HOUSTON, TX – November 4, 2022.
Expanding Frontiers (ExF) today announced that William Brown, an ExF Entrepreneur In Residence was awarded the Texas Business Hall of Fame’s Future Texas Business Legend Award and scholarship of $15,000. This award is given annually to students and veterans across the state of Texas in recognition of their “innovative and entrepreneurial excellence”.
“William Brown’s scholastic accomplishments combined with his passion for entrepreneurship are well recognised by this award,” stated Fredrick Jenet, PhD, Founder and Executive Director of Expanding Frontiers. “We are all proud of the momentum William is achieving with his startup company, Embedded, Inc..”
Brown, along with co-founder Lee Martinez, founded Embedded, Inc, to improve the quality of life for elderly patients with a quiet, touchless patient monitoring system based on NASA sensor technology. Brown launched Embedded while participating in Expanding Frontiers’ 2021 Entrepreneur in Residence Apprenticeship (EIRA) Program.
When asked about his win, Brown says “Things are on the right track for Embedded, but also for my personal development as an entrepreneur.” He says the prize money will be used to further develop his startup.
Embedded previously won first place earlier this year in the Rafael Munguia Business Plan and Pitch Competition 2022, hosted by the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, winning a first place award of $5,000.
William is also an undergraduate engineering student at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and is the founding president of the South Texas Chapter of the National Space Society. Mr. Brown’s next competition will be the Startup Texas Competition hosted by the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation June 16, 2022.
The Texas Business Hall of Fame Foundation was created in 1982 by a small group of Texas business men and women to focus awareness on the positive achievements made by outstanding business leaders and to honor their contributions to their community and state. In addition to recognizing six transformational business leaders each year, the Texas Business Hall of Fame Foundation awards forty $15,000 prizes in both the higher education and veteran community to those who demonstrate exceptional entrepreneurial aspirations and excellence.
Expanding Frontiers (ExF) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization developing an innovation ecosystem with emphasis on space and energy technologies in Brownsville, Texas. ExF supports local entrepreneurs commercializing NASA technologies by providing training, mentorship, and exposure to industry experts. The organization also provides STEM education and skills development opportunities to high school students, college level students and veterans. Expanding Frontiers collaborates with NASA, the National Space Society, and Silicon Valley Space Center and is supported by the Brownsville Community Improvement Corp., Department of Energy and the Economic Development Agency. To learn more about Expanding Frontiers and its mission, please visit Expanding Frontiers.
Expanding Frontiers’ Entrepreneur in Residence Apprenticeship Program aims to attract and prepare the best and brightest students and aspiring entrepreneurs in South Texas to successfully launch startups in the space, energy, and technology industries.
Recent high school and college STEM graduates report having too few job opportunities in the area. Yet many of these students have an interest in entrepreneurship, they just don’t have a clear path on how to begin. ExF’s EIR apprenticeship program was designed to specifically solve this problem. The team at Expanding Frontiers congratulates William Brown on his recognition and hard work.
Expanding Frontiers will begin recruiting for its 2023 cohort of the Entrepreneur in Residence and Apprenticeship Program in the spring of 2023. For more information, please visit www.ExpandingFrontiers.org/EIRA.
Contacts
Fredrick A. Jenet, Co-founder and Executive Director, Expanding Frontiers fjenet@expandingfrontiers.org
William Brown, Co-Founder and CEO of Embedded Inc. wbrown@expandingfrontiers.org
