Earlier this month, the Louisiana Tech University College of Engineering and Science hosted its Annual Design and Research Conference in the Integrated Engineering and Science Building. The conference spotlights the creativity and accomplishments of engineering and science students through the Freshman Design Competition and Senior Capstone Project presentations.

This year’s conference featured 110 teams competing in the Freshman Design Competition, with 352 first-year students presenting Living with the Lab and Living with Cyber projects. Fifty-six senior capstone teams made up of 212 seniors shared solutions to real-world problems developed through year-long design challenges.

Backed by Business Award:

• Boat-A-Float – Gavin Gill, Landon Smith, Sean Johnson, James Predtechenskis

This year marked the inaugural Backed by Business Award, a new cross-campus collaboration between the College of Engineering and Science and the College of Business. With a goal of forming entrepreneurial collaborations between business and engineering majors, over 60 student “investors” heard 60-second pitches, then selected their top team based on market potential.

 Jessica George, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the College of Business, praised the event’s success.

“After hearing 20 business pitches and prototype demonstrations from first-year engineering students, our business students were actively engaged — debating market potential, dissecting pricing strategies and margins, and offering insightful critiques,” George said. “It was exactly the kind of real-world analysis and collaboration we hoped to inspire.”