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UT Austin News

AUSTIN, Texas —Student entrepreneurs from The University of Texas at Austin and their professors are meeting with President Barack Obama this afternoon to discuss their ideas and private sector successes.

As part of his Middle Class Jobs and Opportunity tour, Mr. Obama is making a previously unannounced visit to the Capital Factory, a startup incubator run by high tech mogul Joshua Baer, an instructor in the Department of Computer Science who teaches and mentors UT student entrepreneurs through the Longhorn Startup Program.

“UT Startup @LynxLabsATXwill be giving @BarackObama a demo of their 3D camera!," Baer wrote on Twitter this afternoon.

Lynx Laboratories was established through UT Austin's Longhorn Startup program. According to its website, its founders are Chris Slaughter, a Cockrell School of Engineering graduate student; Jeff Mahler, Cockrell School of Engineering student; Sriram Vishwanath, an associate professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering and the IC2 Institute; and Dustin Hopper, affiliated with the IC2 Institute. The team includes Nick Shelton and Albert Rondan, both computer science seniors in the College of Natural Sciences.

Obama’s trip to Austin is intended to highlight the region’s economic vitality and its success in creating high technology jobs. It also includes stops at the offices of Applied Materials and New Tech High School in Manor.

“President Obama will meet with entrepreneurs at the Capital Factory—a startup incubator—who are already leveraging open government data to create new products and services as part of his new series of middle-class jobs and opportunity tours to highlight how a growing, thriving middle class is critical to America’s economic future,” the White House said in a statement.

The University of Texas at Austin is a national leader in encouraging student entrepreneurship and helping students, faculty and community members bring their ideas to market and develop new technology.

Started in 2011, Longhorn Startup is a course designed to give entrepreneurial support to undergraduates at The University of Texas at Austin. Led by Bob Metcalfe, professor of innovation at UT Austin, Longhorn Startup is open to all UT Austin undergraduates who have ventures or are launching companies. As part of the program, each startup team is connected to an entrepreneur mentor from the Austin area. In addition to mentoring, students gain business, networking and presentation skills during the one semester course.

For more information, Media Relations, utmedia@utexas.edu, 512-471-3151.