News

Starting up in Champaign-Urbana; IntelliWheels’ Co-Founder Marissa Siebel Shares Insights

Article Source: TECH cocktail, Zach Davis, May 3, 2012 I can  remember my first bicycle quite vividly.  It was a hand-me-down, cherry red and clunky (a bike is only as good as it’s rider).  Because it was a single-speed, any route that involved hills, specifically the kind that slope upward, translated loosely to terror.  Needless to say, my Read more »

Dioxide Materials Aims to Reduce our Carbon Footprint

Article Source: TECH cocktail, Monika Jansen, May 1, 2012 What do you do after teaching in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign for 32 years, publishing numerous articles, papers and books, and receiving 18 patents – with multiple patents pending?  Oh, and you already founded 2 successful companies? You start Read more »

The U of I breeding ground

Article Source: Chicago Tribune, Business Section, April 28, 2012 PayPal Max Levchin, who graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a degree in computer science in 1997, helped found the online payments company in 1998 and served as chief technology officer. EBay acquired PayPal in 2002. Levchin went on to found Slide, a Read more »

State schools prep homegrown engineering, computer science talent for startups

Article Source: Chicago Tribune, Business Section, by Wailin Wong, April 28, 2012 Promise of stronger pipeline reverses gripe that Illinois loses too many grads to Silicon Valley Chicago’s startup community wants to hire young people like Ravi Pilla. As a high school student at the Illinois Math and Science Academy, Pilla and a few friends Read more »

Gift Caddie Aims to Make Online Wish Lists Easier

Article Source: TECH cocktail, Zach Davis, April 28, 2012 What is the Internet?  Ask a nerd, and you’ll likely get some elaborate answer about networks, protocols, and Al Gore.  I believe the explanation can be boiled down to one word: information.  The Internet is information.  It’s everything you ever needed to know about anything, plus cat videos. Read more »