REBELLION PHOTONICS ROBERT KESTER ’11 ALLISON LAMI SAWYER ’10
INNOVATION HUBS The RICE ALLIANCE FOR TECHNOLOGY AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP (Rice Alliance) supports technology commercialization, entrepreneurship education and the launch of technology companies. It was formed through a strategic alliance of the George R. Brown School of Engineering, the Wiess School of Natural Sciences and the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business, in collaboration with the vice provost for research and the Office of Research. The program has received numerous awards and recognitions. Read more: alliance.rice.edu
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EBELLION PHOTONICS, a Rice University startup company founded in 2010 by two alumni, was named The Wall Street Journal’s (WSJ) Startup of the Year Nov. 4, 2013, in New York City. The company beat 23 other entrepreneurs, chosen from 500 applicants, who participated in a five-month-long selection process and documentary series. The company, which makes the first real-time camera for chemical imaging and detection, was launched from the lab of Tomasz Tkaczyk, a Rice associate professor in bioengineering, and founded by Rice alumni Robert Kester ’11 and Allison Lami Sawyer ’10. Kester, the CTO, earned his doctorate in bioengineering at Rice. Sawyer, the CEO, has a master’s in nanoscale physics and an MBA from Rice. Rebellion Photonics’ camera is intended for continuous monitoring of oil rigs and refineries to help spot poisonous and potentially explosive gas leaks. The technology can detect at least 20 different gases simultaneously and also can be applied in a variety of other areas, such as defense, biological research, food contamination detection, quality control and forensics. Earlier versions of the technology were developed for use in medical research and defense markets. As competitors, Rebellion Photonics, like the other startups, were advised by big-name innovators and investors (Jeff Pulver, Vivek Wadhwa and Nathan Gold, for example), chose a tagline, and participated in a team-building exercise. As winners, Rebellion Photonics received a full-page advertisement in the WSJ as well as two of the paper’s iconic stipple drawings, one for each of the co-founders. “The first week after we won, our cell phones were ringing off the hook,” said Kester, in a final WSJ video. The win spurred a great deal of interest from the company’s existing customers and has resulted in being “booked solid for product demos until late first quarter,” Sawyer said. The duo met in their final year at Rice through one of their original mentors, Tom Kraft, director of Technology Ventures Development at the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship. (Kraft was featured in one of the WSJ videos on mentorship.) “Rebellion Photonics is the ultimate story of a university startup,” said Brad Burke, managing director of the Rice Alliance. —Jeff Falk 40
R i c e M a g a z ine | W I N T E R 2 0 1 4
The OSHMAN ENGINEERING DESIGN KITCHEN (OEDK) provides an 18,000-square-foot space for undergraduate students to design, prototype and deploy solutions to real-world engineering challenges. RICE LAUNCH is a new student-run organization that hosts innovative events and programs oriented around practical education and hands-on application of knowledge to help empower undergraduate, graduate and MBA students at Rice. Read more: www. ricelaunch.com The TECHNOLOGY VENTURES DEVELOPMENT program screens technologies developed at Rice then establishes and mentors teams of students to launch companies based on Rice technologies. The OWLSPARK accelerator provides entrepreneurs with funding and structured mentorship for three months over the summer to improve the successful commercialization of businesses coming out of the Rice community.
M I C H A E L ST R AVATO
A RICE STARTUP WINS BIG
The RICE CENTER FOR ENGINEERING LEADERSHIP (RCEL) provides Rice engineers with opportunities to develop their leadership abilities and to recognize the many settings in which these skills can be practiced. RCEL sponsors a leadership certificate program for undergraduates and co-sponsors student competitions and more. Read more: rcel.rice.edu