Two Auburn Engineering students are fulfilling the Auburn Creed through the successful creation and launch of their inventions for the annual Business Plan Contest for Engineering Inventions, sponsored by Auburn’s Thomas Walter Center for Technology Management. Haitham Eletrabi, doctoral student in civil engineering, and Matthew Phillips, senior in aerospace engineering, placed first and second, respectively, in the competition with their prototype designs and corresponding business plans.

Eletrabi, who earned a master’s of business administration from the Harbert College of Business last fall, received $6,000 toward the development of a smart phone application that uses sensors to monitor athletes’ performances and movements. Phillips received $3,000 for his plan to retrofit hydrogen fuel systems for automobiles. To qualify, teams created and designed a concept with a significant engineering emphasis, as well as a business model for the invention. The contest was sponsored by the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, Harbert College of Business and the Auburn Research and Technology Foundation.