UAB Briefs: Prizes for entrepreneurs, engineering scholarship, new surgical division

In this weekly online feature, we keep track of interesting people and events on campus.

Budding entrepreneurs at UAB got a boost recently from the Blazer Hatchery and Hackathon.

The School of Engineering has honored its late founder with a new scholarship.

And the UAB School of Medicine has a new surgery division.

Know people, places and programs on the UAB campus that deserve a mention? Email jchambers@starnespublishing.com.

Hatching and hacking

The inaugural Blazer Hatchery and Hackathon, a training program for entrepreneurs at UAB, climaxed on Nov. 18 with a pitch gala at the Collat School of Business that attended by about 300 people, according to UAB Media Relations.

Leading up to the pitches, 25 graduate and undergraduate students participated in a two-month intensive called the Hatchery.

They were chosen from 90 applicants across the university and divided into five teams.

Alabama Power Assistant Treasurer Chris Blake presented them with the Hackathon challenge. The teams were to look at inefficiencies in Birmingham’s transportation system and devise ways for members of underserved communities to travel to their jobs more efficiently.

The team called CommuteConnect won first place and a cash prize of $5,000 at the pitch for their idea of connecting employees with jobs based on an online marketplace that analyzes transportation options. 

Using data the team collected, employers can find areas within Birmingham where their best prospective employees are located. 

“For many individuals, one of the biggest challenges with finding a job is finding a way to get there,” said Selina Malone, team leader and a senior majoring in economics and math.

Second place and a cash prize of $3,000 was awarded to Hitchhub, a team that designed a network of hubs connected by a carpool system. The platform allows users to catch a ride with experienced drivers at local stops.

The GapCar team won third place and a $2,000 cash prize. They found a way to offer cars for use by low-income communities so that they don’t have to rely on public transportation or ride share companies. The plan is to purchase usable cars from salvage yards, partner with school mechanic programs to fix them and sell them affordably to underserved communities. 

Honoring a founder

The UAB School of Engineering recently honored its founding dean, the late Joseph Appleton, with an endowment scholarship that exceeds $75,000, according to UAB Media Relations.

After Appleton died in January 2019 at the age of 91, the UAB President’s Office made a gift of $25,000 to start the Joseph Appleton Endowed Scholarship in Engineering

But the size of the scholarship grew quickly as more people contributed to honor Appleton.

“Because UAB is such a young university, one of its strengths over the past several decades has been the close, personal connections with the university founders,” said Timothy M. Wick, Ph.D., interim dean of the School of Engineering.

A new division

The university has established a new Division of Breast and Endocrine Surgery. The surgery team provides care for patients with a broad array of benign and malignant tumors of the breast and thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal glands. 

The division is headed by Dr. Helen Krontiras, a breast surgical oncologist who is also medical director of the UAB Multidisciplinary Breast Clinic.

With this new addition, the current Division of Surgical Oncology will focus on both treating and studying various abdominal, gastrointestinal and soft tissue cancers