Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

From Washington State University Tri-Cities:

A series of three entrepreneurship classes offered at Washington State University (WSU) Tri-Cities is pairing students with industry professionals to develop and launch new ventures in clean energy.

Paul Carlisle, an adjunct Professor with the Carson College of Business who runs the program, said the classes are meant to be taken in succession. Students team up with a researcher who holds a freshly patented technology, often from nearby Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (PNNL), help create a business plan, and secure venture financing to create a viable business.

“The goal is that regardless of what the technology is, if the student was to take all three classes, they would have the preparation and access to launch a new business,” Carlisle said.

The three classes begin with new venture planning, followed by launching new ventures, and concluding with entrepreneurial management. Carlisle, who has been teaching entrepreneurial management since 2011, said these classes have been offered at WSU for many years, but were adapted at Tri-Cities to include participation within industry. They were offered as a series for the first time in the fall of 2023.

Click here to learn more.

From the University of Alabama at Birmingham:

The University of Alabama at Birmingham‘s (UAB) latest start-up is named ReACT FND Health, and the company’s Chief Scientific Officer and Founder is Clinical Psychologist Aaron Fobian. She is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology who developed ReACT to help patients with functional neurological disorder, or FND, which affects an estimated 300,000 Americans.

In 2018, Fobian helped to begin an interdisciplinary treatment program at UAB to treat patients with FND; in 2020, she published the positive results of a 29-participant trial of ReACT that was the first randomized controlled trial of any treatment for pediatric functional seizures.

Today, people describe a company’s product as “amazing,” allowing them to “take back control of their life” or say it is “giving our daughter her life back.” Others fly in from points around the country for treatment. Finally, when healthcare practitioners in countries around the planet are on a waiting list to learn how to use it, the company is probably onto something.

To learn more about Fobian and her work with ReACT, click here.

From the University of Miami:

Thanks to a $5 million pledge made by University of Miami alumnus Angel Alvarez, Founder and Chairman of ABB OPTICAL, University of Miami Startup Accelerator (USTAAR) is ready to help student entrepreneurs take their start-ups to the next level.

Suhrud Rajguru, Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Otolaryngology and the Assistant Vice Provost for Research Workforce Development, leveraged the donation to launch USSTAAR. It helps that he is the Co-Founder of RestorEar, a medical device company focused on innovative technologies for hearing loss prevention. That experience has allowed him to marry his work as both an entrepreneur and educator.

Going forward, Rajguru hopes to continue growing the USTAAR program with help from the alumni and Miami community. He hopes to take the program from $5 million to $30 million, where USTAAR can become first-round investors for student or faculty entrepreneurs and start-ups.

From St. John’s University:

Two new technology projects supported by St. John’s University’s Venture & Innovation Center (VIC) and assisted by students and recent graduates could soon be accessible to members of the University community. They are:

• Financially Lit, a financial literacy app targeted to college students and developed by soon-to-be sophomore Alexandra Cicala, could be available as soon as late summer, before most students return to the Queens, NY, campus; and
• ChipServer, a portable, Wi-Fi-based file-sharing server developed by a local entrepreneur and currently being tested by two recent graduates and Anthony Brandimarte, a current student in The Peter J. Tobin College of Business, should follow shortly after that.

Both projects are in testing stages after receiving technological, marketing, and networking support from the VIC, which opened on the St. John’s campus earlier this year.

The VIC is the latest initiative in the University’s commitment to entrepreneurship, business development, and experiential learning. Led by Director James M. Kinsley, Professor of Management, Entrepreneurship, Consulting, and Operations, it provides entrepreneurs inside and outside of St. John’s with business resources and product development support, including creation space, marketing strategies, and even funding.

From the University of Houston and Rice University:

Eighteen teams from the two universities pitched during the 11^th annual “Bayou Start-up Showcase” presented by Rice’s OwlSpark and the University of Houston’s RED Labs. The two universities, both top-ranked in the country for their entrepreneurship programs, have partnered on the showcase to create an environment that cultivates entrepreneurs and early stage start-up teams, enabling founders to share ideas, experience the value of collaboration, and surround themselves with the best people and resources.

“This partnership has seen 401 founders across 181 ventures collectively raise more than $110M,” said Jessica Fleenor, Managing Director of OwlSpark. “Our alumni are living proof that collaboration works. Our 11-year partnership leverages the community to provide a springboard for emerging founders, demonstrating that Houston is the place for entrepreneurship.”

RED Labs and OwlSpark each provide a 12-week program designed to help the universities’ respective students, faculty, staff, and recent alumni accelerate their business or business idea with hands-on entrepreneurship experiences and a roadmap from innovation to commercialization. These accelerators are then celebrated each year with the showcase with opportunities to make connections with customers and investors.

Eleven of the founders came from the University of Houston, while seven were Rice University-based.

From Pennsylvania State University:

There’s a new seed fund that has been established in Farrell Center for Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship to help realize a long-standing goal: providing real-world learning opportunities for undergraduate students passionate about venture capital investing while supporting Invent Penn State’s mission to spur economic development, job creation, and student success.

The new initiative, known as the Patrick and Betsy Flanagan Propel Business Seed Fund, is the result of a $250,000 gift from the alumnus and his wife. It was inspired by Smeal College of Business’ highly successful Garber Venture Capital Fund. That fund, established with a philanthropic gift from John and Betty Garber in 1999, has allowed professional graduate students to evaluate and invest in early stage companies for nearly 25 years.

Under the Propel Business Seed Fund, Smeal undergraduate organizations, such as the Happy Valley Venture Capital student group, will evaluate start-up companies and make investment decisions with guidance from an experienced faculty director or program coordinator who will be charged to oversee the fund, mentor students, and ensure investments are consistent with university policy and procedures.

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