Child safety, home coffee devices are top winners in 2016 Showcase

A device designed to help child care staff members monitor the whereabouts of their young children during large group outings won first place in the undergraduate division of Poole College’s 8th Annual Leadership and Innovation Showcase held April 21 at Nelson Hall. This project – SuperViZE – also won the People’s Choice award, selected by guests visiting the Showcase and voting online. [View photos from this event at our Flickr site.]

The project was developed by Suzanne Phillips, Poole College senior majoring in marketing, and three College of Engineering teammates, including Joseph Richards, computer engineering and Sunny Su, industrial design.

“The clip-on device triangulates the children’s relative locations for chaperones to view at any time and conduct automated roll calls,” the team wrote in their project description. “Existing child tracking devices are too slow, complex to use, or only effective for two to three children, the team wrote in their project description, so the team designed this device to not only be simple to use and quick to setup, but also to utilize a standard electro­magnetic lock that’s so secure, even an adult would have difficulty removing it.”

First place in the graduate division went to PÜRE, “the first smart coffee roaster, grinder and brewer for the specialty coffee segment,” as described by the project’s team members MBA students Pierre Marcella and Grahm Ransom, and Sunny Su, senior in industrial design. The multidisciplinary team completed the project for the MBA program’s Product Innovation Lab course.

“In-home coffee roasters have been around for years, but the knowledge to operate them has been reserved for true coffee aficionados,” they stated in their summary. “Our product was created for the everyday coffee drinker that wants to up the flavor of their brew while drastically lowering their costs. It’s easy enough for anyone to use. Just take one of our green bean packages, scan it against the PÜRE logo, and select your roast preference. Once you hit the “PÜRE” button, the machine takes care of the rest, giving you the freshest cup or carafe of coffee you’ve ever tasted.

Second Place Winners

Second place in the undergraduate division went to Lumeova, a project developed by senior Jacob Burt for his practicum course in Poole College’s entrepreneurship concentration taught at the NC State Entrepreneurship Clinic.

“Lumeova’s technology is a module that taps into the optical spectrum, es­sentially creating a point-to-point solution using light to transfer data at speeds unattainable by current wireless networks. It has the potential for a wide array of applications from content-streaming to the next generation of cellu­lar,” Burt wrote in his project summary. “Lumeova is a great example of a company that has developed a revolutionary technology but needs some help in refining it into a business. In this two-semester long project, the student team has been refining the business model, validating the concept and developing a launch strategy.”

Second place in the graduate division went to a projected completed by MBA students Dana Magliola and Lindsay Schilleman for their supply chain practicum project sponsored by the Materials Handling Industry, a Poole College Supply Chain Resources Cooperative partner organization. For this project, the team “researched, analyzed, and published a compre­hensive report capturing the economic impact of the supply chain in North Carolina,” the team states in its project summary. “The final 115-page report provides insight into each economic sector, including analysis, facts, figures, easy-to-understand graphics, charts, context and important trends for every sector, locally, na­tionally and globally. This report not only provides data, but tells the story behind the numbers with clarity and relevance.” It has also received significant coverage in the industry press.

Employers of the Year

In addition to recognizing student achievements, Poole College’s Leadership & Innovation Showcase recognizes employers who work with the college’s career development teams to help students more effectively make the transition from student to professional. This includes hosting resume reviews, participating in workshops, providing internships, and hiring graduates.

Receiving the college’s Employer of the Year awards this year were Red Hat and Deloitte. Accepting the award for Red Hat was Tania Richardson, senior manager for global talent acquisition at Red Hat. Accepting the award for Deloitte was JR Shearin, managing partner at Deloitte. He is a 1981 alumnus of the college and member of the colleges’ Board of Advisors.

Nearly 160 students entered more than 50 projects in this year’s Showcase. Included were 24 supply chain projects conducted with partner companies of the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative, nine projects representing undergraduate and graduate entrepreneurship courses, and experiential learning projects for courses in product innovation design, consumer innovation, innovation management, IT and gaming, database management, economics research, consulting, marketing, and international studies.

The projects were evaluated by a team of 52 judges from business, industry and leadership roles at NC State. First Citizens sponsors the Leadership & Innovation Showcase, including scholarship awards for the winning teams.