More than half of the winners at the 4th Annual Governor's Giant Vision Business Plan awards competition held recently have ties to the School of Mines. During the competition, businesses and student teams from across South Dakota were selected to compete with a formal business, formal business presentation, poster session and 90-second elevator speech. The competition awarded cash prizes to five business entries and three student teams.
Two teams each earned second place awards and $2,500 cash prizes in the Student Division: DJ Kjar (m.s. technology management, Custer) and Jason Howe (m.s. electrical engineering 07, The Woodlands, Texas) for Valde Robotics, which specializes in designing and manufacturing urban environment unmanned aerial vehicles; and Chris Flack (mechanical engineering, Rapid City) and Jordan Johnson (mechanical engineering, Rapid City) for Krystal Klear Kart Bodies, with an innovative design for clear go-kart bodies.
Placing second in the Business Competition was Jody Sperlich of Dakota Fire Systems, Inc. with its design and manufacture fire suppression and protection gel delivery systems which received a $10,000 prize. Mechanical engineering students Treavor Hendrickson (mechanical engineering, Rapid City) and Jeff Schnabel (mechanical engineering, Emery) supported this project through a senior design project.
Also of note is the third place finish in the Business Division by Jordan Krell and Krell Safety Products (KSP) for Smart Swim, a patent-pending drowning alert system. Krell is a senior at Plankinton High School and will join the fall 2008 freshman class at the School of Mines.
Dr. Stuart Kellogg, chair and professor, industrial engineering, and Butch Skillman, assistant professor, mechanical engineering and Director of the Office of Technology Transfer, served as advisors on these projects.
"This level of involvement in Business Innovation by both the students and the faculty of the School of Mines shows very real progress towards establishing a culture of entrepreneurship on our campus," Skillman said. "It should be noted that Brad Wheeler, a 1974 mechanical engineering graduate of the School of Mines, is the overall chairman of this program and has been its champion from the beginning in 2004 through the South Dakota State Chamber of Commerce."
The Governor's Giant Vision Business Awards and Governor's Giant Vision Student Awards were established to help citizens realize that South Dakota is the very best place to start a successful business. The program was designed as an opportunity for entrepreneurs to compete for seed money and a chance to achieve their dream.
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