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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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The InVenture Prize @ Georgia Tech competition announced six finalists that will showcase their inventions during a live show on Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB Media) on March 13 at 7 p.m. Students will present their inventions during a primetime broadcast, co-hosted by New York Times technology columnist David Pogue.
The InVenture Prize is an innovation competition for undergraduate students at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Students work independently or in teams on inventions that will be presented to and judged by a panel of experts.
Matthew Stoddard, an industrial design major from Clarkesville, TN, was among those selected to pitch their inventions.
Daniel Chaney (ID 2011) captured the 2011 Inventure Prize for his “Slide Capo”—a hybrid guitar slide and capo that allows all new techniques and greater flexibility for guitarists to play faster and smoother. Watch the 2011 preview featuring Chaney >
This year’s finalists are:
Entripic Wake: A rigid, portable, and customizable obstacle/rail system for extreme water sports
Re-hand: Software assisted home-use hand assessment and rehabilitation device
CourseShark: An online system for creating and sharing college class schedules
CardiacTech: Chest retractor for bypass surgery
Stylii: An extraordinarily precise and pressure-sensitive capacitive stylus
DEfT Pad: Touchscreen device giving guitarists the functionality of a distortion pedal
The two winning inventions from either individuals or teams will be selected and will receive:
In addition, a $5,000 “People’s Choice” award, provided by the Georgia Tech Research Corporation, will be presented. The live audience and broadcast viewers will have the opportunity to help select the winner of this award by voting on the Internet or texting in their favorite finalist.
InVenture Prize co-host, Pogue, is a personal-technology columnist for The New York Times and NYTimes.com and a tech correspondent at CBS News, CBS News Sunday Morning, NPR - Morning Edition and a frequent of PBS series NOVA. He is also a contributor at CNBC.com and Blogger at Pogue's Posts. Pogue studied music, English and computer science at Yale University. He graduated summa cum laude, with a distinction in music.
Co-host Bahareh Azizi earned a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry/biotechnology in 1999 from Michigan State University and then moved to Atlanta to pursue a doctoral degree from Georgia Tech in biochemistry. Since completing her Ph.D. in 2005, Azizi has worked at Georgia Tech and Oxford College of Emory University as an educator, researcher and administrator.
This year’s InVenture Prize judges will be Deborah Kilpatrick, senior vice president at CardioDx; David Phelps, president and chief executive officer of CreoSalus and Paul Ollinger, who is a Facebook alumnus, social media advisor and comedian.
In addition to airing on GPB, the 2012 Georgia Tech InVenture Prize competition will be streaming online at www.gpb.org.
The InVenture Prize is free and open to the public. You can reserve your tickets by registering online at https://inventureprize.gatech.edu/.