Author: vajgrtj

Oregon State alumna Wassana Yantasee, Ph.D. has a very impressive résumé and list of accomplishments. Certainly not least among them was that Yantasee completed her MBA at night while simultaneously earning her doctorate in chemical engineering during the day.

Currently an associate professor of biomedical engineering at Oregon Health and Science University School of Medicine, Yantasee’s research focuses on implementing nanomaterials into medicine in order to treat cancer and toxic metal exposure.

In addition to her teaching and research, Yantasee is also the president of the small biotech company PDX Pharmaceuticals that has received a fast-track Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract award from the National Cancer Institute to develop a new drug that will potentially treat cancer that becomes resistant to the standard-of-care drugs.

“My MBA training helps me with my career as a scientist tremendously in terms of proposal development and doing scientific research with the market and customer needs in mind,” said Yantasee. “I believe that science and business can’t be exclusive of each other.”

Yantasee says that her MBA courses prepared her for the business planning and market analysis required to secure the SBIR grants and contracts from federal agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, and to effectively manage them afterward. Yantasee’s MBA experience is also helping her give back to the next generation of students.

“I’m most proud of being able to give all four of my current Ph.D. students free education through funding from my research grants, and my MBA training helps me with balancing budget costs effectively as well as managing people and the resources that make it possible,” said Yantasee.

Even though she grew up in Thailand, Yantasee found Oregon State to be a perfect fit. “Although I was far from home, I felt at home at OSU. The university has great student diversity, and I had opportunities to make friends from all over the world,” she said.

Yantasee’s advice for current students at Oregon State? Take advantage of information technology. “Information is so easily accessible today, allowing students to learn new things both inside and outside of the classroom,” she said.

“I received excellent education through OSU’s MBA program, and would strongly recommend it to anyone who has an opportunity,” added Yantasee.

Wassana is proof that there’s truly no limit to the uses and applications that an MBA from Oregon State will have in any career, and we’re proud to count her as an alum!

Last Friday, nine teams of MBA students in the Commercialization and Clean Technology tracks competed in the 12th Annual MBA Business Plan Competition. The two day event brought 16 business leaders from around the state to Oregon State’s campus to judge the competition and to serve as mentors.

Each team was tasked with creating a viable business plan based off of real-world scientific breakthroughs, then presenting their business plans in a variety of competitive formats. The presentation is a culmination of their Integrated Business Plan (IBP) projects which the teams have been working on since last October.

On Thursday evening at the LaSells Stewart Center, each team gave a brief “shark tank” pitch outlining their business’ market opportunities and objectives. Then, one student from each team presented their “elevator pitch” to one of the judges. This pitch is a simulation of a chance meeting with a potential investor in an elevator, whereby the seller has only 45 seconds (or about five floors) to pitch their business.

“As time intensive and energy-consuming as the Integrated Business Projects can be, the process is so valuable for our students and faculty that even though they’re very challenging projects, they’re equally rewarding,” said Ilene Kleinsorge, dean of the College of Business.

Team nine, composed of Jordan Stutzman, Wenqian Chen, Qinqing Song and Yuhang He took first place in both the shark tank and elevator pitch portions of the competition. Their business project is a technology for a storm water management company.

The next day, each team presented their in-depth plan to the judges, who are also potential investors. Each team had 35 minutes to present before being grilled on all aspects of the endeavor. By the end of the session, teams experienced more than an hour of a high-pressure, high-stakes sales meeting. On the second day of the competition, MBA candidates Jujie Hao, Pei Yu Lu, Muchen Liu, Milo Ullstad and Siqi Chen walked away victorious for their business plan for a technology company aimed at improving prescription drug label information.

While preparing for the Business Plan Competition was very challenging, the students know the real-world benefits the projects have.

“In a cross-functional business environment, being able to get all departments on board for a new project is the key to its success,” said MBA student Sam Pincock. “Knowing how to effectively communicate to each department motivates and inspires cohesion within an organization, and the Business Plan Competition definitely helps prepare us for the challenges ahead.”

“Every MBA class has unique and special attributes,” said MBA program professor Tom Dowling. “I was very impressed by how well these students took on such challenging commercialization projects, quickly grasping the complexities and possibilities of innovative breakthroughs. This year’s class never backed down from the challenges they faced week after week, and they should be proud.”