May 28, 2008

Interdisciplinary teams of students majoring in anthropology, engineering and business from California State University, Fresno that won first- and second-place awards in regional and national competitions will present final project results to a panel of local judges Wednesday, May 22. The reports will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Smittcamp Alumni House on campus.

One student project, titled "The VARC (Voice Activated Remote Control)," took first place in the design competition at the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Region 6, which includes 12 Western states. The team will compete at the national conference in August.

Another project, called “The Wait Mate,” won second place in the business plan section in the nationwide Inter-Professional Projects Day at Illinois Institute of Technology, a competition that included professional companies and top engineering schools. The Wait Mate is a traditional restaurant pager with LCD screen on which customers can read the restaurant’s menu, play games or browse through other information as they wait for a table.

The two projects were Fresno State’s first initiative involving three academic colleges in which interdisciplinary teams of students look for real-life solutions that people can use for everyday problems.

The judges for the final presentations are Tracewell Hanrahan of Pacific Capital Ventures, Craig Scharton, director of the Central Valley Business Incubator, and Mike Summers, head of commercialization at the Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Fresno State.

Funding for the program comes from a grant by the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance. Professor Hank Delcore is the Project Director of the two year NCIIA grant. Funding for travel was provided by both the NCIIA grant and the Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.