John P. Ellbogen $50K Entrepreneurship Competition2018 Competition

The Winners

Business Track Grand Prize Winner: IOTherm

Kennan Oyen, from Fairbanks, AK; and Joey Oyen from Crooks, SD. Kennan Oyen is a Ph.D. candidate in Ecology and Joey Oyen is a project manager with Simon Contractors. IoTherm has created precision temperature control systems that are small, bench-top and/or portable, customizable units designed to perfectly accommodate standard laboratory glass vials in which combinatorial biology can be performed.

  

Social Enterprise Track Grand Prize Winner: GROWyoming

GROWyoming, Claire Ratcliffe, from Salt Lake City, UT; and Bryan Jewell, from Salt Lake City, UT. Ratcliffe is a recent graduate of the College of Education with a master of science of natural science education and Bryan is a Salt Lake Community College horticulture major. GROWyoming is an organization that provides garden-based education resources and support for k-12 schools and youth programs in southeastern Wyoming.

 

John P. Ellbogen Entrepreneurial Distinction Award in Social Enterprise: Sunao

Jerica Hunter, from Worland, WY. Hunter is a College of Business MBA student. Sunao provides a service to businesses and consumers with the goal of eliminating the use of conventional plastic bags.

 

John P. Ellbogen Entrepreneurial Distinction Award in Business: Medical Device Advisors

Grace Tena de Lara, from Cheyenne, WY, is a student with the Array School of Technology and Design in Cheyenne, WY. Medical Device Advisors is an online community that provides a five-star rating system with comments, specifications, and links to scientific studies (for those seeking research data) for healthcare professionals to quickly review medical devices based on experiences of other users.

 

Bill Daniels Business Ethics Winner: GROWyoming

This is the first year for this award and was made possible through the Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative. For a chance to win $1,000, $50K teams had to submit a strategy for creating an ethical culture within their business. Their proposals needed to incorporate the use of the Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative Principles as the centerpiece of the plan. The winning proposal was selected by a team of judges chosen from the executive board of UW’s Student Center for the Public Trust.