Day: February 3, 2020

Greek Life Honor Society Recognizes Gretchen Hein

Gretchen Hein
Gretchen Hein

Last Sunday (Jan. 26), more than 300 students gathered for the 14th Annual Fraternity and Sorority Life Awards Ceremony held in the Memorial Union Ballroom. In addition to the many student awards presented, Order of Omega, the Greek Life Honor Society that coordinates the awards, took the time to recognize some exceptional faculty and staff members.

There are more than 460 students in fraternities and sororities at Michigan Tech, and Order of Omega wanted to emphasize that these awards were coming directly from the students.

The following faculty and staff members were nominated by members of the Greek community and recognized at the 2020 Fraternity and Sorority Life Awards Ceremony (winners are in bold type):

Faculty

  • Jeana Collins (Chemical Engineering)
  • Karyn Fay (Medical Laboratory Science)
  • Gretchen Hein (Engineering Fundamentals)
  • John Jaszczak (Chemistry and Physics)
  • Roger Woods (College of Business)

Staff

  • Nancy Byers Sprague (Graduate Degree Services)
  • Joseph Cooper (Student Financial Services)
  • Julie Ross (Civil and Environmental Engineering)
  • Rochelle Spencer (Student Leadership & Involvement)
  • Travis Wakeham (Biological Sciences)

Advisors

  • Danielle Cyrus (Financial Services and Operations)
  • Nathan Manser (Engineering Fundamentals)
  • James Schmierer (College of Forest Resources)

These nominations were written by individual students and were supported by an entire fraternity or sorority. 

Congratulations to all of these faculty and staff members who were nominated and thank you for inspiring and motivating students.

A complete list of all the award winners can be found on the Student Leadership and Involvement web page.

By Student Leadership & Involvement.

Engineering Participates in the 2020 Bob Mark Business Pitch

Four minute timer display.

Husky Innovate’s 2020 Bob Mark Business Model Competition was held Wednesday (Jan. 29).  A total of 18 students making up 13 teams pitched business models to advance their innovation.

Community members and judges from across campus and the community selected the winners and provided the teams with feedback.

The Winners of the 2020 Bob Mark Business Model Competition were:

  • First Prize, $2,000—Kyra Pratley, POWERPENDANTS
  • Second Prize, $1,000—Jake Soter, SwimSmart Technologies
  • Third Prize, $500—J. Harrison Shields, Shields Technologies
  • Honorable Mention, $250—Samerender Hanumantharao & Stephanie Bule, Bio-Synt
  • Honorable Mention, $250—Allysa Meinburg, Haley Papineau, Sadat Yang, AAA Prosthetic Ankle
  • Audience Favorite, $250— Allysa Meinburg, Haley Papineau, Sadat Yang, AAA Prosthetic Ankle
  • MTEC SmartZone Breakout Innovation Award, ($1,000 Reimbursable expenses toward business development)—Ranit Karmakar

A special thanks to all those who lent their time and resources to make the evening a success including our contestants for their hard work and great presentations and our judges:

  • Dean Janet Callahan, College of Engineering
  • Brett Hamlin, Associate Department Chair, Engineering Fundamentals;
  • Nate Yenor, MTRSC Commercial Program Director
  • Patrick Visser, Chief Commercial Officer, MTEC-SmartZone;
  • Elham Asgari, Assistant Professor, College of Business
  • Josh Jay, Materials Science Engineering Student, University Innovation Fellow and Innovation House RA

A special thanks goes out to emcee Cameron Philo, Electrical Engineering and PHC New Venture Pathway Student, University Innovation Fellow and E-Club President; Lexi Steve, Mechanical Engineering and Pavlis Honors College Student, University Innovation Fellow and Husky Innovate Intern; and the College of Forest Resources and Environmental Sciences for operations support and space and SLS & IT for production support.

This event is a tribute to the late Bob Mark, Professor of Practice within the College of Business who started the Elevator Pitch Competition at Michigan Tech. The competition recognizes his entrepreneurial spirit and its continuation at Michigan Tech.

The 2020 Bob Mark Business Model Competition was hosted by Husky Innovate, a collaboration between Pavlis Honors College, the College of Business and the Office of Innovation and Commercialization.

Husky Innovate is Michigan Tech’s resource hub for innovation & entrepreneurship and offers workshops, competitions, NSF I-Corps training, a Speaker Series, and cohosts the Silicon Valley Experience.

Making their pitch: MTU students take part in Bob Mark Pitch competition

HOUGHTON — In four minutes Wednesday, students had to summarize their product, the need for it, and how they would bring it to market. For two more minutes, they had to field whatever questions a panel of judges could throw at them.

The gauntlet is part of Michigan Technological University’s annual Bob Mark Pitch Competition, named for the late Tech professor who founded the event. It was put on by Husky Innovate, which offers a series of extracurricular workshops and competitions for students to develop ideas.

Read more at the Mining Gazette, by Garrett Neese.

Michigan Tech holds annual Bob Mark Business Model Competition

HOUGHTON, Mich. (WLUC) – Michigan Tech held their annual Bob Mark Business Model Competition Wednesday night.

The competition gives Michigan Tech students a chance to pitch their ideas to a group of judges who decide on the best pitch and give feedback after each presentation.

Read more at TV6 FOX UP.