Michigan Tech College of Business Newsblog

Two Tech Teams Chosen for Clean Energy Challenge

Published October 26, 2012

Two teams from Michigan Tech have been chosen to join in the Michigan Clean Energy Venture Challenge. Twenty-seven teams were chosen from 71 teams that applied from across the state. Through the challenge, teams will learn the skills needed to start a successful company, through classroom and hands-on learning.

The teams will also meet regularly with their on-campus mentors and venture capitalists and have access to a micro-grant program offering up to $2,500 for each team to move their business forward.

The Tech teams are GreenedIt!, a web-based application for energy auditing, and Aquaponics, for healthy, local food in urban communities.

GreenedIt! team members are physics students Travis Beaulieu, an undergraduate, and graduate student Abhilash Kantamneni. The team traveled to East Lansing for their initial training this past weekend.

“The training we received through the challenge was incredibly useful,” said Beaulieu. “The whole point was to try and get young entrepreneurs into the mindset of finding a customer need and forming the idea around the customer’s feedback. Thankfully this training worked for our team, and we had a complete pivot during the weekend.”

The other team, Aquaponics, features indoor farming using water instead of soil, with a fish tank providing nutrients to plants. Team members include Robert Handler, post-doctoral environmental engineer in the Sustainable Futures Institute; Josh Krugh, economics undergraduate; and Jacob Bray, chemical engineering undergraduate.

“Aquaponics is a combination of aquaculture and hydroponics,” Handler said. “And we want to examine the potential for this type of agriculture to expand as a business opportunity in urban communities throughout the state.”

On the final day of the venture challenge, all participating teams will present their results, and a few teams will be awarded additional prizes and investments totaling $50,000 or more. The six-month challenge is run by the University of Michigan Center for Entrepreneurship.

Written by Senior Editor Dennis Walikainen of University Marketing and Communications.

Event: Bob Mark Elevator Pitch Competition

Published October 20, 2012

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Where can you win $1,000 for just 90 seconds of your time? At the 2012 Bob Mark Elevator Pitch Competition! Join us on Wednesday, November 7 in Fisher 135 at 6pm for the fun!

In the competition, contestants have a limited time (like on an elevator ride) to sell a concept to someone who doesn’t have previous knowledge about their business. A 90-second time limit is placed on the competitors, who will also be competing for second ($500), third ($250), and audience-favorite ($200) prizes. Please join students, faculty, staff, and community members for this year’s event. You won’t be disappointed!

This event is a tribute to the late Bob Mark, Professor of Practice within the School of Business and Economics. Mark started and ran the first four years of the Elevator Pitch Competition and brought the Business Plan Competition to Michigan Tech. The Bob Mark Elevator Pitch Competition and other efforts support his entrepreneurial spirit that continues to live on in students, faculty, and staff.

Get Involved

If you are interested in participating in this event, review the EPC Information and Rules or download the 2012 Bob Mark Elevator Pitch Competition Judge’s Score Sheet. To participate, attend an information session (the next one is scheduled for Tuesday, October 30th at 6pm in Fisher 139) and contact Travis: twbeauli@mtu.edu with any questions.

Advice from Bob Mark

Do not say “we have no competition.”
If you are stating guessed numbers, try using 3, 7, or 9 to make the numbers sound more realistic.
Memorize your first and last statements, let everything in the middle flow naturally.
Be confident in everything you say and avoid terms such as “maybe.”
There is an audience favorite prize so invite all of your friends to vote for you!

This event is sponsored by the Michigan Tech School of Business and Economics and the Michigan Tech Smart Zone.

Students Meet AITP Organization Leaders

Published October 18, 2012

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Student Organizations

Left to right: Larry Schmitz, VP of AITP, Front: Calvin Demerath, Alan Hejl, Ryan George Back: Joseph Kodos, Isaac Olson, John Lindroth, Norbert Kubilus, President of AITP

During the Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP) Regional Conference in Green Bay, Wisconsin last week, students in the Michigan Tech AITP student organization met President Norbet Kubilus (right) and Vice President Larry Schmitz (left).

“Besides learning the personality of AITP and a great amount of its history, present state, and potential future, I acquired a new perspective on what it means to be in a professional organization,” said Joseph Kodos, a third year computer networking and systems administration major, who attended the event. “The conference provided a relaxed atmosphere to talk with a slew of professionals—a great opportunity to improve upon conversation and professional networking skills. A renewed possibility of academic collaboration between Michigan Tech and other regional student chapters also is a result of this conference.”

On the Road: Marketing Faculty presents in Vancouver, BC

Published October 17, 2012

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Faculty Spotlight

In early October Assistant Professor of Marketing, Soonkwan Hong, presented two research papers at the Association for Consumer Research conference held in Vancouver, Canada.

The presentations were titled, “Mythologized Glocalization of Popular Culture: A Postcolonial Perspective,” and “Cruising the Unadulterated Terrain of Consumption: Rural Snowmobilers’ Interpellation through Collective Simplicity.”

Natural Resource Economics Plays a Key Role in Michigan Innovation

Published October 17, 2012

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Faculty Spotlight

Associate Professor of Natural Resource Economics

Matt Rousch who publishes the Great Lakes Innovation and Technology Report for CBS Detroit visited the Copper Country last week and caught up with Associate Professor of Natural Resource Economics, Bill Breffle, for a discussion on environmental economic impacts.

Excerpt taken from Matt Rousch on the 2012 Fall Tech Tour as part of the Great Lakes Innovation and Technology Report.

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After lunch it was time for a fascinating socio-political discussion with William Breffle, associate professor of natural resource economics in Tech’s School of Business and Economics.

Breffle described himself as a conservative free marketeer when it comes to economic issues. Yet he acknowledged that there are places where the market fails, such as accounting for pollution let into the environment by private companies and the military — and that’s where he comes in, studying how so-called “externalities” can be eliminated for the benefit of the public through economic evaluation of environmental “disamenities.”

“My work focuses on sustainability and carrying capacity,” Breffle said. “I want to start people thinking about the fact that the economy from a natural resource standpoint is an open system, and we’re going to have to startt treating our waste stream as a necessary but negative side effect of production if we’re going to have long term sustainability of economic services that benefit people.”

Simply put, he said, “It seems as though we don’t care about future generations when it comes to our debt and climate modification. And it becomes a moral issue because the people aren’t even here yet to express their preferences for a clean environment. They aren’t here to vote, and federal and state governments enact regulations and conduct policy in ways that are too myopic to benefit the future as much as they should.”

He said he wants to help a Great Lakes-wide study of pollution problems to deal with the negative combination of numerous ongoing and related problems throughout the broader watershed. He said we can all enjoy a comfortable lifestyle through better technology and education.

“The market works most places most of the time,” Breffle said. “I look at places where it doesn’t and that’s where my career is centered.”

Breffle also said Tech’s business school is healthy and growing, led by programs like an Applied Portfolio Management Program that has tech students managing $1.2 million in reach assets, and a regular 10-second elevator pitch competition. Tech also offers a unique economics program, a master’s of applied natural resource economics.

Read the full article.