Annual Rensselaer Office of Entrepreneurship
Competition Highlights Student Innovation and Creativity and
Draws Technology, Social, Health, and Business Ideas From
Across Campus
An adaptive seismic device for earthquake protection, a
novel approach to developing a self-testing blood donation
storage bag, a vehicle collision prevention system, a
professional networking and matchmaking website to connect
entrepreneurs, and a telemarketing blocker, are among the
winning ideas in the Fall 2012 Change the World Challenge at
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Created to support entrepreneurship education and stimulate
ideas to improve the human condition, the twice-yearly
competition awards a $10,000 prize that will be shared by the
winning students and student teams who develop innovative ideas
and inventions. Patent application assistance is also given to
winning student proposals.
“The ultimate goal of the competition is to encourage
students to further develop, patent, and fully realize their
winning ideas — to evolve their ideas into life-changing
inventions and technologies,” said Rob Chernow, vice provost
for entrepreneurship at Rensselaer and chair of the
competition. “Many winners have taken full advantage of
the program’s support and several have gone on to win
substantial funding in national and international competitions.
It is clear that there is no limit to the things our students
can come up with. I congratulate this group of competition
winners for their exciting and inspiring ideas, and I look
forward to watching them as they truly change the world.”
Each semester, students select a topic from a range of
challenges with the potential to improve human life, and they
offer an innovative and sustainable solution to that challenge.
Examples of past and current challenges include improving
safety and security and addressing energy, water, or health
issues.
Chernow noted that a record number of entries were submitted
for the Fall 2012 competition. “The large volume of submissions
for this fall competition was like judging two normal semester
events, not one,” Chernow said. The Change the World Challenge
competition has helped to validate student ideas. Over the
years, we have seen many students continue to develop their
ideas and move on to win other national and international
competitions.”
In early June, an additional $5,000 grand prize will
be awarded to the team considered to be the “best of the best”
from all of the winning entries from the fall 2012 and spring
2013 competitions.
The winning ideas for the Fall 2012 competition cover a
range of innovative devices, processes, and technologies. “As
always, the entries represent great ideas,” Chernow said. “The
judges were challenged and very impressed with the high quality
of all of the entries. The winners typically reflect ideas that
the students have been working on for some time, and they have
met all met all of the Challenge criteria, by developing
well-articulated and visually interesting proposals.”
The ten winning ideas include:
Rotational Based Mechanical Adaptive Earthquake Protectors
is working to develop seismic devices that are adaptive and
can change their properties based on responses of structures
without the need for electricity or external power. Created
by graduate student Navid Attary, ’13
Self-Testing Blood Bag is a blood donation storage bag
that integrates test processing at a fraction of the current
costs and time through a series of embedded chemical tests
that react in contact with the donor’s blood. Developed by
Dominic Gelfuso ’15.Project Connect will serve as a professional networking
and matchmaking website utilizing a proprietary database and
specialized algorithm to help identify, qualify complementary
skills, and build project teams for entrepreneurs, students
and professionals. Created by Kevin Lyman ’15, Jonathan
Silvestri ’15, Andrew Wright ’14.Automatic 3D Visualization is a software solution/app for
computers and phones that enables users to virtually preview
a product as it would appear within the 3-dimensional
geometry of their home and improving on the online buying
shopping process. Developed by Michael Fede ’13.BiVision Collision Prevention System is working to develop
a system of physical sensors, an auditory warning medium, and
a logic predictor integrated into a smartphone or GPS
devices. The system will alert drivers and pedestrians of
potentially dangerous situations and quickly recommend the
best course of avoidance. Created by Wesley Connor ’13.KnowFlow Water Meter is a water flow powered faucet
attachment with a venturi meter to calculate usage. The
device will provide households with a wireless online record
to monitor water used for hygiene, cooking, cleaning, laundry
and more to help prevent waste. Created by Mary Savannah
Dalton ’14.Probot is a stylized toy robot with computer software. It
provides young children with an interface of tasks/missions
to solve by programming their own Probot, and motivates them
to explore, achieve objectives and earn rewards. The device
can also serve as a learning tool that can help to interest
young children in technology and engineering. Developed by
Kevin Lyman ’15, Jonathan Silvestri ’15, Andrew Wright
’14.Telemarketing Blocker is working to adapt existing
technology that enables cell phone users to identify and mark
unsolicited calls with a one button push on their phone and
across the mobile phone provider networks. After being
flagged a determined number of times, the unsolicited caller
would be blocked from making outgoing calls. Created by
Dave Guglielmo ’15.Sea Spire is a modular aquatic installation designed to
make a variety of small-scale, open-ocean operations such as
aquaculture and research installations cheaper to build and
operate. Environmentally-friendly applications include fish
farms, aquatic sea life nurseries, floating recreation,
capturing samples for research testing. Created by David Liu
’13.Smart Health are two interlinked modules, a smartphone app
and an RFID tag that can plug into the memory card slit of
the phone. The device, allows a user, particularly those with
chronic conditions, to manage day-to-day health, measures
relevant medical values, monitors changes and transmits data
to first responders in emergency situations. Created by
Sidsel Ernstsen ’13.
The Change the World Challenge was created in 2005 by
Rensselaer alumnus and entrepreneur Sean O’Sullivan ’85.
O’Sullivan earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering
from Rensselaer, and was a founder and first president of
software firm MapInfo Corp. He has started a number of other
companies and organizations, including JumpStart International,
an engineering humanitarian organization headquartered in
Atlanta.
