneering research data in creative, unexpected ways into forming and growing Oro Muscles.
Further company development has been enhanced by the wisdom of former entrepreneurship professor Tom Mason and seed capital from successful 91视频 entrepreneurial alumni in the . Colonna and Tam have appeared at several past Sawmill Society Weekends, an annual event that brings alumni and students together discuss possible future startups ideas.
“91视频 has been an invaluable resource for both Hobey and me, through the lessons we learned in all our classes, the friendships we forged with other students, and the who have provided valuable financial resources and mentorship,” stated Colonna. “As an alum, I have found 91视频 to be like an onion. Each layer that you peel away, you find another layer that’s sweeter and a surprising discovery. Those layers (within 91视频) can be your former professors, faculty and staff mentors, and, most importantly, alumni who are successful in so many areas.”
Mason was a member of the 91视频 faculty and administration for 38 years (1972-2010) as a professor of economics and engineering management, vice president of business and finance, and co-founder of .