The Poole College of Management held its sixth-annual Leadership and Innovation Showcase Tuesday in Nelson Hall, which displayed student work that took learning from the classroom to the private sector.
Student projects were judged by a panel consisting of a variety of business executives, faculty members and distinguished alumni.
“The spotlight is on partnerships between students and the sponsors,” said Ira Weiss, Dean of the Poole College of Management. “Some of the projects have literally saved companies millions of dollars. The companies really listen to the students.”
In the undergraduate division, first place went to Scott Gray, Emily Ciriano and Hamilton Brewster, all of whom are seniors majoring in business administration.
The team worked with Bayer CropScience and identified the need for a way to keep standards high between audits and a new process check system.
“There’s opportunity out there for every student,” Brewster said. “Even if you don’t have any experience.”
Weiss said he has high hopes for the future of the projects and the students that participated.
“This event allows students to take what they learned and make successful transitions to the marketplace,” Weiss said.
Students spent the semester working on their projects, which pulled in students from across disciplines.
“It’s interesting to talk to the different judges,” said Emily Tuttle, a student in the Jenkins Graduate Program who participated in the competition. “The questions that they ask you really make you think from a different perspective.”
Tuttle worked with problems of pricing in regional foods systems and encouraging farmers to consider different options before planting.
“There’s a lot of information that can help farmers get into new markets that they may not necessarily know about,” Tuttle said.
Weiss said the fair gave students a chance to test their professional skills in a less intimidating environment.
“This is a great opportunity for our students to showcase themselves in a safe environment,” Weiss said. “It allows them to hone in on their presentation skills and present to a set of professionals in a non-threatening environment. It allows them to build confidence that they might not have otherwise had, both professionally and discipline-wise, in a way that helps them to move forward in their career,” Weiss said.
Second place in the undergraduate division went to Shreye Saxena, a senior in computer engineering. Alex Stewart, Robert Elder and Christopher Godfrey, all seniors in business administration, came in third.
Brian Westbrook, McKinlay Jeannis, Brian Franson and Saksham Bhatla were awarded first place in the Jenkins Graduate School category for their creation of the Airia Personal Air Quality Monitor.
The Airia product is a portable air quality monitor that also measures the activity level of the wearer when clipped to his or her clothing.
In the Jenkins Graduate School, second place went to Jessica Newsome, Nithin Seshadri, Delia Smith and Bo Zhang. Third place was awarded to Rachel Rich, Manasi Ghogare and Nathalie Donaghy.
Andrew Colley, a senior in accounting, and Ashley Bryant, a graduate student in accounting, worked with Bacardi Bottling Corporation and identified the main culprits of water and electricity usage.
They used regression analysis to to collect data about the company and plot its challenges.
Weiss emphasized the importance of the showcase to the students as well as to the future.
“Today’s marketplace is driven by global technology,” Weiss said. “This event allows students to develop solutions to real-world problems.”