A Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute alumni Josh Eckman recently received an Ernst & Young’s 2022 Entrepreneur of The Year award for its Mountain West region. Eckman is a co-founder and CEO of Carterra, a medical device company founded on University of Utah technology that helped develop COVID-19 therapies. We took the opportunity to catch up with […]
Topic: New Venture Development
How Vaporsens Went from Startup to Acquired
Ling Zang, a materials science and engineering professor at the University of Utah, had an idea to make public transit safer. After 9/11, it was clear that airports needed tools to identify the explosive chemicals in bombs. So, Zang developed Vaporsens, a company with a chemical sensor with nanofiber material that can detect airborne chemicals. […]
How Josh Eckman Launched Carterra and Raised $50M in Funding
Most students working for the Lassonde New Venture Development Center gain valuable experience by helping an existing company get started. Josh Eckman, on the other hand, started a company while he was in the center. Eckman went to the University of Utah for his undergrad in engineering. Then, Eckman served a religious mission in South Korea […]
Sathya Vijayakumar: Healthcare Executive and Mentor to Entrepreneurs
Since its establishment, the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute has built a community that caters to creation and connection. Sathya Vijayakumar embodies these traits; as a healthcare expert and entrepreneurial guide, she mentors student entrepreneurs through her knowledge and network. Vijayakumar feels grateful for the years she has spent at Lassonde and cherishes her continued involvement with student […]
Graduation Alliance: Helping At-Risk Populations Achieve a High School Diploma
Roughly 25-30 million people in the United States have not graduated from high school, and a company based in Utah and founded by a University of Utah alumni is doing something about it. Graduation Alliance partners with school districts, state agencies, and workforce boards across the country to provide online education and additional resources to […]
Intubation Device Protects Healthcare Providers from Exposure to COVID-19
Through the Cords, a Salt Lake City-based company that launched at the University of Utah with help from the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, is stepping up production and distribution of its intubation device, the Runnels Total Control IntroducerTM (TCI), to meet the urgent need for first-attempt intubation success during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The TCI is uniquely […]
Valence: From an Idea for Better Shipping Logistics to Acquisition
Shipping is a major part of business as more and more people order products online and expect packages within days. Even small shipping errors, when repeated many times, can cost companies thousands of dollars or more. A team of graduate students in the Lassonde New Venture Development Center started researching ways to help companies improve […]
eSym: Improving Lives through Motivational Interviewing
Motivational interviewing is an evidence-based approach used by counselors, educators, medical professionals, correctional officers, and others to change patient or client behavior. It can help people smoke less, exercise more, follow through with recommendations, keep commitments, and more. A team of faculty, professionals, and students at the University of Utah hope to make motivational interviewing […]
Blyncsy Growing across US and World
For most of us, getting stuck at a stoplight is a mild annoyance. For Mark Pittman, a JD-MBA graduate from the U, it was the start of a business opportunity. While sitting at a stoplight in 2014, Pittman thought of ways to improve traffic patterns. While an associate in the Pierre and Claudette Lassonde New […]
From Lassonde to Genentech
Not all students working at the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute become serial entrepreneurs. Some develop valuable skills that they apply to many other industries and professions. Katherine Aiello is one of these students. Aiello participated in the Pierre and Claudette Lassonde New Venture Development Center in 2016-17, while pursuing a Ph.D. in bioengineering at the University of […]