Buffalo State College engineering technology students and faculty earned national honors in the Compressed Air and Gas Institute’s (CAGI) Innovation Awards Contest. 

The CAGI competition challenged students from colleges and universities across the country to create innovative designs for machine tool applications, motion control devices, and consumer products using compressed air as the power source.

Buffalo State’s entry involved an innovative green concept designed to determine the capability of utilizing waste heat from an air compressor. According to David Kukulka, professor of technology, as compression of air is considered the fourth largest utility, after electric, water, and gas, this concept could have a significant impact on global energy usage in the future.

Projects were judged in three areas, including innovation, marketability, and presentation. The Buffalo State team won the second place award.

Team members Charles Abbott, Pat Pierce, and Steve Gardner shared the $1,500 prize. Faculty advisors, Kukulka and James Mayrose, assistant professor of technology, received $4,000 on behalf of Buffalo State’s mechanical engineering technology program. The team was sponsored by Cameron Compression Systems and industry mentor Edward Czechowski, ’95, ’97.

“Overall it was a very challenging project which gave us a very high level of satisfaction upon completion,” said Gardner. “Building a prototype for testing purposes allowed the team to actually see what kinds of issues professionals run into on a daily basis.”