Kirstie
Gildemeister (left) and Kelsey Fitzgerald are winners of the $20,000 first place award
at 2021 Governor’s Giant Vision Business Plan Competition for their company,
Hydrolyst LLC, which improves process of storing energy generated by solar and
wind power.
RAPID CITY, SD
(May 3, 2021) — For the first time in university history, an all-student team
from South
Dakota Mines has won
the open Governor's Giant Vision Business
Competition. South
Dakota Mines students Kirstie Gildemeister and Kelsey Fitzgerald won the 2021
Giant Vision award for their company, Hydrolyst
LLC, which has the potential to greatly
improve the effort to store energy generated by solar and wind power.
Their
invention is a more efficient and robust system to split water into oxygen and
hydrogen gas. It increases effectiveness of solar-powered hydrogen fuel cells,
which can be used to store energy needed during peak demand. Gildemeister and
Fitzgerald also won a 2021 Braun Inventor award, which will help them with the
process of landing a patent for their idea.
“We are really
excited and thankful for all the opportunities South Dakota Mines’ Office of
Industrial Relations to help us commercialize our idea and help build it up. We
both left jobs in industry to pursue this company and the help of the
university has been instrumental in our success,” says Gildemeister, company
CEO. Hydrolyst is now building a prototype on a small farm near Ellsworth Air
Force Base that includes a solar array and hydrogen generation system which
will showcase the technology.
Mines
also placed well in the annual student version of the Giant Vision Competition.
Biomedical engineering graduate students Nghia
Thai and Nhu Y Mai took home 3rd place and a $3,000 prize for their
business Chi-X. Their company fabricates advanced sponges to control bleeding
during surgeries. Thai and Mai also won the Mines annual CEO Business Plan
Competition in November
2020.
Mines
undergraduate computer science majors Morgan Vagts and Debbie Liknes took home
4th place and a $2,000 prize for her company LAFDR, which is a new kind of dating app that uses memes to
match like-minded couples.
The
is the first time in seven years that a Mines team did not win the student
version of the competition. It’s also the first year that a Mines student team
won the open division.
“We’re
proud of all of our students who exhibit the strong culture of entrepreneurship
and innovation we are building on campus. Year after year, great ideas
generated at Mines are turning into high-tech businesses that are transforming
the state economy. We’re also thankful to the organizers of the Governor’s
Giant Vision Competition for hosting this important event each year,” says
Mines President Jim Rankin.