Ten student teams had three minutes to pitch their ideas for new products or services to an amused audience at the Weiss Tech House on Friday, February 16th at the Weiss Tech House's "2nd Best Idea Slam". The purpose of the contest was to excite the student body around technological innovation and connect students who have good ideas with people who have the skills, time and inclination to develop them.

The finalists were chosen from 120 entries using a new software program developed by Dr. Karl Ulrich called the Darwinator which allows users to rate and rank ideas. Finalists' ideas ranged from a service that allows students living in dorms to be informed by e-mail when a washing machine or dryer is available, to a proposal to develop a radio frequency probe to improve the sharpness of magnetic resonance imaging which could lead to earlier detection of some diseases.

The "Judges' Pick" award went to Mechanical Engineering PhD candidate Kevin Galloway for a "traffic safety light in a glove" that would allow police officers or crossing guards to direct traffic in dark settings and increase the users' visibility to oncoming traffic.

The "Audience Pick" award went to Bioengineering Junior, Chrysta Irolla for the "Smart Sock", a sock that uses a combination of pressure sensors and dielectric elastomers to redistribute force and relieve pressure for lower limb prosthetics. Irolla came up with the idea while working with children amputees in China last year through a Penn- sponsored program.

All finalists will be eligible to pitch to the Weiss Tech House Innovation Fund for a grant of up to $1,000 to further develop their ideas.