These researchers have developed methods to design and build ordered arrays of metal
nanoparticles that can be used in many different kinds of sensors and detectors. The
nanoparticles, which are arranged on a ceramic surface, are spaced about 600 to 1000
nanometers apart—the wavelength of optical and near-infrared light. Researchers can
shine a light through the array and measure its response with a spectrometer. A fluid
passing over the top of the array will change the response of the light, allowing
researchers to detect different chemical properties of the fluid.
This system was recognized by the Office of Fuel Cycle Technologies because of its
possible application in the field of nuclear science. For example, DeJarnette explained
that the sensor could be used to determine the amount of nuclear waste in water. The
sensor has many other possible applications, including several in the field of healthcare.
It could be used to detect biomarkers in blood, or to measure blood sugar levels.
Roper's research group is currently optimizing the arrays for these and other possible
applications.
"I am so pleased with Drew's achievement," said Roper, who holds the Charles W. Oxford
Endowed Professorship in Emerging Technologies in the Ralph E. Martin department of
chemical engineering. "He is very deserving of this award, and it's a great reflection
of the quality of students the graduate programs on this campus can attract."
The microelectronics-photonic program is an interdisciplinary program in the College
of Engineering and the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.
University Receives Increase in State Funding, Monies From General Improvement Fund
Reference: University of Arkansas Newswire June 07, 2013
The University of Arkansas saw an increase in its state-funded appropriation and received
significant allocations from the state General Improvement Fund during the recent
legislative session of the Arkansas General Assembly.
The session ended on May 17. The state appropriation for the University of Arkansas
for fiscal year 2014, which starts July 1, totaled just more than $125.5 million —
a 2.6 percent increase over the current fiscal year and the largest percentage increase
since 2008.
The increase in state funding allowed the university to seek the lowest percentage
tuition-and-fee increase for the forthcoming academic year among the four-year undergraduate
universities in the University of Arkansas System.
"The General Assembly's recent state appropriation increase, as recommended by Governor
[Mike] Beebe, made it possible for us to adopt the smallest tuition increase in several
years and to provide pay increases to our faculty and staff," said Chancellor G. David
Gearhart. "We are grateful for this year's increase, the first of significance in
six years, which is helping us maintain a balance between affordability and high quality."
The university will also get $3 million for its general use through the law establishing
a General Improvement Fund, which sets aside various amounts to state legislators
and the governor for special projects funded with surplus cash in the state government's
budget.
Richard Hudson, vice chancellor for government and community relations, said he was
pleased with the appropriation increase, in light of the fact that legislators approved
tax cuts that are projected to lower state revenue by more than $100 million in fiscal
years 2015 and 2016.
"We are also appreciative of the $3 million in General Improvement Funds, which materialized
late in the session and which we hadn't anticipated," Hudson said.
Three U of A entities will receive significant funding through the General Improvement
Fund.
Through Act 894, Garvan Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs was designated to receive
$500,000, with Sen. Bill Sample allocating $490,000 and Sen. Alan Clark allocating
$10,000. The 210-acre botanical garden, which has a chapel, pavilion and many other
features, is open to the public and is part of the Fay Jones School of Architecture.
Through Act 385, Sen. Uvalde Lindsey provided $250,000 for the Nanoscale Material
Science and Engineering Building. The 76,000-square-foot facility, which opened in
September 2011, houses the university's Institute for Nanoscience and Engineering
— which is comprised of faculty and students in departments across campus working
in nanoscale research — and the university's microelectronics-photonics graduate program.
Through Act 790, the World Trade Center Arkansas — an international economic outreach
enterprise embedded within the university — will receive a total of $245,000 from
10 legislators. Sen. Jon Woods provided $50,000; $25,000 each were Sens. Missy Irvin,
Bart Hester and Michael Lamoureux and Jonathan Dismang and Reps. Davy Carter, Micah
Neal and Duncan Baird. Lindsey, whose senate district includes the U of A, and Sen.
Bruce Maloch each contributed $10,000.
The legislature, through Act 234, restructured the state's lottery-funded Arkansas
Academic Challenge Scholarship program. Starting this fall, first-time recipients
of the scholarship would receive $2,000 as freshmen, $3,000 as sophomores, $4,000
as juniors and $5,000 as seniors at four-year universities.
Until the law took effect in early March, students who were first awarded the scholarships
in the 2010-11 school year each received $5,000 a year to attend a four-year school.
Those who were first awarded the scholarships in the 2011-12 or 2012-13 school years
get $4,500 a year at universities.
Hudson said university leaders wanted to avoid a reduction in the amount traditional
first-year students would receive.
"Legislators would reject most everything that we would counter with because lottery
revenue has fallen," he said. "We would come up with a beautiful plan but they would
say, 'Fine, that will work for about three years until we go right back in the same
boat. There's not enough money to do it that way.'"
A law that also drew statewide attention was Act 226, which provides that full-time
faculty and staff at colleges and universities who hold concealed handgun permits
may carry such weapons on campus — provided that the institution's board of trustees
does not annually opt out of the law. Trustees of the University of Arkansas System,
acting on a recommendation from system President Donald Bobbitt, voted to opt out
of the law at their meeting in May.
Another law affecting the U of A community is Act 312, which prohibits the use of
public funds for supporting or opposing ballot measures. A violation of the law is
a misdemeanor and leads to termination.
"We as employees are very limited in what we can do," Hudson said. "We'll have to
be very careful. If we wanted to campaign for or against a ballot measure, we'd have
to take vacation time, or just talk about the impact and not say how to vote."
Picasolar Wins Banana Republic Grad Student Challenge
Reference: University of Arkansas Newswire May 14, 2013
Picasolar, a graduate student business plan competition team from the University of
Arkansas that has developed a patent-pending process to improve the efficiency of
solar cells, has won the inaugural Banana Republic Grad Student Challenge.
Picasolar was notified of its win and the $10,000 award that comes with it on Tuesday
evening, a day after the team took the MIT NSTAR Clean Energy Prize in Boston and
a total of $250,000 in prize money.
The team has won $313,500 this spring in graduate business plan competitions. Its
technology, a hydrogen selective emitter invented by team member and chief technology
officer Seth Shumate, could improve the efficiency of solar cells by 15 percent and
could save an average-sized solar panel manufacturer $120 million annually, and make
the panels, and solar energy, more affordable for consumers.
Banana Republic, in partnership with Net Impact, asked graduate students to submit
a traditional business plan or an idea that would demonstrate a vision for creating
jobs in the United States. Net Impact is a San Francisco-based nonprofit that empowers
a new generation to work within and beyond business for a sustainable future.
“The judges found the Picasolar plan both comprehensive and insightful with an innovative
technology supported by detailed analysis and measured assumptions,” said Joanna Spoth
of Net Impact.
It’s the fourth competition victory for Picasolar since the team formed in the New
Venture Development graduate course taught by Carol Reeves, who holds the Cecil and
Gwendolyn Cupp Applied Professorship in Entrepreneurship in the Sam M. Walton College
of Business.
In addition to the prize money, Picasolar was awarded a new wardrobe from Banana Republic.
Picasolar includes:
Shumate, a doctoral student in the microelectronics-photonics program offered by the
College of Engineering and J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences
Trish Flanagan, who is graduating this spring with a dual master of business administration
and public service degree offered by the Walton College and the Clinton School of
Public Service in Little Rock
Matthew Young, a doctoral student in electrical engineering
Michael Miller, who is graduating this spring with a master of accountancy from Walton
College.
U of A's Picasolar Team Wins MIT Clean Energy Prize, $250,000
Reference: University of Arkansas Newswire May 08, 2013
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Picasolar, a graduate business plan competition team at the University
of Arkansas, beat more than a dozen other semifinalists to take the MIT NSTAR Clean
Energy Prize this week in Boston. The team won for a business plan built around a
patent-pending process developed by one of its members to improve the efficiency of
solar cells.
The prize came with a cash award of $150,000. Picasolar won an additional $100,000
from the U.S. Department of Energy. Cash-wise, it is the university’s biggest win
in a graduate business competition since the U of A began fielding teams a decade
ago.
“We’ve made some extraordinary contacts in Boston and we are excited about the momentum
we are building,” said graduate student Trish Flanagan, president of Picasolar. “We
are grateful for the support of Dr. Carol Reeves and other mentors at the University
of Arkansas.”
Picasolar has won more than $300,000 this spring in graduate business plan competitions.
The team’s technology, a hydrogen selective emitter invented by team member and chief
technology officer Seth Shumate, could improve the efficiency of solar cells by 15
percent and could save an average-sized solar panel manufacturer $120 million annually,
and and make the panels, and solar energy, more affordable for consumers.
“This win is the culmination of a year of incredibly hard work,” said team mentor
Carol Reeves, U of A’s associate vice provost for entrepreneurship. “I cannot say
enough about this team or about their technology. It is amazing that an Arkansas
doctoral student developed one of the biggest breakthroughs in solar technology in
decades. It shows what we are capable of accomplishing, and the entire world will
benefit.”
Jim Rankin, the university’s vice provost for research and economic development, said,
“This is exciting news for the University of Arkansas. Winning this prestigious competition
reinforces the reputation of the university as a national educational leader in entrepreneurship.
It also shows how graduate students from different disciplines can work cohesively
to advance a successful business plan.”
Picasolar includes:
Shumate, a doctoral student in the microelectronics-photonics program offered by the
College of Engineering and J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences
Flanagan, a student in the concurrent master’s program in business administration
and public service offered by the Sam M. Walton College of Business and the Clinton
School of Public Service in Little Rock
Matthew Young, a doctoral student in electrical engineering
Michael Miller, a master of accountancy student in Walton College.
Picasolar will compete at the Tri-State Governor's Cup in Las Vegas May 20-22, and
a national Department of Energy competition in June.
It’s the third competition victory for Picasolar since the team formed in the New
Venture Development graduate course taught by Reeves, who holds the Cecil and Gwendolyn
Cupp Applied Professorship in Entrepreneurship in the Walton College.
Picasolar took first place and $20,000 at the 2013 IBK Capital-Ivey Business Plan
Competition in January at the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of
Western Ontario. It won the $25,000 graduate-division first place prize in Little
Rock in April at the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup collegiate business plan competition.
Under the guidance of Reeves, the university has fielded competitive graduate student
teams at state, regional, national, and international business plan competitions since
2002. During the past decade, students have won more than $1.7 million in cash at
these competitions.
University of Arkansas Sweeps Top Three Graduate Division Spots at Governor's Cup
Reference: University of Arkansas Newswire April 12, 2013
Picasolar, a team from the University of Arkansas that has developed a patent-pending
process to improve the efficiency of solar cells, took the $25,000 first place prize
Wednesday in the graduate division at the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup collegiate
business plan competition.
Picasolar led a U of A sweep of the top three places in the graduate division in the
13th annual competition. HomeDx finished second and won $15,000. EverClean Coating
Solutions LLC was third and took home $10,000, in addition to winning $5,000 for taking
first in graduate division for the most innovative business plan.
This year, 47 teams submitted business plans from 13 colleges and universities from
across Arkansas for a chance to win a share of the $154,000 prize pool. Prizes in
the competition were awarded at a luncheon at the Statehouse Convention Center in
Little Rock.
Picasolar and HomeDx will compete against the top two graduate teams from Nevada and
Oklahoma for the Donald W. Reynolds Tri-State Award in May, where they will be competing
to win a share of the $118,000 prize pool.
The U of A has won the graduate division at the Governor’s Cup 10 consecutive years,
and placed the top three teams in the graduate division in three of the last four
years.
Under the guidance of Carol Reeves, associate vice provost for entrepreneurship, the
university has fielded competitive graduate student teams at state, regional, national,
and international business plan competitions since 2002. During the past decade, students
have won nearly $1.4 million in cash at these competitions.
Picasolar’s technology, a hydrogen selective emitter invented by team member and chief
technology officer Seth Shumate, could improve the efficiency of solar cells by 15
percent and could save manufacturers an estimated $5 million to $10 million annually
per production line.
It was Picasolar’s second win this year. It took the grand prize and $20,000 at the
IBK Capital-Ivey Business Plan Competition in January the University of Western Ontario. Earlier
this month, Picasolar was a runner-up and won $2,500 at the annual New Venture Championship,
hosted by the University of Oregon. The team left Little Rock Wednesday afternoon
for Houston, where it is competing in the Rice Business Plan Competition.
Trish Flanagan, team member and president of Picasolar, said the team’s solar efficiency
technology is drawing interest from investors.
“We’re seeing our hard work paying off on the competition circuit, but what we’re
also really excited about is that we have real business development potential,” Flanagan
said.
Picasolar includes Shumate, a doctoral student in the microelectronics-photonics program
offered by the College of Engineering and J. William Fulbright College of Arts and
Sciences; Flanagan, a student in the concurrent master’s program in business administration
and public service offered by the Sam M. Walton College of Business and the Clinton
School of Public Service in Little Rock; Matthew Young, a doctoral student in electrical
engineering; and Michael Miller, a master of accountancy student in Walton College.
HomeDx, which would provide over-the-counter diagnostic tests for influenza, food
intolerance, sexually transmitted diseases and other infectious diseases, is comprised
of master of business administration students Max Mahler, Audra Mazzeo, Calvin Smith
and Will Swearingen; and master of accounting student Daniel Cherry.
EverClean Coating Solutions LLC has created a self-cleaning coating technology for
solar panels that improves efficiency. The team members are Bill Ryan and Manish Phogat,
master in business administration students in the Sam M. Walton College of Business
and Corey Thompson, a doctoral student in the College of Engineering. Ryan is in the
executive M.B.A. program.
EverClean Coating Solutions will be competing in the final rounds at the Walmart Better
Living Business Plan Challenge, scheduled for April 18-19 at the company’s home office
in Bentonville. The winning team will receive a cash prize of $20,000.
All three teams formed in the New Venture Development graduate course taught by Reeves,
holder of the Cecil and Gwendolyn Cupp Applied Professorship in Entrepreneurship in
the Walton College.
Solar Efficiency Plan Nets Picasolar Third Place in Competition
Reference: University of Arkansas Newswire March 28, 2013
Picasolar, a team from the University of Arkansas that has developed a patent-pending
process to improve the efficiency of solar cells, took third place at one of Canada’s
premier graduate student business plan competitions.
Picasolar also won the elevator pitch contest at the Stu Clark Investment Competition
on March 23, hosted by the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. The team won $5,000
for finishing third and $1,000 for winning the elevator pitch.
Picasolar’s process, invented by team member Seth Shumate, could improve the efficiency
of solar cells by 15 percent and could save manufacturers an estimated $5 million
to $10 million annually per production line.
It marked the second time Picasolar finished in the top three at a competition in
Canada. In January, Picasolar took the $20,000 grand prize at the 2013 IBK Capital-Ivey
Business Plan Competition, held Jan. 25-26 at the Richard Ivey School of Business at
the University of Western Ontario in Canada.
The team is comprised of Shumate, a doctoral student in the microelectronics-photonics
program offered by the College of Engineering and J. William Fulbright College of
Arts and Sciences; Trish Flanagan, a student in the concurrent master’s program in
business administration and public service offered by the Sam M. Walton College of
Business and the Clinton School of Public Service in Little Rock; Matthew Young, a
doctoral student in electrical engineering; and Michael Miller, a master of accountancy
student in Walton College.
The team is one of four from the U of A that are competing this spring in graduate
student business plan competitions, and the university has advanced to the finals
in each competition in which it has competed. The teams formed in the New Venture
Development graduate course taught by Carol Reeves, holder of the Cecil and Gwendolyn
Cupp Applied Professorship in Entrepreneurship in the Walton College.
The University of Arkansas has fielded competitive graduate student teams at state,
regional, national, and international business plan competitions since 2002. During
the past decade, students have almost $1.4 million in cash at these competitions.
Louis to Receive Diplomas from U of A and Ecole Centrale Paris
Reference: University of Arkansas Newswire March 18, 2013
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Lydie Louis, a graduate student at the University of Arkansas,
expected to spend three months in France studying nanostructures at Ecole Centrale
Paris, a premier school focused on science and technology.
She ended up spending two years in the City of Light, earning enough credits to allow
her to graduate this spring with a dual doctorate in microelectronics and photonics
from both the University of Arkansas and Ecole Centrale Paris.
Louis is the first student in the interdisciplinary microelectronics-photonics graduate
program to earn a dual doctorate. She started her graduate studies in Fayetteville
in 2004 and earned a master’s degree in microelectronics-photonics in 2006. She studied
at Ecole Centrale Paris from 2008 to 2009 and part of 2010.
Louis, who would like to pursue a research position at a national laboratory or in
private industry, said she imagines her feeling of relief when she receives her diplomas.
“I will be very, very happy because it took a very long time,” she said with a smile.
Faculty at both institutions developed a joint curriculum for Louis, said physicist
Laurent Bellaiche, her faculty adviser at the U of A. The National Science Foundation
supported the collaboration through grants, and Ecole Centrale Paris also provided
a stipend, Bellaiche said.
Ecole Centrale Paris is comparable in reputation to the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Bellaiche said.
“Lydie has been working on nanostructures, either modeling them — the work mostly
done here — or by growing them and characterizing them, which was done in France,”
Bellaiche said. “I think that it was very important for her to learn both simulations
and experiments in nanoscience, a topic that is of particular interest.”
Louis works with ferroelectric materials at the nanometer scale. Ferroelectric materials
are used in medical ultrasound to examine fetuses and internal organs, in military
sonar for underwater navigation and detection, and in cell phones. These materials
have a spontaneous charge separation that allows them to generate an electric field
when their shape is changed — thus mechanical energy becomes electrical energy.
“In my experimental work, I synthesize one-dimensional nanowires or nanotubes,” she
said. “I grow a ferroelectric inside these nanostructures, building the material and
shaping it.”
In Ecole Centrale Paris’ doctoral program, Louis worked in the laboratory and collaborated
on other theoretical studies. She completed her course work and doctoral candidacy
exams at the University of Arkansas, and she had to report to advisers and faculty
committees at each campus. Her advisers at Ecole Centrale Paris include Brahim Dkhil
and Gregory Geneste.
Louis was born to Haitian parents and grew up in the tiny island of Guadeloupe, part
of the French Antilles. French is her native language, which made her a good candidate
to study in Paris, she said.
“I knew I wouldn’t need much language preparation to start my studies there,” she
said. “It was a great opportunity.”
When she immigrated to the United States in 1997, she spoke no English. But she was
very good in science. While in high school in Guadeloupe she passed Advanced Placement
tests in both calculus and physics. Louis earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical
engineering from the City College of New York in 2004.
In her last year at the city college, she became a Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority
Participation Scholar, an NSF-funded program that assists universities and colleges
in increasing and diversifying the number of students successfully completing high
quality degree programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines.
In the spring of 2004, she attended the Stokes Alliance national conference in New
Orleans, where the University of Arkansas was sponsoring some of the poster competitions.
While at the awards dinner, she happened to sit next to Ken Vickers, director of the
microelectronics-photonics program at the U of A.
“While I was speaking to him, they called my name because I had won the poster competition
in engineering,” Louis said. “He was frankly amazed that we had randomly chosen seats
next to each other, as he told me that because I had won first place I would be coming
to the University of Arkansas for a visit, all charges paid. I visited and really
liked it.”
Louis holds memberships in Eta Kappa Nu, the Electrical and Computer Engineering Honor
Society; the Institute of Electrical and Electric Engineers; and the National Society
of Black Engineers.
University-Affiliated Business Applies for Patent for Solar-Cell Efficiency Technology
Reference: University of Arkansas Newswire February 18, 2013
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Silicon Solar Solutions Inc., a Genesis Technology Incubator
client at the University of Arkansas, has developed a new technology that could improve
the efficiency of solar cells by 15 percent, thereby potentially saving manufacturers
millions of dollars in production costs.
The start-up company at the Arkansas Research and Technology Park has submitted an
application for a full patent on a self-aligned hydrogenated selective emitter for
N-type solar cells, moving the patent from “provisional” to “pending,” said Douglas
Hutchings, chief executive officer of Silicon Solar Solutions.
“If successful, this approach represents the single largest technology leap in solar
since 1974,” Hutchings said. “We have demonstrated it on lab-scale cells already.
We’re all excited.”
Seth Shumate, a graduate student at the U of A and senior scientist at Silicon Solar
Solutions, invented the emitter. In December, the National Science Foundation awarded
the company a $150,000 small-business grant to continue its development.
The technology is at the heart of a joint venture being developed by Silicon Solar
Solutions and Picasolar, a graduate business competition team at the university that
includes Shumate as a member. On Jan. 26, Picasolar took first place at the 2013 IBK
Capital-Ivey Business Plan Competition and took home a cash award of $20,000.
Shumate, a doctoral student in the microelectronics-photonics program at the university,
uses a vacuum chamber in a laboratory at the Arkansas Research and Technology Park
to conduct his experiments. The chamber has a tungsten filament, similar to a light
bulb, which heats to 3,452 degrees Fahrenheit. When hydrogen is introduced to the
chamber it hits the surface of a tungsten filament, separating the hydrogen atoms.
“Those atoms then go into the solar cell and do their magic,” Shumate said.
Selective emitter technology for solar cells has so far involved complex processes
with at least two or more steps. The technology innovation put forward by Silicon
Solar Solutions is a single-step method for creating a selective emitter by using
atomic hydrogen to deactivate impurities in the emitter. It increases solar power
conversion efficiency and reduces the amount of silver needed to produce high-efficiency
solar cells, thereby lowering material costs.
The National Science Foundation Phase I grant came through the Small Business Innovation
Research Program, which allows federal agencies to stimulate technological innovation
in the private sector by strengthening small businesses that meet federal research
and development needs. The program also is intended to increase the commercial application
of federally supported research results.
Silicon Solar Solutions will raise $60,000 of outside investment for the emitter to
secure an additional $30,000 from the National Science Foundation. Hutchings said
it hopes to receive a $750,000 Phase II grant in January 2014 to demonstrate the lab
results on industrial-quality cells and start implementing the technology in existing
solar-cell manufacturing lines.
University of Arkansas Team Wins $20,000 for Solar Efficiency Invention
Reference: University of Arkansas Newswire January 31, 2013
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A team from the University of Arkansas that has developed a patent-pending
process to improve the efficiency of solar cells took the grand prize at one of Canada’s
premier graduate student business plan competitions.
Picasolar earned first place at the 2013 IBK Capital-Ivey Business Plan Competition,
held Jan. 25-26 at the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western
Ontario. The team received a cash award of $20,000 and an invitation to the Venture
Labs Investment Competition at the University of Texas at Austin in May, which bills
itself as the “Super Bowl of business competitions.”
Picasolar’s process, invented by team member Seth Shumate, could improve the efficiency
of solar cells by 15 percent and could save manufacturers an estimated $5 million
to $10 million annually per production line.
“Picasolar is a fantastic addition to the very impressive group of teams from the
University of Arkansas winning international business plan competitions,” said Carol
Reeves, associate vice provost for entrepreneurship who advises Picasolar and two
other U of A teams that competed at Ivey.
“I almost always forbid my students from using the word ‘revolutionary’ to describe
their technology,” Reeves said. “However, Picasolar can honestly make that claim in
regard to the impact their technology can have on the solar industry. The judges,
some of whom were from Silicon Valley, were blown away by their technology and their
presentation.”
The Ivey competition offers students an opportunity to present innovative business
plans to potential investors, while providing investors with an advance look at up-and-coming
entrepreneurs and new ventures. The U of A was the only university from the United
States invited to the final round, which featured nine teams divided into three brackets.
The winner of each bracket advanced to final round.
The Picasolar team include Shumate, a doctoral student in the microelectronics-photonics
program offered by the College of Engineering and J. William Fulbright College of
Arts and Sciences; Trish Flanagan, a student in the concurrent master’s program in
business administration and public service offered by the Sam M. Walton College of
Business and the Clinton School of Public Service in Little Rock; Matthew Young, a
doctoral student in electrical engineering; and Michael Miller, a master of accountancy
student in Walton College.
ParadigMed, another team from the U of A, also advanced to the final round. Stephen
Kayode and Tara Mink, both in the managerial MBA program in Walton College, founded
ParadigMed, which manufactures a cost-effective device for adult male circumcision
in an outpatient setting. It addresses challenges associated with reducing the heterosexual
transmission rate of HIV globally, primarily in Africa.
HomeDx, a third U of A team represented by managerial MBA students Calvin Smith, Max
Mahler and Will Swearingen, nearly made the final round, Reeves said. HomeDx is working
to develop the first over-the-counter influenza test that will be distributed through
large retail channels.
All three teams formed in the New Venture Development graduate course taught by Reeves,
holder of the Cecil and Gwendolyn Cupp Applied Professorship in Entrepreneurship in
the Walton College.
It was the second consecutive year a team from the U of A won the competition. Learning
DifferentiatED, which has created a company that improves retention and success rates
of adults preparing for the General Education Development test, took the top spot
in 2012.
