The student team of sophomore Emma Jiter and freshman Addy Farber earned first place for their pitch, titled “New Directions in Tumor Ablation with Biocompatible Foam.” In their pitch, they discussed how a biocompatible foam could be used during tumor ablation procedures, which injects extremely hot or cold foam directly into a tumor to help shrink or destroy it. The pitch also talked about the use of a freeze dryer for foam storage and a specialized tissue that mimics the insulative properties of the foam.

Farber and Jiter’s faculty advisor is Dr. Elizabeth Glogowski, a professor in materials science and biomedical engineering. With their first-place victory, they are invited to compete at the WiSys Quick Pitch State Final, which will be held during the WiSys SPARK Symposium this July at UW-Superior.

Winning both second place and the people’s choice award was the team of junior Isabella Doss and sophomore Hayden Kinstler for their pitch, titled “Characterization of Intrinsic Chemical and Microstructural Variation in 2G REBCO Tape.” REBCO-based coated conductor tapes can produce large magnetic fields, but providing a consistent field with a long piece of tape can be difficult. The team discussed how to create a more stable field by making changes in the chemistry of the tape.

Doss and Kinstler's faculty advisor is Dr. Matthew Jewell, a professor in materials science and biomedical engineering.

Additional Quick Pitch participants included:

• Jake Cipar, “Using Shallow Subsurface Geophysics to Aid Latvian Communities that were Impacted by the Holocaust”

• Gunnar Johnson, “Do Actions Speak Louder Than Words? Assessing the Consistency Between Self-Reported and Observable Pro-Environmental Behavior”

• Felicia Kedrowski, “Comparison of Filament Homogeneity in Nb3Sn and Bi-2212 Superconducting Wires”

• Nguyen Nguyen, “Emotion Sentiment Analysis in Turkish Music”

Judges included:

• Dr. Michael Carney, Interim Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, UW-Eau Claire

• Harlie Juedes, Interim Director, Wisconsin Small Business Development Center

• Tom Larson, President/Principal, Larson Management, Inc.

• Ron Thacker, Entrepreneurial Education Program Coordinator, Mayo Clinic

To view photos from the event, click here. Thank you to Shane Opatz, UW-Eau Claire Photographer, for the event photos.

To learn more about WiSys Quick Pitch, click here. For questions about Quick Pitch, please contact Margot DeBaker, Regional Intellectual Property and Licensing Associate, at mdebaker@wisys.org.