UConn Today – The entrepreneurs who created Feel Your Best Self, a startup focused on social-emotional learning for elementary school-aged students, won the highly coveted Wolff New Venture Competition and a $25,000 prize on Tuesday night.
Experiential Learning Accelerators
Green-Energy Tech Startup Founder Optimistic About the Future: ‘You’re Going to Hear About Us!’
UConn Today – Most startups aspire to achieve great things, but Particle-N, a UConn-affiliated technology company, has a particularly inspiring mission.
The company is preparing to enter the $19 billion, global precious-metal catalyst market and to simultaneously support the clean-energy industry in Connecticut.
A Wave of Inspiration Led UConn Student to Become a Surfboard Entrepreneur
UConn Today – Amelia Martin ’23 ’25 (CAHNR) never saw herself becoming an entrepreneur.
An enthusiastic environmentalist, she thought maybe she’d work as a farmer, with plants and animals, or in a lab. In her spare time, she planned to make frequent trips to the Rhode Island shore, where she loves to surf.
Startup ‘Feel Your Best Self’ Helps Young Kids Express, Address Their Emotions
UConn Today – When Sandy Chafouleas and Emily Wicks recently told an audience of business experts that there is an epidemic in children’s mental health, no one seemed surprised.
For years, the increase in depression and anxiety among children has been painfully and repeatedly documented in the media, in classrooms, and in overwhelmed emergency rooms.
UConn Ph.D. Student Is Working to Clean Up One of the World’s Dirtiest Chemical Processes
UConn Today – Before he became a UConn Ph.D. student, Laron Burrows worked as an engineer in the renewable energy industry.
His interest in making chemical processes more “planet friendly” isn’t just a passing interest, he says. It is his life’s work. His passion has led to the creation of a new company, called Andros, that is trying to disrupt one of the dirtiest chemical processes in the world: ammonia production.
Conflict and Commerce: A Journey to Support Founders in Ukraine
UConn Today – The coffee in Lviv is some of the best that Ryan Coles has ever had.
“Better than Seattle,” declares Coles, an assistant professor of management and entrepreneurship in the UConn School of Business’ Boucher Management & Entrepreneurship Department, who has sampled coffee in cities all over the world as he’s pursued his work as a researcher, educator, sociologist, and entrepreneur.
UConn MBA Student Launching Lingerie Company That Shuns Toxic Chemicals, Appeals to Health-Conscious Consumers
UConn Today – Christina Phillips was horrified when she discovered that toxic and dangerous chemicals are used to manufacture women’s bras and underwear.
Who would suspect that formaldehyde, pesticides, petroleum, dyes, parabens and “forever chemicals’’ are found in the creation of most popular brands of lingerie?
Tech Startup Swipestorm Addresses Quick-Service Restaurants’ Customer-Service Issues
UConn Today – As a manager at a Connecticut Chick-fil-A, Nathan Catapano ’24 (CLAS) took pride in his restaurant’s customer service, reputation, and success.
If a customer had a less-than-satisfactory experience, Catapano wanted to correct the issue quickly and do everything he could to give them a remarkable dining experience.
Veterans-Turned-Entrepreneurs Demonstrate Initiative, Courage, Dedication
UConn Today – Keri Yonika, an occupational therapist and a U.S. Coast Guard veteran, has both the knowledge and passion to help young children get a good start in life.
She loves her work with neurodivergent pre-schoolers, but not the constant pressure to see more clients. Yonika dreams of owning her own practice and running it with a client-centered approach.
CCEI Research Team Publishes Report on Early-Stage Entrepreneur Needs
UConn Today – Communication skill development is what entrepreneurs who participate in university accelerators most need in the early stages of their growth.
That’s the finding of a team of researchers from UConn’s Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CCEI), led by Associate Director of Entrepreneurial Communication and Research Rory McGloin, who is also an associate professor in both the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the School of Business.