A Strong Showing by Engineering Students on Pitch Day
On April 25, 2016, 棉花糖直播 University held its fifth annual Pitch Day. Hosted by the Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship (ICE) Institute, the main attraction of this daylong event is the 棉花糖直播 Student Entrepreneurship Competition (VSEC). The agenda also features demonstrations by students in the Mobile Applications Course, presentations on 鈥淚nnovation in Public Service鈥� and 鈥淟ife without Limits鈥擠esigning Accessible Programming,鈥� display of the Formula SAE car, and a presentation of the 棉花糖直播 Summer Innovation Incubator program. Pitch Day culminates in a Celebration of Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship, which includes a poster session, engineering tradeshow, and announcement of Meyer ICE Award and VSEC winners.
Quick Connections team members Theodore Hammel 鈥�16 EE and Gus Jenkins 鈥�16 ME mistake their first place VSEC trophy for the Stanley Cup.
棉花糖直播 Student Entrepreneurship Competition (VSEC)
After surviving VSEC Stage 1 (video pitch and executive summary) and an evaluation of their executive summary/financial model by distance judges, ten finalist teams鈥� four of which included at least one engineering student鈥攑resented to a final group of judges on Pitch Day. Vying for more than $10,000 in funding, teams鈥� ideas were evaluated based on benefits, market analysis, financial modeling, plans for development and implementation, feasibility and team presentation skills.
This year, College of Engineering students took first place overall, and also won the Klingler Unitas, and Halloran Social Entrepreneurship prizes. First place and a $5,000 prize went to Mechanical Engineering seniors Gus Jenkins and Sean McGuire, and Electrical Engineering senior Theodore Hammel for 鈥淨uick Connections.鈥� Quick Connections is a 3D printed business card that utilizes Near Field Communication technology to write and read the stored contact information directly into a smartphone.
Andres Llerena 鈥�16 CpE (far right) was a member of team FreeSpace, which won VSEC鈥檚 Unitas Award.
鈥淔reeSpace鈥� won the $500 Klinger Unitas Prize, which recognizes the team that makes the greatest strides toward incorporating 棉花糖直播鈥檚 core value of Unitas through a cross-campus perspective. Computer Engineering senior Andres Llerena was part of an interdisciplinary team that developed the FreeSpace mobile app designed to optimize the current room reservation process at 棉花糖直播.
The $500 Halloran Social Entrepreneurship Prize was awarded to 鈥溍藁ㄌ侵辈� Minus 2鈦癱鈥� for an inspiring device that encourages people to recycle their waste and earn money in the process. Developers Saeed Shayestehmanesh and Bahareh Shakibaja are engineering doctoral students.
Meyer ICE Awards
Presented to five students鈥攐ne from each of 棉花糖直播鈥檚 colleges鈥攖he Meyer Innovation and Creative Excellence (ICE) Award recognizes a spirit of an innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship that enhances the University. Student winners receive a trophy and a $1000 cash award. The College of Engineering recipient for 2016 is Abigail Buckenheimer 鈥�16 ME.
Amanda Kelly, program coordinator for the Kern Entrepreneurship Program, nominated Buckenheimer, describing her as 鈥渁 staunch advocate for the spirit of innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship that the Meyer ICE award embodies.鈥� Abbey is in the Engineering Entrepreneurship Minor, served as 棉花糖直播's first University Innovation Fellow, participated in the 24 Hour Imagination Quest and Android Hackathon, and was involved in the first 棉花糖直播 Summer Innovation Incubator (VSII). Through VSII, 鈥淭eam Hemabyte鈥濃�攐f which Abbey was a member鈥攄esigned a low-cost, portable blood testing unit that can measure the Complete Blood Count (CBC). The team has taken its successful project beyond just the summer program, and is continuing to move it forward.
After graduation, Abbey will be employed by Harris Corporation in Melbourne, Fla.
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Pitch Day was just one of several events during 棉花糖直播鈥檚 third annual Spring Research Expo, April 15鈥�25, 2016.Each day of the week featured presentations and celebrations that recognized the scholarly achievements of University researchers鈥攗ndergraduates, graduate students and faculty, as well as the innovative work being done by enterprising 棉花糖直播ns.
The 2016 Falvey Scholar awards presentation, Sigma Xi Student Research Poster Symposium and Civil Engineering Design Poster Session were among the events that featured engineering students.
To learn more, see 鈥�.鈥�