Hear about the successes, failures, insights and opportunities that shape some of the Midwest’s most exciting entrepreneurs. Host Kathleen Gallagher, executive director of 5 Lakes Institute, talks with company founders who are taking risks, disrupting the status quo and driving economic growth in the region. You can find a list of founders who've been guests on previous Midwest Moxie seasons HERE. They're listed by state HERE. By industry HERE. And the founders who have ties to academia are listed HERE.
Latest episodes
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29 min
Using sound waves to evaporate tumors
Zhen Xu knew that most people thought it was impossible to use an ultrasound machine to destroy tumors inside the body. But Zhen was still a University of Michigan Ph.D. student; s…
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16 min
Smart sponges that absorb toxic gases
Omar Farha discovered in graduate school at UCLA that he was wowed by Metal-Organic Frameworks – MOFs as they’re called by chemists. MOFs were like sponges that could soak up toxic…
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15 min
Analyzing mammogram changes over time to predict breast cancer risk
Graham Colditz is an internationally known breast cancer prediction expert. Joy Jiang is a young biostatistician. Together they created Prognosia’s cutting edge software.Graham C…
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29 min
Toys, Valentine’s Day cards and a newsletter with personal stories
John Rinaldi started Real Time Automation in 1988 to make products that help the factory floor run more smoothly. It had a slow start. No matter how much time John and his team put…
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15 min
In 50 mph gusts, how many poles break? How many customers lose power?
Steven Quiring knew his technology solved a problem for utilities. And based on projects he’d been involved in, he knew they’d pay for it. But it wasn’t until a student brought it…
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16 min
Image, destroy and get out quick
Mike Schultz had spent more than a decade in his lab at the University of Iowa discovering a pair of radioactive substances that could detect and destroy cancer cells. Fran Johnson…
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13 min
What’s next after a job deploying 4.2 billion diaper emails a year
Ben Ivers was four years old when he cut up some carrots and tried to sell them from a table in front of his house at the far end of the cul de sac. Fast forward a few decades and…
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17 min
Such luck! As EnsoData got going, sleep medicine woke up
Chris Fernandez could have continued to grow his t-shirt company, which had more than $50,000 of sales in its first year. But he sold it, got a graduate degree in biomedical engine…
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29 min
Assassin. Communicator. Tough guy: These microbes mean business
Linda Kinkel spent more than three decades studying the tiny microbes that live in soil and on plants. Over the years, as the University of Minnesota researcher’s insight into thes…
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14 min
Speeding up the clean energy transition
David Bromberg didn’t want to start a company, and he didn’t want to work at a big one. So after completing his Ph.D. at Carnegie Mellon, he left for California and a job at a sola…
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16 min
How an adopted dog named Louie inspired a growing business
Dan Schaefer didn’t know it at the time, but the idea for his startup company began to take shape on the day he and his wife adopted a dog. A 10-week-old Labrador retriever named L…
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16 min
Helping customers who hate their banks
Cale Johnston knew what startup success looked like. ClickSwitch, his first company, had a software platform that simplified the process of moving consumer accounts from one financ…
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14 min
Fueled by nuclear
Mike Fern started at Baxter Healthcare as a chemist, then got an MBA, but saw no clear path to the type of jobs he wanted. So he responded to a newspaper ad – this was 1990 after a…
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29 min
Bedbugs? Here’s a novel, non-toxic fix
Nina Jenkins’ insect-killing fungal spores eliminate the need to fumigate, clean out cabinets and drawers.Nina Jenkins didn’t start out thinking about bedbugs. The Penn State resea…
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14 min
Hear ye, hear ye. Polco’s AI platform helps cities listen to everyone
After stints at the White House, Air Force Academy and Amazon, Nick Mastronardi set out to help the public sector make data-driven decisions and improve performance.Nick Mastronard…
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16 min
Not just for the blind anymore: Mapping the great indoors
Louisville-based GoodMaps, hatched at the American Printing House for the Blind, provides turn-by-turn directions in train stations, airports and other indoor spaces. Theresa Reno-…
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17 min
Digitizing agriculture and manufacturing: Johnny Park
Johnny Park has been an academic, startup founder and now non-profit CEO.
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17 min
Engineering viruses to kill cancer: Steve Thorne
KaliVir Immunotherapeutics is developing immunotherapy programs for treating cancer.
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15 min
Improving mental health: Katie Dorn
EmpowerU's online program delivers resilience training with 1on1 counseling support.
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14 min
Gut check: Kevin Honaker
BiomeSense's technology platform enables at-home monitoring of the human microbiome.