Bright ideas from the second best

Yi Li calls himself an "idea person."

If it were up to this Engineering freshman, elevators would have "undo" buttons for inadvertently pressed floors, and dietetic drinks would be sold outside of restaurants to speed up diners' metabolisms after eating a five-course meal.

But laziness, Li says, has deterred him from turning those ideas into realities.

But when Li received an e-mail about the Weiss Tech House's brand-new innovation competition, he responded right away.

The competition - 2nd Best Idea Slam - is tailored for student inventors who don't have the time, energy or resources to develop or seek feedback for their own underdeveloped ideas.

Once students, undergraduate or graduate, enter their ideas - there is no limit for number of entries - they can sit back as others work out whether the proposals are feasible.w 2nd Best Idea Slam, which is accepting applications through Monday, is "meant to encourage students to move their ideas forward," Anne Stamer, director of the Weiss Tech House, said. "It is about networking."

To submit their ideas, students first register for a computer program - which they access by going to the Weiss Tech House or by signing up for the competition - that features a message-board-style site.

Officially known as the "Darwinator," this site's software, produced by Weiss Tech House Faculty Director Karl Ulrich, is where students post a short description of their idea.

After Monday's deadline, registered users will evaluate each other's ideas on the Darwinator using a ranking process, Ulrich said.

This grading will last until Feb. 16, when the 10 students with the highest-ranked ideas will be invited to present their ideas to Ulrich, the Innovation Fund committee and a general-body audience, he said.

An Nguyen, an Engineering and Wharton senior who is one of the event's organizers, added that the contest is a less-intense alternative to other idea-based competitions - like Pennvention - that the Tech House, a campus-based center that provides resources for student innovators, sponsors.

"Pennvention is a little too formal - my idea isn't fully developed. I haven't done enough research to develop a prototype," Engineering junior Chrysta Irolla said.

Irolla has already entered the 2nd Best Idea Slam with the idea of creating socks for amputees that would reduce the pressure of prosthetic limbs on residual limbs, thereby relieving pain.

"My expectation [for the competition] is to get feedback," she said.

The compet ition's top-three finalists will win iPod shuffles and lots of feedback.

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