STARKVILLE, Miss.--Two spring graduates of Mississippi State's computer engineering program are designers of a wireless, graphics-based inventory system that could save businesses a lot of time and money.

Matthew T. Young of Meridian and Michael V. Young of Picayune won first place and a $1,000 cash award in the university's 2006 Jack Hatcher Business Plan Competition for creation of their Wireless Inventory System. The unrelated former seniors graduated May 13 in MSU's electrical and computer engineering program.

The two-man team--working under the company name Creative Wireless Solutions--bested fellow student competitors by designing an autonomous system aimed at significantly reducing costs associated with the inventory-taking process.

"We had a great array of presentations," said Gerald Nelson, director and chair of the Jack Hatcher Entrepreneurship Program within the Bagley College of Engineering.

The system devised by the Youngs employs an easy-to-use graphical user interface (based on graphics rather than text) and new wireless technology to compile and display a complete inventory list of up to 65,000 items to users within five minutes of operation.

"The largest problem with inventory-taking is that it is inefficient and takes employees a long time to gather accurate inventory data, thereby costing employers a lot of money," said Michael Young. "Our system removes almost all human involvement."

Initially, they surveyed businesses that spend more than 2,800 hours a year performing inventories. Pursuing reliable data on which to base sales forecasts and other financial projections, they also surveyed inventory managers at several hospitals.

"The system is particularly valuable to hospitals tasked with keeping track of a large number of expensive items, such as mobile heart-monitoring equipment, or universities possessing expensive analysis equipment," said Michael Young, who plans to enter the University of Mississippi School of Law this fall.

Matthew Young, who plans to start graduate school at MSU in August, said the Hatcher competition provides a great experience for would-be entrepreneurs.

"It was a way to expand my experience to things outside of engineering," he said.

Other 2006 Hatcher winners included:

--Civil engineering graduates Matthew Horton and Patrick Johnson, both of Greenwood, and Chris Vandevere of Yazoo City, whose company, JJM Waste Management LLC, took second place and a $500 award for development of a fictitious solid waste control site on the Mississippi Gulf Coast; and

--Computer engineering graduate Kyle Cullen of Collierville, Tenn., who won third place and a $300 cash award for designing a robotic loading system for airplanes.

"The Jack Hatcher program is producing some great outcomes in students who can compete in both the engineering and business environments," said Nelson. "It will yield benefits to both students and the university for years to come."

Jack Hatcher, a Ripley native and 1949 MSU civil engineering graduate, established the entrepreneurial certification program in 2001 to help expose engineering students to the business aspects of their chosen profession.

Judges for this year's competition included Hatcher, now a resident of Pinehurst, N.C.; John Fair, founder of Fair Properties in Louisville; Rodger Johnson, chief executive officer of Knology in Atlanta; Martin Jue, founder of MFJ Enterprises in Starkville; Jim Chrisman, professor of management and information systems in the MSU College of Business and Industry; Frank Gallaher, retired from EVP Entergy in Birmingham, Ala.; Vess Johnson, CEO of Nascentric in Austin, Texas; Earnie Deavenport, retired president of Eastman Chemical in Banner Elk, N.C.; and Jim Rawls, founder of Rawls Resources in Jackson