October 30, 2002

Engineering Entrepreneurs Program Offers Unique Twist on Engineering Traditions

Tom Miller works with Engineering Entrepreneur Kevin Runyan.  (Photo:  Jennifer M. Gilbert)

In 1993 Dr. Tom Miller initiated the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program (EEP) as a way to encourage creative, ambitious students looking for ways to put their innovative ideas to work.  Today more than 250 students have completed his course in which they work in teams to turn creative concepts into marketable products. Miller, who is vice provost for distance education and learning technology at NC State, has many success stories to tell.

One former student, Donald (Donnie) J. Barnes (CSC ’95), retired from Red Hat as a millionaire at age 27.  Engineering student entrepreneurs Bill Nussey (EE ’87) and Chris Evans created DaVinci Systems — one of the world’s leading email products — at a time when NC State was emerging as a power in information technology.  They later sold the company for $6.65 million.  Evans sold Accipter, which he founded, for more than $50 million.  Scot Wingo (MS CPE ’92) credits his success to Miller’s Entrepreneurs Program.  He cofounded and sold Stingray Software then cofounded AuctionRover.com, which sold for $166 million.

These success stories are hard to beat, but the latest group of students to complete the program has been called one of the most stellar ever to come along.  They have been selected to demonstrate their product, IIPSys (Intelligent Internet Photo Systems), a digital photo manager that they are marketing as a turnkey solution for organizing collections of digital photos, at InfoTech 2002, an annual conference sponsored by the Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED) that draws more than 800 attendees.

Engineering Entrepreneurs (left to right) Aaron Allsbrook, Josh Christie and Brett Warner were the only students invited to participate in the Council for Entrepreneurial Development InfoTech 2002 demonstration.  (Photo:  Tom Miller)

Competition to demo at this year’s conference was intense — just 20 of the more than 60 applicants were accepted.  CED chose participants based on innovation in the technology and its current and potential market applications.  The NC State team received a perfect score in the competition, something achieved by only a few of the applicants.  But what is so remarkable is that all of the other competitors are established businesses — the IIPSys team was the only student group invited to attend.

These entrepreneurs, all computer engineering majors, are Aaron Allsbrook, Joseph D. (Josh) Christie and Brett Warner.  According to Christie, “I learned more in that one course than in any other course at State.  It was the highlight of my undergraduate work because the course is all up to you — it’s what you make of it.”  Christie enjoyed guest speakers and the hands-on experiences that gave his team a taste of the real world of organizing documents and setting goals and milestones.  “From the course I got a sales/product marketing perspective that you don’t get in any other course,” he said.

Miller and Dr. Stephen Walsh, visiting assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, lead the program.  According to Walsh, students who “think outside the box” are naturals for EEP.  Walsh stated,  “We make the students do everything from lining up small business clients, to stock option grants, to market research and calling investment bankers.”

The Engineering Entrepreneurs Program demonstrates one of the many ways that private support makes an impact on the educational programs offered and the success of the students in those programs.  For example, Donnie and Ashley Barnes have shared their Red Hat success with NC State by donating $500,000 to endow the EEP.

Programs such as EEP have a strong impact on students.  According to Miller,  “Most EEP graduates decide to go into entrepreneurial careers rather than traditional engineering areas.  Former students come back and say that their experiences in EEP defined their whole career because it brought out leadership qualities that let them realize their potential in a protected environment.”

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