Innovation Quest


CEO: Among Worthwhile Charities, UConn Tops List

Eugene F. Martin III '87, '89 MBA, president and CEO of Gordon Brothers Finance Co., serves on the Dean's Advisory Cabinet, offering valuable advice and advocacy for the School of Business.
Eugene F. Martin III ’87, ’89 MBA, president and CEO of Gordon Brothers Finance Co., serves on the Dean’s Advisory Cabinet, offering valuable advice and advocacy for the School of Business.

“The UConn School of Business was the foundation for everything I did in my career. It set me on a great course,” said Eugene F. Martin III, ’87, ’89 MBA, president and CEO of Gordon Brothers Finance Co. “If a career is a pyramid, you need a strong foundation. That came from my education at UConn.” Continue Reading


An Exceptional Business Education

The School of Business is experiencing substantial and exciting growth. Our undergraduate majors are ‘red hot’ because they offer the ideal combination of intellectual challenge, career potential and financial reward. Our undergraduate enrollment is up 36 percent since 2012. Continue Reading


Unique, Creative Startups Win $30,000

2017 Innovation Quest Awards

Innovation Quest Tops Participation Record; Winners Present Vastly Different, Creative Startup Ideas

The winners of this year’s Innovation Quest (iQ) competition had a unique set of people to credit for inspiring their success, including:

  • A friend with a teddy bear tattoo, emblazoned with his ex-girlfriend’s name;
  • A waitress who was trying to handle a mad-house of customers during a blizzard, when the rest of the wait staff didn’t show up;
  • A little brother who leaves his EpiPen home because it is too bulky to carry;
  • Americans who have very polarized beliefs about political events, depending on which news source they follow.

Continue Reading


Over 200 Would-Be Entrepreneurs Seek Mentoring, Business Advice

Freshman Michael Mayo has dreams of building a roller-skating business adjacent to his alma mater, New Britain High School. (Devin Basdekian/UConn School of Business)
Freshman Michael Mayo has dreams of building a roller-skating business adjacent to his alma mater, New Britain High School. (Devin Basdekian/UConn School of Business)

“It’s Not a Passive World”

Freshman Michael Mayo has dreams of building a roller-skating business adjacent to his alma mater, New Britain High School. His goal would be to afford students some much-needed recreation while also offering them classes and hands-on knowledge about how to run a business. Continue Reading


2016 iQ Winners

Elizabeth “Liz’’ Pouya, a rising senior majoring in physiology and neurobiology, who ultimately hopes to become a physician, presents her idea to prospective investors. (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)
Elizabeth “Liz’’ Pouya, a rising senior majoring in physiology and neurobiology who ultimately hopes to become a physician, presents her idea to prospective investors. (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)

“I Was Surprised That Someone Hadn’t Invented This Yet”

UConn senior Stephen Hawes debuted as an entrepreneur several years ago, working diligently to perfect his first invention: a wrist-mounted, propane-driven flame thrower.

His parents worried that their son, a mechanical engineering student, would burn down their home.

But Hawes persisted, and brought his prototype to an engineering conference in New York City. There, he saw a company demonstrating artificial appendages for children missing fingers.Continue Reading


Nerac to Host the Next XcellR8 Meeting April 28

Nerac – Nerac (www.nerac.com/) is pleased to announce the next XcellR8 meeting which will be held Thursday, April 28, 2016 at the Nerac headquarters in Tolland, CT. The XcellR8 meetings are high energy, interactive gatherings for entrepreneurs to pitch ideas and concepts and to brainstorm creative solutions to challenges. XcellR8 welcomes Greg Kirber and the team from PartsTech, Inc. (www.partstech.com/)


Student Ideas Become Reality at Innovation Quest Workshop

The Daily Campus – Having an idea and turning it into something real is the premise behind the world’s greatest achievements, from jets that fly around the world to electric cars. At the second Innovation Quest workshop at the University of Connecticut School of Business lounge, students began to make some of their ideas into a reality.


UConn Launches 5th Innovation Quest

Students, alumni, and mentors gathered on Feb. 22 to launch the 5th Annual Innovation Quest.  (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)
Students, alumni, and mentors gathered on Feb. 22 to launch the 5th Annual Innovation Quest. (Nathan Oldham/UConn School of Business)

Students, Teams, Ideas Soaring to New Levels, Mentors Say

Graduate nursing student Samantha Nesbeth wants to find a way to use genetics, instead of hair transplants, to help men and women regrow thinning hair.

“When you lose your hair, you see yourself as a different person,” said Nesbeth. “You don’t know who you are without hair. It can be disabling and depressing. Your hair is part of who you are,” said the Meriden native, who is planning a career as a nurse practitioner specializing in dermatology.Continue Reading



Kevin Bouley’s Passion Is Promoting Connecticut’s Brainpower, Creativity, Innovations

As a serial entrepreneur and angel investor, Kevin Bouley ’80 is always searching for the next great innovation.

But what he really seeks—which is even more rare and a thousand times more intriguing—is the next great innovator.

“I spend a fair amount of time at UConn, visiting the labs and walking the hallways meeting with faculty, undergraduate students and graduate students, looking for that spark, looking for that student or faculty member who wants to build a business, wants to launch a company based on a technology they’ve developed in a lab,” he said.Continue Reading