Mines Students Win Scholarships Through Speaker Series
South Dakota Mines recently concluded its 19th annual Engineers Make Great Entrepreneurs (EMGE) Speaker Series.
A total of 47 students and one faculty member participated in the program, which aims to inspire Mines students to start their own companies someday.
EMGE has had several private and corporate sponsors since the program’s inception in 2006. For the past several years the primary sponsor has been the John Scully Foundation.
The program included four evening sessions, each featuring two or three esteemed entrepreneurial alumni speakers, and concluded with a final presentation and pitch competition. Students were evaluated on their two-minute pitch, outlining how they plan to incorporate entrepreneurship into their future careers.
Before announcing the winners, students heard from keynote speaker and Mines alumnus Bill Betten, president of Betten Systems Solutions LLC., a product development realization consulting organization emphasizing early-stage product development and commercialization. Betten is also on the Mines university and physics department advisory boards.
The winners were:
First place: Samantha Twing, senior civil engineering major ($1,000)
Second Place: Amelia Huffer, biomedical engineering graduate student ($750)
Third Place ties: Zachary Holloway, junior computer engineering major, Brandon Hutcherson, sophomore mechanical engineering major, and Ky Nguyen, freshman computer science major ($500)
The program was hosted each week at a new venue and designed to engage students with exciting content featuring new speakers, a meal generously sponsored by local businesses and the opportunity to learn from real-world entrepreneurs and business leaders. This year's venue hosts included RPM Innovations, H-S Precision and RESPEC.
The EMGE speaker series is designed to inspire students to be entrepreneurial in their future careers and allow them to develop professionally, network and connect with like-minded students. It is the first of many opportunities for students to engage and participate in the Mine's innovation cycle offered through the Office of Economic Development and prepares students for the CEO Student Business Plan competition.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation/EPSCoR Award OIA-1849206 and by the South Dakota Board of Regents. In addition to promoting and encouraging programs such as EMGE at the university, EPSCoR supports other South Dakota programs that connect research, innovation, job creation, and economic growth, such as the Governor’s Giant Vision Student Business Plan Competition.