I am Onochie Okonkwo, a 4th year Ph.D. 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 focusing on developing non-thermal plasma treatment methods to reduce 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 for the potential of this technology. In start-up companies like Nanoguard Technologies, colleagues become close-knit in pursuit of a common purpose. I loved the atmosphere here as well as the product and its potential.

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 is currently asking of the technology. Why I am here is simple; to contribute to answering the questions my team is currently asking.

The team had some ideas and hypotheses based on the science to drive the process improvement we wanted to achieve. Good use of my limited time to assist the team quickly became very apparent. I wanted to identify ideas with the highest potential to produce the desired process improvement so the team could focus on these ideas and eliminate those that are least likely to achieve the desired results. After a quick discussion with the rest of the team, I had found my niche right away.

An important tool in my toolbox, mathematical modeling, became very handy immediately. An experiment can be a very costly and time-consuming learning method, but it is very reliable as proof of technology. I developed a simple model with reasonable assumptions such that the process could 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 that was more likely to be successful. Sometimes discovering that an idea would fail in a cost-effective manner is as important as discovering a successful one.

Consequently, the next task was to design an experiment that would validate our identified alternate process. However, my internship came to an end. I could not put in the time for this study. I had 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 joining 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 consider a start-up experience.