Texas A&M Engineering students have won multiple third-place awards in the 2009 Ideas Challenge.

Students at Texas A&M University focus on innovation through the annual Ideas Challenge event, hosted by the Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship (CNVE) at Mays Business School.

Patrick Duffy and Ryan Becker from the Department of Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution placed third with their Bottle-Net WANulator, a WAN (wide area network) simulator that will allow for a company’s remote users to have the bandwidth necessary to run applications.

Alfredo Ramirez, Paul Nester, Matt Achimon and Brent Dyer also from the Department of Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution placed third with their invention, Temperature Guard, an autonomous child entrapment identification and alarm system.

Other engineering students who were part of several third-place teams include Gordon Burgett, Richelle Kila and Colin Bryson from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Kyle Logsdon from the Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering and Seong Kang from the Department of Nuclear Engineering; and Michael Massicotte from the Department of Aerospace Engineering, John Tyler from the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering’s Ocean Engineering Program and Klark Kurz of the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Teams presented their ideas during the May 6 competition, which gave students the chance to pitch their ideas for new products and services to successful members of the business and academic world.

The competition, open to all Aggie students ranging from freshman to doctoral level, began with an essay requiring participants to describe their “big idea.” Out of more than 400 student entries, 40 finalist individuals and teams were chosen to present their ideas to a panel of judges that included lawyers, consultants and executives from across the state.

After a five-minute presentation by the would-be entrepreneurs, the judges challenged participants to think on their feet through a tough question-and-answer session. Judges quizzed the students on the marketability and feasibility of each proposal, providing friendly, constructive feedback to the students.

The top 10 teams split a total of $13,000.

About Mays Business School and the CNVE

Mays Business School currently enrolls more than 4,000 undergraduate students and 875 graduate students. Mays is nationally ranked among public business schools for the quality of its undergraduate program, MBA program and the faculty scholarship of its 110 professors in five departments.

The Texas A&M Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship provides encouragement, education, networking and assistance to entrepreneurially-minded students, faculty and Texas businesses. Founded in 1999, the center is part of Mays Business School’s Department of Management. The center enhances student education through campus speakers, competitions, work experiences and financial support.

For more information, visit http://mays.tamu.edu or http://www.cnve.org.

Lesley Kriewald, lesleyk@tamu.edu

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