Computing Sophomore Wins Application Developer Pitch Competition
Vrushti Dalal, an Albert Dorman Honors College and computer science student from Sayreville, won the new University Innovation Challenge, a pitch-style competition sponsored by the Guardian Life Insurance Company.
For young entrepreneurs, pitch competitions are a popular way to present concepts, hone essential business skills and make industry connections, which can help transform their creativity and talent into viable, real-world business ventures.
Winners in two categories – developer and non-developer – received a paid 10-week summer internship with Guardian’s Enterprise Business and Technology Services Team. Dalal won the developer category, which focused more on technology than on business prospects. She along with a Stevens Institute of Technology student beat out 180 other entrants from around the tri-state region.
Dalal's entry was a body mass index (BMI) calculator program programmed in Java. It provides a user’s BMI, waist-to-height ratio, body fat percentage and lean body mass. It also provides information about what BMI means and appropriate daily nutrient requirements, customized based on user data.
“My BMI calculator design gives users easy access to helpful health and nutrition information generated from the data they provide,” said Dalal. “I am proud of the design and was very pleased to have the challenge judges respond positively to my work. First place is an honor and I’m excited for my internship this summer.”
Dalal will work alongside staff and other interns at Guardian as a database engineer intern. She anticipates spending her workdays performing activities related to the database lifecycle, daily operations, performance tuning, back-up/recovery, automation and customer implementation engagements.
“It is rewarding to see how creative our students are outside the classroom”, said Ying Wu College of Computing Dean Craig Gotsman. “An entrepreneurial mindset is a definite advantage in today’s tech world, and we are working to provide formal training in entrepreneurship as part of our modernized curriculum. I commend Dalal on her achievement."
