News Briefs

UNC’s Carolina Entrepreneurial Initiative (CEI) and its major benefactor, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, and UNC spinoff Liquidia Technologies were among those honored at the Council for Entrepreneurial Development’s annual Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards on Wednesday (June 15).

CEI and the Kauffman Foundation received the community impact award, and Liquidia received spin-out of the year honors.

CEI, launched in 2004, teaches UNC students, faculty and staff how to transform their ideas into sustainable enterprises that create commercial, social, artistic and academic value. The $11 million program is funded in part by the Kauffman Foundation, managed by the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at Kenan-Flagler Business School and led by UNC faculty and staff from an array of disciplines.

Liquidia Technologies is a startup company that arose in 2004 from a discovery by UNC professors Dr. Joseph DeSimone and Dr. Edward Samulski. DeSimone is W.R. Kenan Jr. distinguished professor of chemistry and chemical engineering at UNC and N.C. State University. Samulski is Cary C. Boshamer professor of chemistry.

The company develops and markets applications based on the Liquidia Material Platform, a breakthrough in materials research that combines the properties of silicone elastomers and glass. DeSimone is the company’s chief executive officer.

The Council for Entrepreneurial Development, located in Research Triangle Park, annually honors Research Triangle area entrepreneurs, high-growth companies and supporters. The private, nonprofit organization formed in 1984 to stimulate the creation and growth of high-impact companies in the greater Triangle region.

The council is one of the largest entrepreneurial support organizations nationwide, with more than 4,000 members representing more than 1,100 entrepreneurial companies, financiers and professional firms.

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Napoleon Bonaparte’s death mask and artifacts relating to the Siamese twins Eng and Chang Bunker of North Carolina will be among numerous items visitors will see on Wilson Library’s Treasure Tours this summer.

The tours, from 3-4:30 p.m. July 8 and Aug. 12, will feature staff members’ stories behind some of their favorite artifacts.

"People’s tastes are very diverse, as are the tastes of people in this building, so we think maybe we have something for everyone," said Dr. Libby Chenault, librarian for the Rare Book Collection in Wilson.

Visitors will see exhibits from the collection, the manuscripts department, the North Carolina Collection and the North Carolina Gallery. Free and open to the public, the tours will begin in the library’s front lobby. For more information, call Chenault at (919) 962-1143.

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The 17^th Annual Carolina Blood Drive on June 7 produced 845 usable units of blood, which area hospitals will use to save more than 2,500 lives.

The drive, the state’s largest, brought in 887 donors, including 74 who gave blood for the first time. The goal of the drive was to produce 1,000 units of blood – a goal it has met in previous years but fell short of this year.

Jeff Davis, senior donor recruitment representative for the Carolinas Blood Services Region of the American Red Cross, said the drive ran smoothly overall and that most donors were in and out in an hour and a half. In the past, he said, many walk-in donors had a long wait to give blood, which may have discouraged some potential donors from attending this year.

"We always want to make our goal," he said. "But at the same time, we’re very excited and happy that it went smoothly."

The drive offered something new this year. Seven machines were set up for people meeting certain requirements to give two units of blood. The 116 units collected from those donors were more than the number collected at any other drive statewide, Davis said.

More than 40 vendors from Chapel Hill and Carrboro donated food and beverages for the drive.

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News Services contact: Deb Saine, (919) 962-8415 or deborah_saine@unc.edu