This Year’s Innovation Expo is Biggest Ever for the School of Business

School of Business seniors are poised to present their projects at the Innovation Expo, an annual celebration of undergraduate work happening this Friday, April 29. This year’s expo will be the biggest ever with over 40 projects from the School of Business alone. Everyone is welcome to visit the show, stop by teams’ tables, and ask about their work.

The projects are the culmination of the Senior Design Experience, in which undergraduates work in teams for a year and apply their expertise to practical problems. Teams have been building businesses, publishing academic papers, and consulting for small and large corporations.

“We are returning to in-person after two years of being remote, so this is very exciting,” said Associate Professor Ann Murphy, the lead advisor who organizes the Senior Design experience.

35% growth

A student team working with Callaway Climate Insights helped increase their client's website subscriber base by 35 percent.

Teams are made up of four or five students and matched with at least one skilled faculty advisor to help guide their project. These year-long group projects span three possible tracks: research, entrepreneurship, and consulting, which each offer a distinct experience.

Students on the research track choose a problem or question in their field — many of which are finance- or marketing-related — and propose a solution using modeling and advanced analytics. These students produce a professional paper reporting their findings. One notable research project, "Cryptocurrencies: A Time Series Analysis,” applies various models to determine the predictability of cryptocurrency prices, analyzing and defining the unique price movements of the new asset class.

Illustration of stress-relieving wearables by nxty

The entrepreneurship track is for students with a business idea who want to pursue, pitch, or patent it. One team, nxty, has developed a product plan for a wearable accessory that would help relieve stress through EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) sensory stimulation, which is an emerging psychotherapy technique. The product is a pair of nondescript bracelets that alternately vibrate, helping calm the user in the midst of a stressful situation or in an over-stimulating environment – which would come in handy during the next two weeks during final exams.

Over 30 teams chose the third track, consulting. In this version of the Senior Design experience, student teams take on projects from clients that range from local businesses and internal offices at Stevens to global public companies. In the first semester, students define their project scope, conduct due diligence on the client and their business problem, then begin implementing solutions and providing recommendations.

Clients solicit student help for marketing, business process optimization and technology implementation, among other business needs. The consulting team working with Callaway Climate Insights developed advanced marketing strategies, in collaboration with the company’s CEO, to increase the climate news outlet’s subscriber count and readership. As a result of their marketing efforts, including revamping the client’s website, Callaway’s subscriber count increased by 35 percent. Another team worked with a global reinsurance company, Enstar Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: ESGR), to automate the firm’s bank reconciliation and cash forecasting processes by learning and leveraging their treasury management software. All consulting teams conduct regular meetings with clients, give a series of presentations, and offer solutions and actionable recommendations for these sorts of business problems.

Visit the Stevens Expo website to learn more about these projects and the many others that students will be showcasing.

School of Business projects at the Innovation Expo
Friday, April 29, 2022, 12:30-2:45 p.m.
Babbio Center Atrium, 104 and Patio West