Leidos, a Fortune 500 science and technology leader, partnered with the Chambers College in October for the ‘State of Innovation: Top Emerging Technologies Poised to be Key Drivers of a Post Pandemic World’ seminar. The event was part of the Leidos “Future of Business” series, designed to explore disciplines that are disrupting the business world, including cybersecurity, data analytics, cloud computing and the world of fintech.
All Women, All Business
Prior to 2019, West Virginia University was the only Big 12 school without a student organization dedicated to women in business. That fall semester, Deanna Crumm – now a marketing and organizational leadership senior – and other young women in the Chambers College began the University’s first Women in Business student organization to foster a supportive community of women and equip them with the knowledge, skills and network to succeed and follow their passions.
Testify
John Deskins, director of the WVU Bureau of Business and Economic Research, testified on Capitol Hill before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources in July. The topic? The importance of energy innovation to economic growth.
First Pitch
Supported by Silicon Valley CEO Ray Zinn, the first ZinnStarter Pitch Competition, hosted by the LaunchLab, gave aspiring collegiate entrepreneurs an opportunity to win cash to build their ideas into the next groundbreaking product or business. Winners included: First place ($2,500): Emma Adams, WVU animal and nutritional sciences major, and her business idea PetRecord, which provides universal medical records for pets in emergency situations; second place ($1,500): Cameron Keefe, global supply chain management major, and her idea ThermoRoller, which combines physical massage with temperature control to relieve sore muscle pain; and third place ($1,000) to the team of Austin Davis, Anne Byer and Emily Thomas, from the University of Charleston, and their idea Second Chance, a program that helps give active control back to people with quadriplegia and paraplegia.
Virtual Globetrotting
While COVID-19 has forced us to pivot the way we work and play, the Robbins Center for Global Business and Strategy is no exception. In fact, two virtual activities alone in October saw more than 250 students involved in international lecture, case analyses and culture sessions in Hong Kong and Bahrain. “Framed in this way, that's very promising international reach between WVU and these two international partners,” said David Dawley, executive director of the Robbins Center.