By Margaret Huffman, NC State Entrepreneurship
NC State College of Engineering alumni Austin Ladner and Taylor Vickers, as well as current student Austin Ketola, were announced as part of the Andrews Launch Accelerator 2023 cohort.
The NC State Acceleration Fund, operated by the Entrepreneurship Clinic, is the product of a $1,000,000 donation from Lyn and Chip Andrews. The purpose of the Accelerator is to give NC State founders the opportunity to jumpstart their entrepreneurial journey. Founders are provided with the funding, resources and guidance to grow their company.
During the 14-week summer program, NC State startup founders get to work on their concepts and build their companies. The program is composed of modules that steer companies in the right direction.
Each module covers key entrepreneurial topics such as customer discovery, product development, and fundraising. The modules end with Demo Day, where companies get to pitch to the top investors in the Triangle.
Ladner graduated in 2022 with an M.S. in biomedical engineering. Vickers has a B.S. and M.S. in biomedical engineering, earned in 2021 and 2022, respectively. They are part of the team that developed Rampart Crop Defense, a plant pathogen surveillance tool that equips farmers with the knowledge of when, where, and how to protect their crops from disease. Rampart Crop Defense’s novel genetic tests enable growers to detect disease onset, identify which crops need protection, and select which fungicides will be most effective. With pre-infection identification, farmers reap a 10 percent boost in crop yield, 4-6 fewer fungicide applications, and reduced resistance spread through better-rationed fungicide applications. When paired with the latest advances in autonomous robotics, farmers receive high-impact, low-labor insights into disease management.
Ketola, a junior studying electrical engineering and economics, created the company TutorSmith, a completely online tutoring company that hosts small group summer refresher courses in math led by college students with the goal of being as affordable and accessible as possible. These sessions last 10-12 weeks over the summer for 1-2 hours a week and help reinforce concepts learned in school while introducing new ones to help prevent summer learning loss.
The full article is available on Entrepreneurship News.
