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Isabella Bank Institute for Entrepreneurship
We are a dedicated institute for student entrepreneurs across campus and beyond. We aim to maximize your success by fostering your entrepreneurial mindset, promote inter-disciplinary collaboration and provide support for the creation and development of your new ventures. Jumpstart your ideas and get involved today!
Tune in for excitement!
Passion. Potential. Pitches. Don't miss any of the 2025 New Venture Challenge excitement.
Tune in Friday, April 11 at 1 p.m. for great ideas and fierce competition. Then, join the judges, mentors, spectators and teams as they see who is going home with thousands of dollars in venture financing. The awards broadcast begins at 6:30 p.m. and one team will walk away as the overall best venture.
Start your entrepreneurial journey
Central Michigan University’s College of Business Administration is the home of the Isabella Bank Institute for Entrepreneurship and the first Department of Entrepreneurship in the state of Michigan. We are a student-centric hub where experiential, curricular, and external entrepreneurial opportunities intersect.
Our mission is to maximize student success by fostering a campus-wide entrepreneurial mindset that promotes inter-disciplinary collaboration and the creation of new ventures.
We aim to create innovative programming, boost cross-campus and ecosystem collaboration and provide a comprehensive mentoring program.
Our institute provides extracurricular opportunities and is open to all undergraduate and graduate CMU students.
Student opportunities
- Meet experienced alumni, faculty, entrepreneurs, investors, and other business and political leaders.
- Learn practical skills, innovative thinking, and connect with mentors and entrepreneurial resources.
- Attend skill-building workshops and compete in pitch competitions and Hackathons.
- Take part in special scholarship programs and travel experiences.
- Pitch your venture at our signature New Venture Challenge event and compete for up to $20,000 in cash awards.
Find your path
Are you interested in becoming an entrepreneur?
Every journey is unique. Explore the opportunities that interest you.
CMU graduate student receives prestigious NIH neuroscience scholarship to study sensory perception
by
Megan Winans
The National Institutes of Health has awarded a research grant to Central Michigan University doctoral student, Emmanuel Crespo. The NIH Blueprint Diversity Specialized Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Advancement in Neuroscience (D-SPAN) Award supports a defined pathway across career stages (F99/K00 award) for outstanding graduate students from diverse backgrounds.
Crespo’s research takes place in the College of Medicine’s Bioluminescent Optogenetics Lab. The lab’s principal investigator is Ute Hochgeschwender, M.D., CMU professor of neuroscience.
“Throughout our lifespans, we interact and navigate our external world using multiple senses to guide our behaviors,” said Crespo. “The neocortex is the part of the brain focused on high level cognitive abilities such as language and sensory and motor functions. I will test how neocortical sensory processing can be altered by aberrant neural activity early in life.”
Crespo’s research has application in neurodevelopmental syndromes such as autism spectrum disorders. Sensory perceptual deficits, often presenting as hypersensitivity, are present in more than 95 percent of children diagnosed with ASD.
Awarded in July 2022, the grant has two phases. The first supports the completion of the doctoral dissertation in the Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology (BCMB) Graduate Program. After completing a Ph.D., Crespo’s award will move to the four-year postdoctoral phase, when he will complete additional training before starting his career as a tenure track faculty member with his own laboratory.
“This is the first time a CMU graduate student has received this award,” said Hochgeschwender. “Of all D-SPAN awards, 96% are given to graduate students at universities with very high research activities, with almost half of the awardees from just a dozen universities (including Brown, Columbia, Georgetown, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford). Manny has demonstrated that an excellent individual can beat the odds. This is reassuring and inspiring to current and potential future CMU graduate students.”
Signature Programs
Isabella Bank Institute for Entrepreneurship
Explore special opportunities to learn new skills and travel the world.
Compete & Win
New Venture Challenge 2025
Present your venture and win BIG at the New Venture Challenge.
Build your skills
Workshops and events
Boost your entrepreneurial skills through our workshops, mentor meetups and pitch competitions.
Develop your ideas
IDEA Den
Learn about the entrepreneurship makerspace on campus in Grawn Hall.
Ready, Set, Pitch!
Make-A-Pitch 2024
Present a 2-minute pitch at the Make-A-Pitch Competition and you could win prizes and bragging rights!
Meet Mentors
Mentorship and support
Connect with mentors and faculty who are here to support the next generation of CMU entrepreneurs.
Support students
Make an impact
Are you a CMU alum looking to support CMU student entrepreneurs? Learn how you can support or donate to the Entrepreneurship Institute.
View our programming newsletter
Alumni give back to students through mentorship, real-world experiences
The Wakeling Gendron Entrepreneurial Scholars program wrapped its first cohort this academic year.
Students compete to win cash prizes at the New Venture Challenge
Pitched 40 ventures at NMV Challenge, Friday, April 19, CMU. Judges awarded $100,000 in cash prizes.
Wakeling Gendron Scholars make a life-changing trip to Texas
Wakeling and Gendron Scholars attended SXSW in Texas, meeting industry leaders and gaining entrepreneurial insights.
Business barriers lead CMU students to a new venture
Justin Ashman and Philip Mundt won Central Michigan University's New Venture Competition with their 3-D printing operation, Form Further.
