SCIENCE

“We were pleased to compete in this prestigious event and are highly honored to be placed third among the well-regarded competitors we faced. The true winners in this competition are those who are better-protected by the innovations that evolve from all of the participants’ research,” said Joe Tront, the W.S. "Pete" White Chair for Innovation in Engineering Education and professor of electrical and computer engineering.

The competition brought together experts from industry, academia, and government to present and review projects that address national security challenges. Universities from across the U.S. and Canada first competed in the written submission phase from which 10 finalists were chosen. Finalists were invited to present their work to a judging team of renowned experts at this year’s host institution, the U.S. Air Force Academy.

"Contest entries were judged on both technical merit and commercial potential," said John Geikler, senior licensing associate with Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties Inc., which islicensing the technology. Inventors Groat, Dunlop, Urbanski, Marchany, and Tront have filed a preliminary patent and are in the process securing the full patent.

The National Homeland Defense Foundation announced that the first place winner was the University of Ottawa for a blast strengthening of wood structures. Second place was the University of Notre Dame for eye recognition that includes dilation.