July 10, 2013 | Eli Freund - School of Engineering

Student Entrepreneurs to be Profiled in Tolland

Nine motivated student innovators will discuss their industry-sponsored research on Thursday, July 25 as featured guests at this month's Innovation Connection networking event, to be held at Nerac starting at 3:30 PM. The students are participating in a National Science Foundation-sponsored summer program, called Research Experience for Undergraduates, at UConn that promotes innovation and entrepreneurship through partnerships with commercial companies.

reu2Entrepreneurship is widely acknowledged as a sustaining pillar of the nation’s economic competitiveness. But, how do we enable the ability to imagine new products and services, to conceptualize better ways of doing things, and then to successfully commercialize them? How do we nurture, reward and sustain spinoff companies and startups? 

How do we foment the entrepreneurship revolution needed to help the nation reclaim its roots as a land of invention?

Nine motivated student innovators will discuss their industry-sponsored research on Thursday, July 25 as featured guests at this month’s Innovation Connection networking event.  The students are participating in a National Science Foundation-sponsored summer program, called Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU), at UConn that promotes innovation and entrepreneurship through partnerships with commercial companies.  This REU site concept was conceived and is overseen by Dr. Jeffrey McCutcheon, assistant professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering.

The student panelists, who also participated in a business and entrepreneurship course on the mechanics of business, will discuss their projects and the challenges of bringing technology to the marketplace.  Don’t miss this exciting event, generously hosted and sponsored by research and advisory service company Nerac, Inc. and IT consulting firm OpenSky.

Details:
Thursday, July 25, 2013
3:30 – 4:30 Panel Discussion
4:30 – 6:30 Innovation Connection networking reception
Nerac, Inc., One Technology Drive, Tolland, CT  06084
860-872-7000

Please RSVP.

The sponsoring companies that make this valuable learning experience possible include KX Technologies, W.R. Grace, Scitech Solar, Proton OnSite, KX Technologies, RPM Sustainable Technologies, VeruTech, Nanostannate Film and BASF.

The student entrepreneurs and their faculty advisors include Justine Jesse (adv. Dr. Jeffrey McCutcheon), Isaac Batty (adv. Dr. George Bollas), Kyle Stachowiak (adv. Dr. Brian Willis), Joseph Amato (adv. Dr. Radenka Maric), Zacharia Rueger (adv. Dr. Jeffrey McCutcheon), William Hale (adv. Dr. Richard Parnas), Kyle Karinshak (adv. Dr. Steve Suib), Urian Vue (adv. Dr. Puxian Gao), and Ryan Carpenter (adv. Dr. Leslie Shor).