UC faculty win 1819 Innovation Hub Grant for green chemistry startup

By Michelle Flanagan

James Mack, Associate Dean of the Graduate School and professor of Chemistry, and Joel Andersen, Chemistry graduate student, have been awarded a $110,000 grant from the 1819 Innovation Hub to propel their startup, Cinthesis, forward. This team’s work is another example of innovation coming out of the University of Cincinnati’s College of Arts and Sciences, and how the college supports its students, faculty and community.

By Michelle Flanagan

James Mack, Associate Dean of the Graduate School and professor of Chemistry, and Joel Andersen, Chemistry graduate student, have been awarded a $110,000 grant from the 1819 Innovation Hub to propel their startup, Cinthesis, forward. This team’s work is another example of innovation coming out of the University of Cincinnati’s College of Arts and Sciences, and how the college supports its students, faculty and community.

In a time when manufacturers are trying to “go green” but still make the products consumers depend on, this capability is increasingly attractive to pharmaceutical and chemical companies and manufacturers.

Mack has been working in the research area of green chemistry, also known as sustainable chemistry, for the last 15 years. But the methods necessary to commercialize these reactions are a recent discovery.

“Joel [Andersen] joined the research team in 2014 as a graduate student and made the key discovery which allowed the previous foundation of research built by previous students to be commercialized,” Mack says.

Andersen credits his chemical kinetics/thermodynamics course and a physical organic chemistry course for providing a foundation for this research, which helped set up the experimental design. And, of course, there are the people he’s worked with.

“My advisor, James Mack, tasked me with learning to understand and control the energetics of the system. Creativity, a child-like interest in tinkering, and sound experimental controls were key to accomplishing that task,” Andersen says.

Once the science and technology were being tackled, commercialization of the findings had to be addressed, which meant finding the right team. Andersen explains that working through the pre-accelerator program at Venture Lab, part of the 1819 Innovation Hub, and finding the right “Entrepreneur-in-Residence” was key. Through these teams, they’ve found the balance to move forward.

The 1819 Innovation Hub is part of UC’s strategic direction called Next Lives Here. It’s self-described as “a place of thinking, making and doing, of discovery and delivery, for the university and its community, for the city and the world beyond. It is the one-stop destination where industry meets the University’s talent.” Its Venture Lab specifically works to activate a high density of curated startup opportunities to attract outside entrepreneurial talent as well as investors.

Next Lives Here aims to amplify UC’s core missions of teaching, research, and service. This achieved by working with faculty, students, and pairing like-minded innovators together. For the Cinthesis team, that goal has been realized.

“Working with the 1819 Innovation Hub was eye-opening. For me, it was a crash course on the language and concepts of business and marketing, which helped me speak more effectively with the program’s expert entrepreneurs,” says Andersen. “Prior to my experience, I was biased toward the science and underestimated and undervalued the work required to bring a product to market in an effective manner.”

Mack concurs, saying that it helped the whole team learn about the industrial side, and made connections possible that would not have been otherwise. “It was everything I expected and more, and I would suggest it to anyone looking to build a start-up,” he says.

Looking forward, Mack says the grant will help create key connections in the industry, thus securing contracts from industry partners and getting the startup off the ground.

The 1819 Innovation Hub is part of UC’s strategic direction called Next Lives Here. It’s self-described as “a place of thinking, making and doing, of discovery and delivery, for the university and its community, for the city and the world beyond. It is the one-stop destination where industry meets the University’s talent.” Its Venture Lab specifically works to activate a high density of curated startup opportunities to attract outside entrepreneurial talent as well as investors.

Next Lives Here aims to amplify UC’s core missions of teaching, research, and service. This achieved by working with faculty, students, and pairing like-minded innovators together. For the Cinthesis team, that goal has been realized.

“Working with the 1819 Innovation Hub was eye-opening. For me, it was a crash course on the language and concepts of business and marketing, which helped me speak more effectively with the program’s expert entrepreneurs,” says Andersen. “Prior to my experience, I was biased toward the science and underestimated and undervalued the work required to bring a product to market in an effective manner.”

Mack concurs, saying that it helped the whole team learn about the industrial side, and made connections possible that would not have been otherwise. “It was everything I expected and more, and I would suggest it to anyone looking to build a start-up,” he says.

Looking forward, Mack says the grant will help create key connections in the industry, thus securing contracts from industry partners and getting the startup off the ground.