Onochie Okonkwo

Ph.D. and Internship in a St. Louis Start-up

I am Onochie Okonkwo, a 4th year PhD student in Aerosol and Air Quality Research Laboratory (AAQRL) in the Department of Energy, environmental and chemical engineering at the McKelvey School of Engineering. I am a Pivot 314 fellow, and my internship venture host was Nanoguard Technologies. Nanoguard Technologies is a St. Louis start-up company which is focused on the development of non-thermal plasma treatment methods for the reduction of microbes on food products.

Developing a non-thermal process for the pasteurization of a wide range of food products is as significant as the discovery of refrigeration for food storage. On my first day at Nanoguard Technologies I was thrilled by the enthusiasm displayed by everyone on the team about the potentials for this technology. In start-up companies like Nanoguard Technologies, colleagues become close-knit in pursuit of the common purpose. I simply loved the atmosphere here. And I loved the product and its potentials.

Within a week, the Nanoguard team quickly got me involved. I studied privately and discussed extensively with the team to understand the basics of the technology. And more importantly to understand the questions that the team are currently asking of the technology. The reason I am here is simple; to contribute to answering the questions my team is currently asking.

The team had some ideas and hypothesis based on the science to drive the process improvement we wanted to achieve. A good use of my limited time to assist the team became very apparent. I wanted to identify ideas that have the highest potentials to produce the process improvement desired so that the team can focus on that and eliminate ideas that are least likely to achieve the desired results. A quick discussion with the rest of the team and right away, I have now found my niche.

An important tool in my toolbox, mathematical modelling, became very handy immediately. An experiment can be a very costly and time-consuming method of learning, but it is very reliable as a proof of technology. I will develop a very simple model with reasonable assumptions such that the process can be described at least qualitatively. I completed the study and made a report. Based on the results from this model, the team eliminated an idea which we had initially ranked very highly and identified an alternative process which is more likely to be successful. Sometime discovering that an idea would fail in a cost-effective manner is as important as discovering a successful one.

Consequently, the next task assigned to me was to design an experiment that would validate this alternate process we have identified. However, my internship came to an end. I could not put in the time for this study. I had grossly underestimated the requirements for moving a lab to a different university.

The internship at Nanoguard Technologies exposed me even more to the world of start-ups. I had zero experience with the technology I evaluated before I joined Nanoguard Technologies. I developed the skill of asking fundamental questions and confidently communicating ideas/results in the workplace. If you are interested, you too should have a start-up experience.