Wisconsin BBA

An undergraduate business student, Joseph Keuler, was one of four UW-Madison students to win $50,000 in a student competition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for innovative ideas to counteract climate change.

Keuler, along with Matthew Kirk, Patrick Kirk, and David Osmalov captured the grand prize in the third annual Climate Leadership Challenge at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies’ Earth Day Conference.

Their team proposed a new way to produce hydrogen from plant sugars in agricultural waste and explored how the technology might be applied in biogas plants, calling their project Cellulose Digesting Biogas Plants for Hydrogen Production (CDBP).

Besides cash, the grand-prize winners receive an option for a free one-year lease in the University Research Park’s Metro Innovation Center on Madison’s East Side and other incentives to further develop their idea.

The top team was composed of undergraduates from business, computer engineering, philosophy, and chemistry. “The Climate Leadership Challenge really showcases the amazing talent here at UW-Madison,” said Tracey Holloway, director of the Nelson Institute Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment, which sponsored the contest. “Their success demonstrates the strength of interdisciplinary problem-solving.”