Going global: A New Orleans entrepreneur who started a company that uses algae to create synthetic oil is one of 13 people internationally to win acceptance to the Kauffman Global Scholars Program for 2013, The Times-Picayune reports. The program will send Brandon Iglesias, founder of a firm called ReactWell, to universities and think tanks in Boston, Chicago and Silicon Valley, where he will study business skills and make contacts to advance his enterprise. ReactWell is a tenant at the New Orleans BioInnovation Center, a business incubator on Canal Street. Read the full story here.
Oil and water: Bruce Gibb, a chemistry professor at Tulane University, hopes to solve a 120-year-old mystery with the help of a grant exceeding $1.1 million dollars from the National Institutes of Health. The mystery centers on why some molecules, such as oil, are repelled from mixing with water and how some salts can increase or decrease a molecule’s ability to dissolve in water. Tulane has more details on today’s grant announcement and Gibb’s work here.
Suiting up: Hearings in the NFL bounty probe of the New Orleans Saints resumed today with witness appearances by former Minnesota Vikings head coach Brad Childress, Saints assistant head coach Joe Vitt and linebacker Jonathan Vilma. Former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue has been appointed to oversee the hearings, which he has scheduled to conclude in New Orleans by Tuesday. There were also several days of witness appearances last week in Washington, D.C. Read the full story here.
