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University Innovation Fellows: SIU’s newest University Innovation Fellows were honored on December 2nd at the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Showcase 2021. In the picture, back row from left to right: Lynn Andersen Lindberg, Managing Director of SIU Research Park, Chancellor Austin Lane and Salukis Gabriel Bonansinga, Nicholas Winkler, Nelson Fernandes, Prem Rana. Front row, from left to right, are David Hernandez and Katherine Held. Fernandes and Rana were selected for the program in the 2019-2020 academic year. (Photo by Yenitza Melgoza)
December 07, 2021
Innovation, Entrepreneurship Highlight 2021 Showcase
CARBONDALE, Illinois – Creativity and development across the region were highlighted at the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Showcase 2021 at the Dunn-Richmond Economic Development Center at Southern Illinois University Carbondale on December 2nd.
The event paid tribute to some of the university and region’s innovators and entrepreneurs, as well as student entrepreneur projects.
Business plan winners announced
Regions Bank’s first business plan competition was launched to promote small business development in southern Illinois. According to the organizers, the 16 competition entries submitted showed a strong representation of technology-oriented innovations, traditional business concepts and product development ideas
The winners, listed by location, their award ceremony and brief descriptions of their business concepts, are:
- 1st place – Brand Advocacy Group, Nathan Colombo, $ 5,000. Colombo founded the company which is new to the SIU Research Park. His vision is to transform the region into a production location for film, television and digital content through the production of small media projects, but with a large-scale media idea. By investing these revenues in world-class manufacturing facilities in southern Illinois, his goal is to attract national and global manufacturing activity.
- 2nd place – Hot Hut Outdoors, Andrew Croxell, $ 3,000. Croxell developed the Hot Hut Outdoors product and concept from personal experience hiking the river-to-river trail through southern Illinois. Croxell worked to come up with a scientific approach to come up with a solution that would combat condensation and moisture build-up in the tent after his own 15-hour battle against moisture ingress into his tent, which required an 911 call after eight days.
- 3rd place – Energao, Yong Gao, and Rong Jiang, $ 2,000. Gao and Jiang founded the company in 2016 with a focus on energy storage and research, which resulted in two patent applications. They will use the award, along with other funding, to further develop their technology to help homeowners and communities build resilient, self-sufficient mini and microgrids.
Media advice
Editors, reporters, and news teams who want more information, or would like to interview representatives from the winning companies or the SIU Research Park, can contact Deborah Barnett at dbarnett@siu.edu for more information.
“Regions Bank’s 2021 Business Plan Contest would not have been possible without the generous donation of $ 10,000 from Regions Bank through the SIU Foundation in partnership with SIU Research Park, Business Incubator Programs, and SIU’s Illinois Small Business Development Center. “Said Deborah Barnett, assistant director of SIU Research Park and director of the incubator. “The goal of the funding was to fuel small business development in southern Illinois, and the competition acted as a catalyst to further ignite the flame of innovation and entrepreneurship in the area. Although we were only able to sponsor the first three, it was a very close competition. We want to make it clear to all attendees and others who have business concepts they want to move forward that we are here to provide the guidance that is needed to turn these concept ideas into reality. “
Business advice and services are available free of charge through SIU’s Illinois Small Business Development Center. Call 618-536-2424 or email sbdc@siu.edu for more information.
Jurors for the business plan competition were:
University Innovation Fellows awarded
SIU’s University Innovation Fellows 2021 were also honored. The unique training program helps students become more innovative, entrepreneurial and creative, while also helping them learn to cultivate these qualities in other students.
The four Salukis among only 251 students from 65 universities in 15 countries who were selected for the award are:
- Gabriel Bonansinga, Junior Computer Science with a minor in Computer Science from Springfield, Illinois.
- Katherine Held, Junior Finance and Pre-Law Major of Chatham, Illinois.
- David Hernandez, a junior zoology major from Peters, Missouri.
- Nicholas Winkler, Junior Business Management Major Bartlett, Tennessee.
The Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (d.school) at Stanford University runs the University Innovation Fellows Program. The students, “pinned” by Chancellor Austin Lane, are taking part in a six-week online training course in which they analyze their campus ecosystems and look for places where they can help bring about change and then establish individual projects. to make this a reality.
XRDA participants also recognized
The first group to take part in the Extended Reality Development Academy (XRDA) also received an award. XRDA was launched earlier this year with funding from the Delta Regional Authority through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Program to make virtual reality and related experiences in the region more accessible, and to leverage extended reality as human resource development and education to improve. Tool.
A training academy was established in May and the first group of participants completed a 12-week course in virtual reality (VR) application development and created a final project to demonstrate their skills. Two participants decided to finance their own XR development company due to the academy program. A second group will submit their final projects in the next few weeks and two more groups will participate in 2022.
Participants in the first group were:
The participants in the second group are:
SIU inventors and innovators celebrated
The work of 12 faculties and staff at SIU who have received patents in recent years was also recognized.
The recipients were:
- Naushad Ali, retired physics research professor.
- Ken Anderson, professor of geology.
- Aldwin Anterola, Associate Professor of Plant Biology.
- Peter Filip, Professor, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace and Materials Technology.
- Boyd Goodson, distinguished scientist, professor, and assistant dean of the College of Agricultural, Life and Physical Sciences.
- Gary Kinsel, Professor and Vice Chancellor of Research.
- Chao Lu, Associate Professor of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering.
- Khalid Meksem, Professor, Plant, Soil, and Agriculture Systems.
- Derek Perry, Paraprofessional, School of Earth Systems and Sustainability.
- Kyle Plunkett, professor, vice chairman, and study director at the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Sciences.
- Spyros Tragoudas, Professor and Director, School of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering.
- Haibo Wang, Professor and Biomedical Engineering Program Coordinator, School of Electrical, Computer and Biomedical Engineering.
SIU and the Carbondale Chamber of Commerce sponsored the presentation and business reception.
To learn more
For more information about the SIU research park and the many programs and services it offers, visit researchpark.siu.edu/, call 618-536-4451 or email lindberg@siu.edu.
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