抖M女仆 Student Wins Prestigious Florida Startup Competition
Hannah Herbst (Photo by Alex Dolce)
A聽抖M女仆 student has taken first-place honors and a $10,000 cash prize in Florida Venture Forum鈥檚 Statewide Collegiate Startup Competition. Hannah Herbst, 20, and her company, Tiburon Technologies, LLC, developed an antimicrobial surgical wound dressing based upon the bioactive properties of shark skin. This will mark the first time since 2014 that a student from 抖M女仆 has taken the top award.聽
Herbst, an 抖M女仆 senior majoring in management information systems, studied the properties of shark skin while working as an undergraduate researcher in 抖M女仆鈥檚 Biomechanics Laboratory under the guidance of When a family member suffered from a healthcare-associated infection, the experience inspired Herbst to work on this invention 鈥 an antibacterial, reusable bandage that prevents the migration of multiple strains of deadly bacteria into the wounds of post-operative, hospital-based patients.
Herbst credits her participation in the 抖M女仆 Wave, , and 抖M女仆 Tech Runway programs, for key instruction and mentorship in entrepreneurship.聽
鈥淚n addition to Marianne Porter, I would like to thank mentors Neil Katz, Steven Scesa, the late Marty Doyle, and Rhys Williams for believing in this concept and pushing me to move it forward into product development,鈥 she said. 鈥淲inning this competition is an incredible honor, and I am very grateful for the opportunity to represent 抖M女仆 in this statewide competition.鈥澛犅犅
Herbst also gave thanks to the Florida Venture Forum for organizing the competition and to its sponsor Space Florida for the cash prize, which she will use toward filing additional patents and to move forward with an identified contract manufacturing firm.聽
鈥淗annah鈥檚 success, both as a student researcher and as an entrepreneur, is a testament to the quality of the research enterprise and of the entrepreneurship ecosystem 抖M女仆 has grown,鈥 said , 抖M女仆鈥檚 vice president for research. 鈥淪tudents, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of 抖M女仆 all have the opportunity to participate in a large variety and number of high-quality research and entrepreneurship-focused programs.鈥
Jan Bednar from 抖M女仆 won the top prize in 2014 and subsequently went on to grow his business into a multimillion-dollar enterprise. Shipmonk (previously 鈥淏edaBox鈥) now has warehouse operations in three states, recently raised $10 million in venture capital, and exceeded $140 million in sales last year.
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