Entrepreneurial-minded students received plenty of encouragement, valuable feedback, and possibly funding from successful alumni for a variety of creative and innovative ventures that could make a difference in others—an example of the growing entrepreneurial spirit that’s spreading across the Institute.

This year’s Sawmill Society Weekend brought together a group of forward-thinking alumni and friends to consider supporting student and alumni projects through summer ventureships and investments. Society members also highlighted how Rose-Hulman’s close-knit campus community, rigorous academic environment, and caring faculty mentorships have laid a solid foundation for innovation success. 

Rather than an entrepreneurial Shark Tank session, it might be referred to as an Elephant Tank–filled with opportunities to exchange ideas with such alumni as:

• Niles Noblitt (Bioengineering, 1973): Co-founder of Biomet, Inc., a Warsaw, Indiana-based biomedical device company now known as Zimmer Biomet. He and his wife, Nancy, recently provided a $10 million gift to establish the new Noblitt Entrepreneurship Program.
• Mike Hatfield (Electrical Engineering, 1983): An angel investor and entrepreneurial mentor who founded and led successful startups Carium (recently acquired by Healthmap) and Cyan Inc.
• Tim Daniels (Electrical Engineering, 1981): A coach and instructor with Widener University’s Small Business Development Center and a senior advisor for the world’s largest medical and travel security services firm, International SOS.
• Koushik Subramanian (Computer Engineering, 2006): Chief architect and founder of Kopper Labs, an entity deploying capital to accelerate the adoption of automation, blockchain, and cybersecurity technology.
• Tanya Colonna (Biomedical Engineering/Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, 2013): Chief executive officer and founder of Oro Muscles, a successful startup that’s helping a growing list of professional sports teams/athletes optimize muscle performance.
• Umang Bhatia (Chemical Engineering, 2019): A senior credit and treasury analyst with ADM Investor Services in Chicago after accentuating his bachelor’s degree with a master’s degree in finance.

“We’re here to listen, ask pertinent questions, and help wherever we can. We’ve been in their shoes and now admire what these students are doing,” said Daniel, who spends several days on campus each year mentoring student entrepreneurs. “We know Rose-Hulman students have the engineering skills, ingenuity, and energy to create great ideas. However, it’s important for them to consider if there’s a market for those projects, and they also must fiercely defend and possibly adapt their ideas from critical feedback.”

Eleven student projects were presented throughout the Sawmill Society Weekend. They covered such innovations as five-axis 3D printing technology, Artificial Intelligence-powered technology solutions for video production and mental health treatment, an aftermarket performance kit that allows utility task vehicles to make zero degree turns, and platforms that help jobseekers and employees screen for career opportunities.

Several of these ideas may get support from the Sawmill Society’s Ventureship program to continue further project development this summer.

Colonna and Bhatia appreciate the pathway that today’s students are taking to realize their entrepreneurial dreams. They once were in their shoes: Colonna as an active member of the Terre Haute and Indianapolis startup community; Bhatia as a member of Rose-Hulman’s ESCALATE entrepreneurship learning community and leader of the Rose Innovative Student Entrepreneurs group.

“I’m delighted to see how the entrepreneurial focus has brought students, alumni, faculty, staff, and administrators together for events like (the Sawmill Society Weekend). Dreams are coming true with the growing entrepreneurial spirit that’s happening on campus,” said Colonna, who started her first startup, BlackTop Labs in Netherland, three years after earning a master’s degree in Engineering Management at Rose-Hulman.   

Bhatia added, “I’m so excited to see where entrepreneurship is headed, and things are just getting started, like a startup that’s primed for success.”

Rose-Hulman President Robert A. Coons asserts that “entrepreneurism is in [Rose-Hulman’s] DNA” and points out that the Institute’s founder, Chauncey Rose, was an entrepreneur who started several businesses and enterprises in the Wabash Valley. 

A goal of the new Noblitt Entrepreneurship Program is to provide resources, like the Sawmill Society and Rose-Hulman Ventures, to support students interested in entrepreneurship. He adds that many companies favor hiring college graduates that have an entrepreneur mindset.

“More and more students see entrepreneurism, in a variety of forms, as one of the ways in which they might have a larger opportunity to have impact on the world,” Coons said.