Posted: 5:15 PM May 2, 2012
Reporter: Denise Wong

Engineering Students Show Off Inventions

RENO, NV - Electrical engineering students at UNR are showing off their inventive skills. Students in one particular course just finished their senior projects. They had to create something brand new and then develop a business strategy to market what they made. Students worked in teams to create everything from a fingerprint-scanning diary to a device that remotely monitors a car's battery levels.

"This course is a senior level course where they have to combine entrepreneurship and innovation in the same course," says Dr. Bill Avery, professor of electrical engineering at UNR. "They had to produce marketing, business plans, profit and loss statements as well as pick a product, design it, bring it to fruition."

Students in the class of 18 had one semester to get their project done.

"The goal is when they go out into the industry - that they be able to work effectively in a business environment. Maybe start their own business as well as just solving engineering problems," says Dr. Avery.

"It's been really good," says Victor Nunez, who created a fingerprint-secured diary. "We've learned some things in the business end of things to try to develop new product and market it and get pricing strategies and things like that. We developed a new product from beginning to end and it's really satisfying."

The students will officially show off their inventions on Friday. That's when they make formal presentations to faculty and potential investors.

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