Brandon Sweeney and Blake Teipel, Ph.D. students in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University, were selected as winners at the 2015 Southeastern Conference (SEC) Symposium’s inaugural Student Entrepreneurial Pitch Competition in Atlanta.
A total of 14 teams participated from each of the SEC’s 14 universities presenting their pioneering ideas to a panel of SEC alumni judges.
Sweeney and Teipel’s entrepreneurial pitch was based on their research in nanotechnology and next generation materials for additive manufacturing (3-D printing). They have created an innovative solution to the problem of high-cost and unreliable, high-mobility prosthetic devices.
The students applied a unique property of carbon nanotubes to overcome the difficulty of the weld strength of polymers. Increased weld strength can bring about stronger 3-D printed prosthetic devices at a fraction of the cost of currently available prosthesis. Additionally, the 3-D printing technology can be applied to many other industries including aerospace, automotive and military.
Sweeney’s research advisor Dr. Micah Green, associate professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering and affiliated faculty member in materials science and engineering, guides their fundamental research.
“It is great to see Sweeney and Teipel represent Texas A&M so well in winning this competition,” said Green. “Their creativity and hard work shows that these young engineers have a great career ahead of them.”
“We are thrilled to see excitement among the students to take their research from the lab to the applications for the benefit of the society, “ said Dr. Ibrahim Karaman, materials science and engineering department head and Chevron Professor I. “Our faculty continues to support and encourage students to participate in entrepreneurial programs. Sweeney and Teipel’s entrepreneurial success is an inspiration for other materials science and engineering students.”
In preparation for the competition, Sweeney and Teipel participated in weekly coaching and mentioning sessions with faculty, staff and other professionals at the Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship and Startup Aggieland at Texas A&M.
Recently, they presented their technology to Hanger Corporation, the nation’s biggest prosthetic manufacturer. They also visited the Center for The Intrepid (CFI) in San Antonio, one of only three trauma centers in the nation for wounded veterans.
“Sweeney and Teipel were able to procure licensing opportunities from the Hanger corporation in addition to encouragement and support from the director of CFI to explore implementing on a trial basis their technology for below the knee amputees,” said Don Lewis, assistant director of Startup Aggieland and executive professor in the Department of Management in the Mays Business School. “We have been pleasantly surprised by the level of commitment, discipline and overall professionalism they display. As a two-time winner of the campus wide Raymond Ideas Challenge they were naturals to represent our university in this competition.”
Sweeney and Teipel’s other entrepreneurial achievements include first place two years in a row at the Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship’s 14th annual Raymond Ideas Challenge in May.
“There is a whole ecosystem of incredibly bright and hardworking folks in the business arena with whom engineering students can, and should engage, to help transform ideas and inventions into new ventures,” said Teipel. “My experience as a graduate student at Texas A&M has brought a host of incredible opportunities that I never thought I would have.”
“Every team at this SEC Symposium represented the best and the brightest students engendering the entrepreneurial spirit that is so essential for the future of America,” said Sweeney. “There are many influential people in the Aggie network who poured into us their time, talents and funds to make us victorious.”
Photo credit: RD Moore, SEC