BOISE – Through innovative solutions in cybersecurity and construction safety, University of Idaho students recently won a total of $37,000 during Idaho’s largest entrepreneurial competition, Boise Entrepreneur Week.
In the annual competition hosted by Boise State University, U of I students earned top placement, including two first-place finishes.
According to the university, senior in virtual technology and design Intty Anantachote took home first place in the cybersecurity competition, earning a total of $13,000 for her cybersecurity training tool Gamified Scam Awareness Training. Her tool uses virtual reality to help educate senior citizens and students about the dangers of social engineering scams that exploit a person’s trust to obtain money or confidential information.
“As a U of I student, I’m constantly encouraged to think about how to use my technological and design skills to have an impact in healthcare, education and our society,” Anantachote said. “My education at U of I greatly helped support my success in this entrepreneurial competition, and to create a product that will fill a gap in public cybersecurity training.”
Finance and PGA golf senior Sam Slusser in the College of Business and Economics (CBE) also won first place, taking home $10,000 in the Hacking for Homebuilding competition for StrapWell Bags, a bag he designed to latch onto tie downs that is safe and secure for any type of hauling or moving.
U of I teams also placed in the following categories:
Cybersecurity
Ian King, David Trail, Nathan Higley and Sophia Grace Sivula took second place, earning $4,000 for NADIS, a cybersecurity safety company helping businesses verify users with access privileges.
Trail and Higley are seniors in the College of Engineering’s cybersecurity program, the first bachelor’s program in Idaho and one of the few in the region. King and Sivula are computer science seniors, also studying in the College of Engineering.
Homebuilding
Susie Johnson, Leonard Johnson and Shane Elmose’s portable heat solution for winter construction sites, Heat2Go!, earned the team second place and $7,000. Susie Johnson and Leonard Johnson study entrepreneurship in CBE. Elmose is a mechanical engineering senior in the College of Engineering.
Deanna Kienbaum, McKenna Jacobs and Anantachote took third place, earning $3,000 for their training simulation Gamified Customer Care. The first-person virtual reality tool helps new hires in customer care develop emotional intelligence and career-specific skills. Kienbaum and Jacobs are human resources seniors in CBE.
