Hubert E. Storer Engineering Student
Entrepreneurial $10,000 Start-up Award
- 2007-2008 Award Recipient
- 2005-2006 Award Recipient
- 2004-2005 Award Recipients
- 2003-2004 Award Recipients
- 2002-2003 Award Recipients
In 1996, the College of Engineering and Henry B. Tippie College of Business at The University of Iowa introduced a joint program leading to a Technological Entrepreneurship Certificate, earned in conjunction with an engineering degree. It is the first of its kind at any U.S. engineering college. The nationally recognized program enables students to study the entrepreneurial process as it relates to technology. It not only serves engineering students who intend to start and operate their own business—it also helps any student interested in gaining a better understanding of the entrepreneurial process. The wide range of electives permits students to tailor business courses best suited for their individual interests. They learn from a select team of business leaders and University faculty, chosen for their ability to teach and inspire the entrepreneurial process.
The University of Iowa John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center in the Henry B. Tippie College of Business administers the Certificate program. The Center has been recognized as one of the top 50 entrepreneurial programs in the country by Success magazine. The Center is the only one of its kind in the country to mesh students and faculty in engineering, business, and medical sciences.
Numerous UI College of Engineering students who also attend classes in the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center are inspired to create their own businesses — whether they offer a unique, tangible product or provide a service on the World Wide Web.
Through a generous gift from Engineering
alumnus and entrepreneur Hubert E. Storer (BS 1959 in industrial
engineering), president, owner and founder of Storer
Equipment Company, Shreveport, LA, the College of Engineering
has established the Hubert E. Storer Engineering Student Entrepreneurial
Start-up Award that provides initial financial support of College
of Engineering students’ technological business plans.
Competing for a 2009-2010 Award
Any University of Iowa College of Engineering freshman, sophomore, or junior student or first-year graduate student (except international students) is eligible to compete for the $10,000 Storer Entrepreneurial Start-up Award. (Due to Federal laws, international students are not eligible for the award.) The award was increased in November 2007 from $5,000 to a $10,000 prize.
Students will submit entries – in the form of formally written business plans – to the College of Engineering Dean’s Office (deadline is April 1, 2010). A review panel will judge the entries, and presentations will be made by the students in front of the panel. The panel will recommend an award recipient to the College of Engineering Dean.
Undergraduate student recipients will be allowed to register their award as a qualified internship on their transcript. Each student recipient will have access to an entrepreneurial mentor, provided by the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center.
Any student company receiving a Storer Award may re-submit a business plan in the following year's competition for additional funding.
Deadlines
- August 2009-March 2010 -- David Hensley, director, and Lynn Allendorf, assistant director, John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center, are available to meet with Engineering students interested in competing for a Storer Award. Also available for consultation are John Robinson, professor emeritus of electrical and computer engineering and faculty coordinator of the College's Technological Entrepreneurship Certificate, and Scott Coffel, coordinator of the College's Center for Technical Communication.
- April 1, 2010 – Deadline for submission of formal business plans by Engineering students to Engineering Dean’s Office.
- Mid April 2010 -- Student presentations are made in front of the panel of judges.
- Late April 2010 – Award recipient company is announced and a check, payable to the winning company business plan, is awarded.
- Quarterly through June 30, 2011 -- Award recipient company will file written progress summaries with the Engineering Dean's Office.