UPB Students Make Use of Junk

By Kimberly Marcott Weinberg
Assistant Director of Communications and Marketing
University of Pittsburgh at Bradford

Students at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford raided the university’s closet last week and turned what they found into something useful.

The first Pitt-Bradford Innovation Challenge yielded nine objects created with items no longer used at Pitt-Bradford that were being stored by the campus’s facilities management department. Nine teams of students got their pick of objects from storage and a $25 gift certificate for purchasing supplies at Worth W. Smith Co., which co-sponsored the challenge, along with the Pitt-Bradford Entrepreneurship Program and the Students in Free Enterprise club.

The teams had 100 hours in which to make their creations. Cash prizes were awarded for the most economic value, most social value, most creative value and people’s choice award given to the entry getting the most votes from those who viewed the projects on display last week.

The winner of the most economic value was a multi-desk created by a team led by Andrew Hwang, a business management major from Horsham. Other members of the team were Heather Kelley, a business management major from Eldred, Paige Rockaway, a business management major from South Abington, and Naomi Barker, an accounting major from Genesee. The desk was designed to make the most of limited space and included a refrigerator and a place to store a laptop computer.

The winner of the most social value was a Pitt Stop and Sit Bench made from a table by Sarah Dwyer, a business management major from Warren, and Jessica Bogart, an accounting major from North East. The bench, created from piping and wood, was painted in Pitt colors and included flower planters.

Dwyer said that she and Bogart didn’t have anything in particular in mind when they went to the facilities warehouse.

“When we were looking around, we saw a table with cracked laminate that was lying on its side and thought about cutting it and reassembling it in the form of a bench,” she said. “We spent the gift certificate on paint, a paint brush, long screws and two buckets to finish off the bench.”

Tim Burkhouse, an engineering science major from Bradford, and Michael Lang, a civil engineering major from Great Neck, N.Y., won both most creative value and people’s choice for the Panther Can Recycling Center, a large upholstered Pitt panther that crushed aluminum cans in its mouth. Once the cans are crushed, they slide through the “guts” of the panther and exit into a trash can at the other end.

“We offered the challenge as a way to promote recycling as well as innovation across all disciplines on campus,” said Diana Maguire, associate project director for the Entrepreneurship Program and SIFE adviser.

“All areas of study or profession can greatly benefit by being able to ‘think outside the box’ and look at items or processes in an entirely new way. We felt this was a great way to encourage that type of thinking at Pitt-Bradford.”

Judges for the event were James Baldwin, assistant dean of academic affairs, registrar and director of Science in Motion; Peter Buchheit, director of facilities management; Kong Ho, associate professor of fine arts; Ron Mattis, associate professor of engineering; Mike Glesk of the Bradford Area Alliance; Carl Knoblock of the Small Business Administration; and Marsha McAdams of Worth W. Smith.

Pictured, Romainne Harrod, a member of Students in Free Enterprise, which sponsored the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford Innovation Challenge, demonstrates the Panther Can Recycling Center constructed by Tim Burkhouse of Bradford and Michael Lang of Great Neck, N.Y. The panther won both most creative value and people’s choice awards.
(Photo courtesy of Pitt-Bradford)