Nation’s Top Universities to Compete in National Security Innovation Competition

Colorado Springs, CO, March 03, 2009 --(PR.com)-- The Third Annual National Security Innovation Competition (NSIC) for college students will be presented by the National Homeland Defense Foundation and sponsored by the Colorado Homeland Defense Alliance and the Colorado Springs Technology Incubator in Colorado Springs, Colorado May 1.

The competitors include some of the nation’s most prestigious schools including University of Notre Dame,Virginia Tech, Pennsylvania State University, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Air Force Institute of Technology, Arizona State University, Colorado State University, Colorado School of Mines, Georgia Institute of Technology, Michigan Technological University, Rice University, University of Arizona, University of Buffalo, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Denver, University of Washington and Washington State University.

This one-of-a kind nationwide university competition is designed to stimulate interest by college students in national security-related innovations and expose novel technologies to a broad audience including industry, academic, and government organizations involved in aerospace, defense, security, and first responder activities.

The competition is open to full-time undergraduate or graduate students at any college or university, including students who have graduated in the last six months. The entries must be the original idea and work product of the student/advisor team. Teams submit written papers describing their technical innovation. These preliminary round papers are judged by a team of government and industry subject matter experts who select up to 10 top teams to compete in Colorado Springs in May. Final oral presentations will be presented to a group of judges representing sponsors, end users and potential funding sources for further development of these outstanding innovative concepts.

Cash scholarship awards will be made to the top three teams. NSIC 2009 will be judged by a panel of industry officials including the Science & Technology Division of the Department of Homeland Security, U. S. Northern Command, U.S. Strategic Command and Boeing. The event is hosted at MITRE Corporation's Colorado Springs office.

Media Advisory: Media interested in learning more about the competition, interviewing competition officials or contacting specific universities about their entry should call Mary Fox at (719) 685.7877 x100 Mary.Fox@CSTIonline.org.

Media interested in attending the competition May 1 in Colorado Springs, Colorado should contact Amy Sufak at (719) 649-4279 or Amy@RedEnergyPR.com. Interviews with the National Homeland Defense Foundation, Colorado Homeland Defense Alliance, university participants and panelists from the Department of Homeland Security, U. S. Northern Command, U.S. Strategic Command, Boeing and MITRE can be arranged upon request.

2009 Entries: The Interdiction and Protection of Layered Networks; A Hybrid Electrochemical-Colorimetric Sensing Platform for the Detection of Explosives; Autonomous Planetary Rover; Activity Recognition in a Dense Sensor Network; First Responder Mobile Tracking System; PneumoCheck: A Lower Airway Particle and Pathogen Collection Device; Inexpensive Autonomous First Response Unit; Energy Absorbing and Load Limiting Extension-Torsion Coupled Stitch Ripping Composite Tubes; Non-invasive post-silicon IC characterization; Contactless Fingerprint Sensor; Vulnerability Assessment and Response Tool Against 0-Day Exploits; Improving Communications and Situation Awareness in Emergency Disaster Management via Small Unmanned Aircraft; Mitigating Drug Resistance in MRSA via Metabolic Inhibition; Light Weight High Performance Concrete; Silicon Resistant Nano-balance Arrays for Explosive Trace Detection; Enterprise Network Activities Visualization; Body Armor/Vehicle Armor; RimSim Response Emergency Response Scenario Simulator; Micro-gas chromatography for on-site Monitoring of Hazardous Chemical Agents; Self-powered Border Security Systems; Algal Culture System for Biofuel Feedstock Production and Algorithms for stopping spreads with limited resources in Traffic Networks.

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