Local student places in MSOE Business Plan Competition

MILWAUKEE, WI (02/25/2013)(readMedia)-- Adam Resnick, a mechanical engineering major from Cambridge, was part of a team of students who took 3rd place in the 7th annual MSOE Business Plan Competition.

His team, "Impulse Gaming Concepts," took third place, winning $1,000 in the competition. They presented a business plan for innovation in the billiards and arcade gaming industries. In recent years, these industries have remained static-no new game ideas or innovative designs have broken through to mainstream culture. Impulse Gaming Concepts' first commercial product, Tandem Pinball, utilizes elements of creativity, interaction between players, physical skill, and strategic thinking to create a fun and uniquely challenging game experience. The layout of the obstacles within the sloped playing field has the unique ability to easily be customized and rearranged by the players to adjust the difficulty and pace of the game. Tandem Pinball's electronic responses add to its excitement and fun of the game. Other students involved include Michael Fricke and Alex Weise, mechanical engineering majors; Tyler Mrowiec, architectural engineering and business management double major; and Hannah Schermerhorn, electrical engineering and technical communication double major.

The MSOE Business Plan Competition began earlier this school year when students and alumni were invited to present their business ideas. Nearly 100 students were part of the early stages of the competition. Five entries were selected as finalists and judged on both their plans and formal presentations. The MSOE Business Plan Competition is sponsored annually by MSOE's Uihlein/Spitzer Center for Entrepreneurship. Dr. Jeffrey Blessing, professor, Rader School of Business, serves as the competition coordinator.

The 2013 MSOE Business Plan Winners were:

1st Place ($2,000) - Ferret Boards Motor Skateboard

Matthew Brazeau, Mike Cosentino and Jake Schneider, mechanical engineering majors

2nd Place ($1,500) - DeriGen-Cellulose Hydrogels

Jessica Axt, Kathleen Keough and Adam Schaenzer, biomolecular engineering majors

4th Place ($500) - Trace Engineering

Brad Meissner, mechanical engineering major

Kevin Grimstad, electrical engineering major

Tyler Hackbarth and Keenan Nemetz, software engineering majors

5th place ($250) - Strategic Games Inc.

Adam Van Essen, M.S. in new product management major

MSOE is an independent, non-profit university with about 2,500 students. MSOE offers 20 bachelor's degrees and nine master's degrees in engineering, business, mathematics and nursing. The university has a national academic reputation; longstanding ties to business and industry; dedicated professors with real-world experience; a 94% placement rate; and the highest average starting and mid-career salaries of any Wisconsin university according to PayScale Inc. MSOE graduates are well-rounded, technologically experienced and highly productive professionals and leaders.