Students in IIT’s Business Innovation class (ITM 582) got an entrepreneurial experience in a recent “Pitch Contest” that was organized by Professor Praveen Gupta. His students presented their final projects to a panel of outside judges who ranked the ideas based on merit, effectiveness, clarity, and completeness of the student presentation. The students were very innovative with ideas that included a braille platform to help blind people use iPads, solar cell phones, a phone app to detect cavities, cloud-based television and others. See the video at http://youtu.be/sIm-rQS-MJM

Jeannie Hartig, IIT Vice President of Marketing and Communications has sent us the following statement:

“Last night two exam proctors fell ill in two different rooms in Stuart Building and were transported to the hospital. In addition, an IIT student in a third classroom reported feeling ill. We are sorry to report that one of the proctors died of apparent cardiac arrest; the other was treated at the hospital and released. The IIT student reported back to the instructor this morning that he was well again after having gotten a good night’s sleep.

Stuart Building is safe and we have absolutely no reason to believe these incidents were connected or caused by any environmental factor.

Our sympathies go out to our colleague’s family and friends. It is important to everyone that information be factual and not based on unfounded rumor as we move forward. If you have questions or concerns, please contact either Jeannie Hartig, VP of Marketing and Communications, or Evan Venie, Senior Director of Communications.”

Ms Hartig conveyed that she has absolutely NO concerns for the safety of students at the Stuart Building. She also said that the two incidents were completely UNrelated and not the result of anything that was airborne, viral or contagious. She added that a complete evaluation as to the safety of Stuart Building is being conducted by an Environmental Agency, and that when those results are available, they will be provided to the entire student body and all faculty and staff at IIT.

Any further concerns or questions can be addressed to:
Jeannie Hartig, VP of Marketing and Communications, 312-576-3921; jhartig@iit.edu

All students should feel safe to return to Stuart Building and resume their regularly scheduled exam procedures for the remainder of this week. Good luck on your finals and congratulations to all of your hard work this semester.
(Reposted from Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/IITSoAT/posts/414932178575118 .)