Local student places in MSOE Business Plan Competition

MILWAUKEE, WI (02/25/2013)(readMedia)-- Jessica Axt, a biomolecular engineering major from Germantown, was part of a team of students who took 2nd place in the 7th annual MSOE Business Plan Competition. Her team will represent MSOE at the Mason-Wells BizStarts Collegiate Business Plan Competition, a regional competition among 21 universities in southeastern Wisconsin that will be held at MSOE's Todd Wehr Auditorium on April 25.

Axt's team, "DeriGen-Cellulose Hydrogels," took second place, winning $1,500 in the competition. They presented a business plan regarding the needs of the medical, pharmaceutical and agricultural industries for various derivatives of cellulose in order to exploit the beneficial properties. DeriGen proposed to produce cellulose derivatives by moving production of cellulose into Escherichia coli giving the potential to create derivatives more predictably through genetic and metabolic engineering. The product would be primarily marketed to the advanced wound care market for use in advanced care, such as hydrogel-based dressings. This is promising because the advanced wound industry is forecasted to double in size within the next couple years. DeriGen has potential to be marketed in other industries, such as for production of acoustic speaker materials. Currently, these industries are working with non-optimal materials which do not have the properties cellulose derivatives have which enable them to hold water, have greater tensile strength, and further fulfill the needs of the target products as specified by their producers. Other students involved include Kathleen Keough and Adam Schaenzer, both of whom are biomolecular engineering majors.

The MSOE Business Plan Competition began earlier this school year when students and alumni were invited to present their business ideas. Nearly 100 students were part of the early stages of the competition. Five entries were selected as finalists and judged on both their plans and formal presentations. The MSOE Business Plan Competition is sponsored annually by MSOE's Uihlein/Spitzer Center for Entrepreneurship. Dr. Jeffrey Blessing, professor, Rader School of Business, serves as the competition coordinator.

The 2013 MSOE Business Plan Winners were:

1st Place ($2,000) - Ferret Boards Motor Skateboard

Matthew Brazeau, Mike Cosentino and Jake Schneider, mechanical engineering majors

3rd Place ($1,000) - Impulse Gaming Concepts

Michael Fricke, Adam Resnick and Alex Weise, mechanical engineering majors

Tyler Mrowiec, architectural engineering and business management double major

Hannah Schermerhorn, electrical engineering and technical communication double major

4th Place ($500) - Trace Engineering

Brad Meissner, mechanical engineering major

Kevin Grimstad, electrical engineering major

Tyler Hackbarth and Keenan Nemetz, software engineering majors

5th place ($250) - Strategic Games Inc.

Adam Van Essen, M.S. in new product management major

MSOE is an independent, non-profit university with about 2,500 students. MSOE offers 20 bachelor's degrees and nine master's degrees in engineering, business, mathematics and nursing. The university has a national academic reputation; longstanding ties to business and industry; dedicated professors with real-world experience; a 94% placement rate; and the highest average starting and mid-career salaries of any Wisconsin university according to PayScale Inc. MSOE graduates are well-rounded, technologically experienced and highly productive professionals and leaders.