Russ College students have once again been selected for the Stanford University Innovation Fellows program, which empowers students to become leaders of change and create opportunities for entrepreneurship at their own universities. Just more than 200 fellows from across the globe were named. Andrew Stroud, a junior mechanical engineering major pursing a certificate in entrepreneurship, and Winter Wilson, a sophomore environmental studies and journalism double major in the Honors Tutorial College, join 2016 fellows Ben Scott, an engineering and technology management student, and Faith Voinovich, chemical engineering major — bringing the total number of OHIO fellows in just four years, to seven. Created as part of the National Center for Engineering Pathways to Innovation through a National Science Foundation grant, the select program provides six weeks of online training, including themed lessons around the ideation process, as well as connections to innovation and entrepreneurship resources on the students' campuses and beyond.

Tau Beta Pi's OHIO Delta chapter was recognized by the national organization with its chapter excellence award. The group also initiated 21 new members — more than half of whom are women. An outgrowth of the secretary's commendation award, the chapter excellence award recognizes campus chapters based on criteria including initiation, membership, finances, convention, programs and advisers. The OHIO chapter has increased membership and the quality of professional development activities, as well as provided service to the Russ College community via math tutoring sessions that dozens of students have attended weekly. They'll host the national student conference in fall 2019. Get the inside scoop on what students are up to at ohio.edu/engineering/news

Russ College students scored at the annual Techstars Startup Weekend in October, landing on the first-place team and winning $1,000. Held at OHIO's Innovation Center, the annual event tasks students to work in teams and interact with designers, developers and entrepreneurs to evolve their own business concept into a foundation for future ventures. Senior engineering and technology management student Alex Nay and sophomore mechanical engineering student Moeto Sasaki collaborated with Riley Dwyer, a sophomore business analytics major; Zakary Frank, a senior political science major; and community member Ben Stanley on the team they called Bounty Board Services to develop a matchmaking server for tabletop game players, similar to how Xbox Live virtually connects online players.

Two industrial and systems engineering seniors won first place in the May 2017 Simio Student Case Competition, beating 219 teams from 11 countries. Shayne Gillian, BSISE '18, and Anna Frankart, BSISE '18 — the "Golden Twins" — designed a simulation to assess and improve a hypothetical pulp and paper manufacturing operation. The team used Simio's software to program a simulation that included around 100 independent logging companies in different counties supplying material to three paper mills. They built a baseline model, improved it while accounting for weather conditions, county regulations, and price fluctuations — and then created an explanatory video.

Student aviators won first place in one of the contests at the regional SkyHack competition in October, beating Ohio State University, MIT, and others. The hackathon is an interdisciplinary, 36-hour-long problem-solving competition in which more than 220 students tackle real airline issues. Seniors Laurel Davis, BSA '18, aviation flight major; Kayla Cook, BSA '18, aviation management major; and Kristen Morris and Matthew Kershaw, aviation flight majors with minors in aviation management; took home $1,000 for their pilot-shortage solution — impressing client Piedmont Airlines so much that they also won a trip to Maryland to pitch their idea.