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.

2025 NVC Competition Live Stream

2025 NVC Awards Live Stream

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.

A student standing with a faculty member holding big winning checks from the New Venture Challenge 2024.

Start up

Build up your venture idea.

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A student smiling and standing in front of his venture display at the 2024 New Venture Challenge.

Family business

Explore the Alternative Entrepreneurial Pathways category at NVC.

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A close-up of the Prusa i3 MK3 printer in the entrepreneurship makerspace, the IDEA Den in Grawn Hall 166.

Product and prototype design

Create and patent your ideas.

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Innovation

Explore your ideas and build your skills.

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Geology student, Joy Youngblood, to present groundbreaking lithium research at GSA Connects 2024

by Robert Wang

Due to its use in energy storage —think electric car batteries! — lithium is crucial for a carbon-free, sustainable future. But lithium resources are not easy to find. Joy Youngblood, a 2024 student of the Summer Program in Applied Research (SPAR), is set to present her innovative research on lithium mineral occurrences in northern Wisconsin at the Geological Society of America (GSA) Connects conference in Anaheim, California, this September. The GSA Connects is one of the largest and most influential global gatherings for geoscientists, showcasing cutting-edge research from around the world and a great opportunity for CMU’s Earth and Atmospheric Science faculty and students to present their findings.

Youngblood recently secured a highly competitive travel grant from the Mineralogy-Geochemistry-Petrology-Volcanology (MGPV) Division of the GSA. This grant, awarded to only 20% of the 46 applicants nationwide, will sponsor her participation in the conference, where she will present her findings.

Youngblood's paper, titled "Geochemical Dispersion Halos of Lithium Pegmatites as a Potential Exploration Tool: A Preliminary Comparative Study in Florence County, Northeastern Wisconsin, USA," is co-authored with M.-L.C. Sirbescu, J. Meldrum, T. Cox, and T.R. Benson, and will be published in the Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs (Vol 56).

Youngblood joined Dr. Sirbescu’s lithium exploration team in May 2023 as a field assistant. During this time, she made a significant discovery of a new pegmatite on steep, vegetation-covered slopes in northeastern Wisconsin. Despite the initial appearance that the pegmatite lacked spodumene—the main lithium ore mineral—Youngblood's passion drove her to collect rock samples, which later revealed promising results. Supported by a SPAR grant, she returned to the site in May 2024, where further sampling confirmed that the host rocks contained significant lithium concentrations up to 10 meters away from the pegmatite. This finding suggests the presence of additional hidden lithium-rich pegmatite bodies.

Youngblood's field and lab work has led to the development of new prospecting practices for lithium pegmatites, which are now being prepared for publication.