BY Leslie Overman
Student inventors pitched their ideas to a panel of faculty judges in the preliminary round of the Institute's first InVenture Prize competition Jan. 28 at the Ferst Center for the Arts. By evening's end, the judges had whittled the field of 14 semifinalist creations down to eight.
After polishing their prototypes and presentations, the inventors will return to the Ferst Center stage March 26 for the contest finals.
InVenture Prize winners will receive help from the Institute in getting their products to market. In addition to a cash prize, students will receive free patent filings, paid summer internships and commercialization assistance.
Among the eight inventions advancing to the final round of competition are a Web site that assists high school students embarking on the college application process; a bowl that heats food with the push of a button; a phone service that checks product prices at various stores to find the best deal; and a continuous glucose monitor.
One of the faculty members behind the competition is Craig Forest, ME 01, an assistant professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering and a semifinalist on the TV show American Inventor.
"A lot of our students come here and hope to hit the career fair in four years and get a great job in the industry," he said. "That's awesome, but we want our undergrads to know that they can also start their own business with their buddy in their dorm room. If they've got a quirky idea, there are places on campus where they can make a prototype or learn about the market and make it happen. This kind of activity is really focused on encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship in the undergraduate student culture."
Judging the inventions were Terry Blum, Tedd Munchak chair in the College of Management and director of the Institute for Leadership and Entrepreneurship; Merrick Furst, a distinguished professor in the College of Computing; David Ku, Lawrence P. Huang endowed chair in engineering and entrepreneurship and Regents professor in the School of Mechanical Engineering and the College of Management; and Joy Laskar, Schlumberger chair in microelectronics in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
For more information on the competition, visit the InVenture Prize Web site.
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Eric Turner
Judge Joy Laskar looks at an invention pitched by students in the preliminary round of the InVenture Prize competition.
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