Weather balloons a key component of winning Tiger Cage pitch
Article body
Thousands of weather balloons are launched each year to track basic weather data. However, an estimated 18 percent of those balloons—which cost roughly $600 per launch—are recovered, costing the National Weather Service nearly $45 million annually.
Three Auburn University students developed a device that could not only save the National Weather Service millions with a greater recovery rate—but also provide more accurate forecasts and dramatically increase the flight times of weather balloons.
Troy Ferguson, a sophomore in chemical engineering from Prattville, Shawn Majzlik, a senior in engineering systems from Orlando, Florida, and Dennis French, a sophomore in political science from Fairhope, created a device that could potentially meet those needs. Their team, Envelope Aerospace, won the second annual Tiger Cage student entrepreneurship competition by successfully pitching their concept to a panel of judges that included original ABC "Shark Tank" panelist Kevin Harrington.
Envelope Aerospace earned $10,000 in funding, as well as $35,000 in legal assistance from the California-based law firm of Wilson Sonsini, Goodrich and Rosati. Sponsored by Auburn University’s Raymond J. Harbert College of Business in partnership with the Auburn Research and Technology Foundation, Tiger Cage enables students from all majors to pitch their early-stage product, service and business concepts. Envelope Aerospace also collected an additional $1,000 prize as the People's Choice Award winners.
"Pretty much ages ago I was obsessed with putting small satellites into space, and the cost of rocket launches was really expensive," Ferguson said. "I thought maybe if you can do it with balloons it would be a lot easier. So I brought up this idea to Shawn when we were trying to pass physics class and he ran with it."
Second place went to the EZXS team—industrial systems graduate students Siddarth Doogar, Chaitanya Pawar, Rishi Kamat and Akilesh Yamsani—which produced a backpack that could move around the body for easy access. Finishing in third place was HillVoy Solutions—Bobby Hillman, a junior in information systems management, Zach LaVoy, a senior in finance, and Eric Jackson, a senior in computer science—which created software designed for employees to discretely file work-related complaints. Taking fourth place was Funnel—Jackson Spears, a freshman in finance, and Haven Barnes, a sophomore in engineering—which offered a mobile app to centralize social media connections.
The four finalists emerged from multiple elimination rounds in a competition that began with 30 teams.
Kevin Harrington, who has launched more than 500 products that have generated more than $5 billion in worldwide sales, served as a Tiger Cage judge for the second consecutive year. "They [Envelope Aerospace] stood out to me because they had a four-stage plan of how they were going to attach the market and become a global pioneer in an old industry with new technology," said Harrington, founder of the "As Seen on TV" product line.
Joining him as judges were Dasher Technologies President and CEO Laurie Dasher, 4M Research Founder and CEO Julie Martz, Oakworth Capital Bank Senior Managing Director and CEO Scott Reed and Torch Technologies President John Watson. All four are Auburn University alums.
Majzlik said one of the team’s strengths was its diversification of expertise. "Troy interned at a patent office [Auburn University’s Office of Information Advancement and Commercialization] and I’m a professional scuba diver, so immediately when he was talking about putting things up in the atmosphere, I was like, ‘all of the equations I use are for compounding pressures under water.’ We have to calculate the atmosphere that we’re going to reach at depth. So I was pretty fluent in how pressure systems work. And Dennis, he’s literally a genius."
French said he has four years of experience at Algae Systems of Daphne as an electrical intern and programmer.
"Also, having a product that is directly marketable helps," Majzlik added. "We have to go through a lot of testing still, but the beta is there. We’ve done it. We’ve made the prototype."
"We have a lot of faith in our product," Ferguson added.
Related Media
Three Auburn students have developed a device that could not only save the National Weather Service millions of dollars with a greater recovery rate – but also provide more accurate forecasts and dramatically increase the flight times of weather balloons. Their team, Envelope Aerospace, won the second Tiger Cage student entrepreneurship competition hosted by the Raymond J. Harbert College of Business. Pictured, left to right, are Dean Bill Hardgrave, Shawn Majzlik, Troy Ferguson, Dennis French, judge Kevin Harrington of ABC “Shark Tank” fame and Associate Professor LaKami Baker, director of the Tiger Cage competition.
Three Auburn students have developed a device that could not only save the National Weather Service millions of dollars with a greater recovery rate – but also provide more accurate forecasts and dramatically increase the flight times of weather balloons. Their team, Envelope Aerospace, won the second Tiger Cage student entrepreneurship competition hosted by the Raymond J. Harbert College of Business. Pictured, left to right, are Shawn Majzlik, Troy Ferguson and Dennis French.
Three Auburn students—Shawn Majzlik, Troy Ferguson and Dennis French—have developed a device that could not only save the National Weather Service millions of dollars with a greater recovery rate – but also provide more accurate forecasts and dramatically increase the flight times of weather balloons. Their team, Envelope Aerospace, won the second Tiger Cage student entrepreneurship competition hosted by the Raymond J. Harbert College of Business.
Three Auburn students have developed a device that could not only save the National Weather Service millions of dollars with a greater recovery rate – but also provide more accurate forecasts and dramatically increase the flight times of weather balloons. Their team, Envelope Aerospace, won the second Tiger Cage student entrepreneurship competition hosted by the Raymond J. Harbert College of Business. Pictured, left to right, are Troy Ferguson, Shawn Majzlik and Dennis French.
Auburn students have developed a device that could not only save the National Weather Service millions of dollars with a greater recovery rate – but also provide more accurate forecasts and dramatically increase the flight times of weather balloons. Their team, Envelope Aerospace, won the second Tiger Cage student entrepreneurship competition hosted by the Raymond J. Harbert College of Business. Pictured are Shawn Majzlik and Dennis French. Not pictured is Troy Ferguson.
Three Auburn students have developed a device that could not only save the National Weather Service millions of dollars with a greater recovery rate – but also provide more accurate forecasts and dramatically increase the flight times of weather balloons. Their team, Envelope Aerospace, won the second Tiger Cage student entrepreneurship competition hosted by the Raymond J. Harbert College of Business. Pictured, left to right, are Dennis French, Shawn Majzlik and Troy Ferguson.
Related Links
Media interested in this story can contact Communications Director Preston Sparks at (334) 844-9999 or preston.sparks@auburn.edu.
Auburn University is a nationally ranked land grant institution recognized for its commitment to world-class scholarship, interdisciplinary research with an elite, top-tier Carnegie R1 classification, life-changing outreach with Carnegie’s Community Engagement designation and an undergraduate education experience second to none. Auburn is home to more than 30,000 students, and its faculty and research partners collaborate to develop and deliver meaningful scholarship, science and technology-based advancements that meet pressing regional, national and global needs. Auburn’s commitment to active student engagement, professional success and public/private partnership drives a growing reputation for outreach and extension that delivers broad economic, health and societal impact.
