University of Arkansas Student Team to Close NASDAQ Market Again Friday

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – For the second time in two weeks, the University of Arkansas graduate student team, BiologicsMD, will ring the NASDAQ closing bell. The team will ring the bell at 4 p.m. EST on Friday, June 25, in New York City. A Webcast of the ceremony will air live on NASDAQ online.

The students’ business plan for a patent-pending, pre-clinical, osteoporosis medication called OsteoFlor won more than $410,000 in awards in the 2010 Rice University Business Plan Competition, held in April at Houston.

As the winner of the Rice University competition, the team was selected to ring the NASDAQ bell. The BiologicsMD team also rang the bell on Friday, June 11, because, in May, it was crowned the Moot Corp Global Champions by the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas.

At the Rice University competition, the BiologicsMD received the competition’s grand prize, which was valued at more than $385,000, including a $285,000 equity investment, $20,000 in cash and over $80,000 in business services such as office space, marketing support and business mentoring.

Carol Reeves, associate professor of management, was the faculty adviser for the team, which includes Paul Mlakar, Michael Thomas and Misty Stevens, who are students in the Walton College managerial M.B.A. program; and Robyn Goforth, who is in the certificate in entrepreneurship program.