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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 undergraduate harnesses AI to simplify cybersecurity testing
by
Robert Wang
Jonathan Gregory, a computer science undergraduate student at Central Michigan University, has been working on a project with Dr. Qi Liao, using artificial intelligence (AI) to make cybersecurity easier. Their research focuses on automating penetration testing — simulating a cyberattack where ethical hackers find weaknesses in computer systems to help secure them before hackers can exploit them.
Instead of using AI models from big companies like OpenAI, Gregory and Dr. Liao used an open-source model called Mistral 7B, running it on a regular laptop with free software. They added specific security knowledge to the AI and successfully had it identify vulnerabilities in a test system. The cool part? It shows you don’t need fancy, expensive equipment for AI to be helpful in cybersecurity.
Their goal is to make it easier for people to get into penetration testing, which usually takes years of experience. By automating some of the work with AI, they hope to speed things up and make security testing more accessible for beginners.
The results are promising: the AI can help find weak spots using just a laptop. But while the tech is promising, there’s still a long way to go before it can fully automate the process. Plus, there are concerns that hackers could use this same tech for bad purposes.
Their research paper, “Autonomous Cyberattack with Security-Augmented Generative Artificial Intelligence” was recently published in the conference proceedings of the 2024 (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) International Conference on Cyber Security and Resilience.
Next, Jonathan and the team plan to test even more advanced AI models, hoping to improve their system and one day make penetration testing fully automated—helping make cybersecurity faster, easier, and more effective.
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.
