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Students win Kravis Concept Plan Competition with idea for body temperature patch

Published on Tuesday, May 07, 2013

A team led by students from Claremont McKenna and Harvey Mudd Colleges won first place in the 23rd annual Henry R. Kravis Concept Plan Competition for their proposal to create and sell a small adhesive patch to measure human body temperature.

The annual award, hosted by Claremont Graduate University's Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management, recognizes Claremont Colleges students or alumni who develop a business plan that exemplifies the competitive nature, flair, and general aptitude required of an entrepreneur in today’s world.

A total of $8,000 was awarded to this year's winners and finalists.

The top prize of $4,250 goes to Miles Bird of Claremont McKenna College; Demetri Monovoukas of Harvey Mudd College; and Collin Hill and Aaron Goldstein of University of Pennsylvania for their invention, Life Patch. The electronic patch, which is still under development, would adhere to a person's neck and measure body temperature. The patch would wirelessly send data in real time to a mobile phone or other computer device, eliminating the need for frequent checks with a conventional thermometer on young, ill, or elderly patients.

The team emerged with the idea for the patch when Hill needed to regularly monitor his own body temperature while receiving treatment for Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

The second place prize of $2,250 goes to Smart Eval, led by Claremont McKenna College seniors Orlan Davies and Neal Kemp. The pair invented an online system that distributes and collects teacher evaluations at schools and colleges. The system performs statistical analysis on the data and then display the results on a graphical dashboard, replacing conventional paper evaluations.

Third place and $1,000 goes to Claremont Graduate University alumnus Chris Munshaw-Rodriguez for his DNA of Dating concept. The service uses a unique proprietary methodology that combines research from neuroscience, psychology, and evolutionary biology to help underprivileged adolescent males develop social skills and approach potential partners for dating.

Taking fourth place and a $500 prize is the team behind AccuMab. Robert Davies, Karishma Dagar, and Onofre Bacani, all of Keck Graduate Institute, aim to improve the early detection of cancer by identifying a unique cancer signature, helping to save lives and avoid costly repeat diagnostic procedures.

Other finalists are Ilan Vourman of Pomona College and Jade Silver of Scripps College for EcoCones, an environmentally friendly ice cream business dedicated to giving back to social and environmental causes. And Claremont Graduate University students Joe Roberts, Yousef Abed, Abdullah Murad, and Crispaul Obana for i-Collect, a secure platform that would allow healthcare practitioners to quickly develop mobile applications to collect data in near real-time.

All six finalists presented their business plans to a panel of judges at Claremont Graduate University on Friday, May 3.

The awards are funded through an endowment created by Henry R. Kravis, a founding member of the Drucker School's Board of Visitors. Judges included established entrepreneurs, investors, and business school professors.
