Congratulations to Laurelle Banta, current MSL student and a founding member of NUMiX Materials! The Northwestern student startup captured the US Department of Energy’s Cleantech University Prize (Cleantech UP) at the 2018 Rice Business Plan Competition on April 7.

NUMiX launched earlier this year in the Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation’s NUvention: Energy course, an interdisciplinary class that challenges student teams to build cohesive business plans around a sustainable energy or clean tech products and services. The team is composed of Laurell, who is also a Northwestern mechanical engineering alumna; Katie Kollhoff, CEO of NUMiX and a student in Northwestern Engineering’s Master of Engineering Management (MEM) program; MEM student Matt Heise; materials science and engineering PhD candidate Jonathan Pfluger; and Northwestern Law student Olivia Lugar.

NUMiX supplies industrial users a platform of water treatment absorbent powders to more efficiently remove toxic materials from their waste streams. The $50,000 award will provide the team with funding for business development, commercialization training, and other educational opportunities.

You can read more about this amazing win here.