For the past four years, MSU’s Innovation Center has hosted a night to recognize the MSU Inventor of the Year, Innovator of the Year and Tech Transfer Achievement Award Winners.
Innovation Center Marketing Director Amber Shinn said events like these allow students and faculty to get together and see a cross section of new inventions.
“It’s an exciting thing to see how many diverse fantastic ideas that come out of the university and are implied to solving real world problems,” Shinn said.
For the first hour, people could walk around and see 12 exhibits explaining multiple innovations by students and faculty members.
Exhibits all had diverse topics, including Parkinson’s Disease research , software fingerprint detection and films. Of the 12 exhibits, three were student startups.
Finance junior Patrick Schmitz showcased his Carbon Cash phone application.
The free application tracks the amount of energy being used in MSU dorms.
If energy consumption is less than the local average, residents are rewarded with points, which can be redeemed at local restaurants and retailers for discounts and prizes.
“A lot of electricity is being wasted, so we’re trying to just stop the bleeding now and give students free stuff to get compensated for what they’re doing,” Schmitz said.
At 5 p.m., everyone turned their attention to MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon, the introductory speaker .
Robert Abramovitch, an associate professor of Microbiologic and Molecular Genetics, was one of the three awardees.
He received Innovation of the Year for his development of Tuberculosis Anti-Virulence Chemical Compounds to help combat the disease.
For the past six years, Abramovitch has worked with a team to create a drug that could help expedite the treatment for tuberculosis.
“It’s a great recognition of the work with my lab,” he said. “It’s an extremely difficult process and they’ve just done a fantastic job. The award recognizes the whole team’s effort.”
