UA Team Stays On a Roll, Wins $25K Prize at TCU Competition

A team of undergraduate students from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville recently won the $25,000 first prize at a business plan competition hosted by Texas Christian University.

BioBotic Solutions beat more than two dozen teams invited from across the United States to win the Richards Barrentine Values and Ventures Business Plan Competition.

One of the team’s advisers, Carol Reeves, associate vice provost for entrepreneurship at the UA, hailed the win as the most significant for an undergraduate team in school history.

“Many judges told me their plan was ‘Wall Street-ready’ and better than most plans they see from professionals,” Reeves said.

Earlier in April, BioBotic Solutions won $22,000 at the 2014 Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup Collegiate Business Plan Competition, including the $15,000 second-place prize in the undergraduate division.

BioBotic Solutions has a business plan built around a container and robot that automate tissue handling, one of the few areas in a pathology lab that is not already automated. The concept, which is based on existing technology, would decrease pathology lab errors from 1 percent to 0.005 percent.

Team members include UA students Michael Iseman, Kelley Coakley, Aundria Eoff and Rachel Zweig, who attends Hendrix College in Conway.