Fall 2002

Only A Click Away


Engenius Solutions Web Site Markets Student Projects

"Your next product may be only a click away." That's part of the message being promoted by a Rose-Hulman student team managing Engenius Solutions, a new web-based program that is improving the chances that technical ideas developed by Rose-Hulman students will make it to the marketplace.

Engenius Solutions intends to create more jobs for students at Indiana entrepreneurial companies, encourage additional students to become entrepreneurs, increase sponsored projects available to students, and create more collaboration among students in different academic disciplines.

The web site can be found at www.Engeniussolutions.com

Six student projects are currently featured on the web site. They range from a heart rate monitor that incorporates an accurate ear lobe clip coupled with an innovative audio delivery system for maximum usability to a new type of wired bread board that allows designers and hobbyists more control giving them additional time to design rather than build circuits.

Engenius Solutions’ activities will be integrated into engineering and entrepreneurial undergraduate courses at Rose-Hulman, according to Dan Moore, associate dean of the faculty and associate professor of electrical and computer engineering. Moore also serves as chairman of the faculty governing board for Engenius Solutions.

Four students are responsible for deciding what projects to feature, managing budgets and interacting with external audiences. The management team consists of CEO Nat Bowe, a senior mechanical engineering major from Germantown, Tenn.; Business Manager LaMarr Taylor, a senior electrical and computer engineering major from Gary, Ind.; Marketing Manager Kyle Smith, a computer science major from Crawfordsville, Ind.; and Web Manager Ron Zuckerman, a sophomore computer engineering major from Cincinnati, Ohio.

"The experience of managing a fledgling enterprise has provided us with a real sense of what it's like to be an entrepreneur," says Bowe. "The managers are very passionate about the success of Engenius Solutions."

Bowe added, "The team has received a lot of positive response from inventors and other business contacts from Indiana."

An official involved with enhancing Indianapolis as a site for high-tech business development says Engenius Solutions will stimulate an important part of the state's economy.

"Engenius Solutions is engaging in a vital aspect of our region's economic prosperity," says Jeremy Stephenson, director of investor development for The Indy Partnership. "They are turning ideas into reality through connecting intellectual capital to this region's business community."

Bowe said the students want Engenius Solutions to serve as a model for other colleges and universities. "We hope our focus on practical, interdisciplinary education spreads to other states throughout the Midwest," he said.

"We’ve started the process to partner with students in business schools at Indiana and Butler universities," Bowe noted.

The Engenius Solutions web site displays prototypes of student projects that would be of interest to venture capitalists, large or small businesses, entrepreneurs, government agencies or non-profit groups.

Bowe said an advisory group of representatives from a variety of businesses is being recruited to provide additional advice to the student management team.

"The increased interaction between students, entrepreneurs and a variety of businesses will encourage more students to view Indiana as a desirable location to develop new companies and products," predicts Arthur Western, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty at Rose-Hulman.