C2V Contest Brings Out the Best in UIC Entrepreneurs
Eight teams of aspiring UIC student entrepreneurs pitched their new business concepts at the fourth annual Concept2Venture Business Plan competition December 16. Distinguished professionals in business, finance, law and entrepreneurship provided participants with valuable feedback and ultimately awarded the winning teams more than $21,000 in cash as well as in-kind services.
The participating teams, which included both graduate and undergraduate students from the university’s 15 colleges, presented business plans for products in the automotive, medical and
e-commerce industries.
AlphaMark Neuroscience, led by MBA candidates David Miller, Christopher Shoemaker and Aben Cooper, took first place in the graduate competition. AlphaMark Neuroscience is pursuing the
development of a patented blood test to assess the effectiveness of antidepressants for patients suffering from Major Depressive Disorder.
The elevator pitch competition was won by Optical In-Sight, led by Amanda So, an early-stage medical device company focused on commercializing a light-powered microactuator to potentially restore vision for victims of age-related macular degeneration.
Congratulations to all the participants!
MID-TERM SOCIAL
The Fall 2008 Mid-Term Social held October 20 at Jak’s Tap had a great turnout. The crowd soon grew large enough to fill the reserved private room and conversation was easy to find. In attendance were both full-time and part-time MBA, MSA, MS-MIS and MRE students, faculty members and LGSB staff. The event was an excellent opportunity for students to socialize outside of the classroom environment. Off campus social events are the best opportunities to break the ice with fellow classmates and create an additional dynamic to the sometimes formal relationships we have with our peers.
Stay tuned to the LGSB Calendar at mba.uic.edu for an up-to-date list of upcoming events.
Making a Difference
UIC MBA students volunteer with Chicago Cares to help beautify Canter Middle School
On a frigid Saturday morning in November, six MBA students woke up a little earlier than usual to help make a difference at Canter Middle School, an under-resourced Chicago public school which serves
approximately 280 students in 7th and 8th grades. Canter, which was constructed in 1902, has only one engineer that it shares with three other schools. This greatly affects their ability to maintain the space, let alone improve it, without additional help.
Canter’s first-year principal has set many goals for the school, but her main objective is to beautify the school so that students can take pride and ownership of it. In support of this objective, UIC MBA students joined other community volunteers to help beautify the learning environment through the following projects: painting walls, stairwells, railings and baseboards, updating the library, constructing podiums, and creating murals and tile mosaics.
UIC MBA volunteers, which included Wei Liu, Kendra Chapman, Suraj Sharma, Michael Swaine, Guohua Cheng and Jennifer Schoenberger, helped create several murals through the “paint-by-number” technique, which will be displayed in classrooms and hallways. “The event was high-spirited and energetic. It not only helped us to build social ties, but also to promote a sense of social responsibility for our community.” — Suraj Sharma, UIC MBA student
The MBA Association will continue to offer volunteer opportunities
with Chicago Cares and other community organizations throughout 2009.
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