Aug. 25, 2016

Brandcenter students, grads earn awards

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By Leila Ugincius

Inspired by the drought in California, four Brandcenter alumni were part of a team that developed a solution to reduce wastewater using a plastic bottle cap to reduce average faucet flow rate.
Inspired by the drought in California, four Brandcenter alumni were part of a team that developed a solution to reduce wastewater using a plastic bottle cap to reduce average faucet flow rate.

A new technology to help people lead happier and healthier lives earned two Virginia Commonwealth University Brandcenter students a Future Lions award at Cannes, the major global student advertising competition. VCU was the only United States university to win out of 2,000 entries from 69 countries.

Yanci Wu and Xia Du were on the team that created Amazon Emma, a new artificial intelligence that lives in Amazon Echo. Emma specializes in helping seniors combating loneliness and isolation by initiating conversations, asking questions, finding puzzles and events and navigating the internet. Using the most natural and intuitive interface — the human voice — Emma engages seniors in more communication and mental activity, preventing cognitive decline.

Future Lions 2016 Winner – Amazon Emma for Amazon

In addition, Adweek Project Isaac honored several May 2016 Brandcenter graduates with the Isaac+ award, the Student Project Isaac Gravity Award, celebrating the best student-designed inventions, new products and concepts that are expanding the realm of possibility and transforming media, advertising, marketing and technology.

Inspired by the drought in California, Yelena Sophia, Greg Donnelly, Mikaila Weaver and Shannon Smith were part of a team that developed a solution to reduce wastewater that uses a plastic bottle cap to “cap the tap.” The newly designed bottle cap, available on specially marked bottles of water, attaches to a standard-issue kitchen spout. The cap increases water pressure, which reduces the average faucet flow rate. Users can cut water waste from their faucet up to 33 percent.

 

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