Share this story. 
|
Bright Ideas
Students Advance Technology for Baby Safety and the USPS
By Elissa K. Harvill
| |
| |
|
The two ORU teams are among twelve semifinalist teams.
In 2005, an ORU team advised by business instructor Charles Atkins finished third overall in the undergraduate division with a product that used technological and pharmacy benefit management systems in a unique way.
Each undergraduate semifinalist team receives $1,000. The faculty advisor receives $500.
This year, ORU has developed two practical devices that undergraduate business students are prepared to launch into the market. One is the Sentinel Safety Seat, a life-saving device for babies. The second is Vaastek, a suite of computerized voice recognition services that can expedite United States Postal Service mail processing and improve productivity for retail businesses and executives alike.
The students on the Safety Seat team are Andrew Marshall (team leader), Elizabeth Fadare, John O'Hanlan, Amsa Mangga, Joy Ndackson, and Bradley Sheehan. The Vaastek team is composed of Pete Clinton (team leader), Jeremie Hamby, Peter Maddux, Jacquelyn Brydon, Andrew Walters, and Marcus Streater.
The Safety Seat was the brainchild of ORU business dean Dr. Mark Lewandowski and Atkins. They developed the idea after reading an article in the Tulsa World about a baby found dead after accidentally being left in a car on a hot Oklahoma day by two parents.
The safety system has inputs from the baby seat, the driver's seat, and from a wireless alarm system. If a baby is left alone in a vehicle, an alarm will automatically sound after 12 seconds. When the alarm goes off, in order to silence it, the driver must respond in one of three ways: take the baby out of the vehicle, return to his or her seat, or use a wireless key ring remote to temporarily disable the alarm for 90 seconds.
"Over the years, the rate at which babies have died of hyperthermia has increased drastically," said Dr. Sophie Liu, an associate professor of engineering who serves as the project's technical advisor. "People need to know that these deaths can be prevented by using our alarm system."
According to Atkins, Vaastek would not only save the USPS time and money; it would eliminate having to train mail handlers to memorize hundreds of different mail codes while sorting. Further, it would provide significant time savings in the retail and general business sectors.
The Governor's Cup competition is judged by venture capitalists and business professionals who are interested in investing in innovative projects that show potential for future market success. One goal of the competition is to encourage and reward entrepreneurial activities among college students.
"The air is getting rarified--we're getting closer to the top," Atkins said of his teams' selection to go to the semifinals. "We understand we're in a learning environment; like a Japanese samurai sword, we're hardening ourselves, broadening our horizons and developing world-class experience."
Working together provided engineering and business students with a mock experience of a real-world business venture. "The engineering students are given an opportunity to focus on customer demands, while the business side of the team looks at making it cost-effective," explained Dr. Liu.
"Balancing conflicting demands--efficiency versus cost--is a very important skill that the students have gained [through this project]," said Atkins.
Having made it to the semifinals, the two teams are now preparing their revised business plans and presentations for the next level of competition on April 7 in Oklahoma City.
Atkins is elated and totally confident in his apprentices. "We started with our 'A game' and we're going to end up on our 'A game,'" he beamed. "When you bring your best, you don't have to look back."
The undergraduate and graduate award winners will be announced on April 8. An awards dinner will be held on April 20 in Oklahoma City at the Bricktown Events Center. Grand prizes of $20,000, $10,000, and $5,000 will go to the first-, second-, and third-place undergraduate teams, respectively.
