Center Students Win Business Plan Competitions - June, 2008
Two of the five final competitors in the UC Davis Big Bang! Business Plan Competition were Energy Efficiency Center (EEC) projects lead by EEC Emerging Venture Analysts (EVA), Siva Gunda. Siva, a PhD student in Mechanical Engineering, presented WicKool, an energy efficient wicking device for retrofit on existing air 
conditioners in commercial buildings. Also presented CEDR, a cost effective demand response technology allowing utilities to dim lights in commercial buildings during peak demand when there is a high potential for black outs.
EEC EVA, Diana Mejia, and her team won the UC Davis Big Bang! Business Plan Competition and will receive $15,000 for their winning concept, a wine corking innovation called Advanced Enological Closures (AEC) that reduces wine spoilage while allowing for air intake, aiding the wine maturing process.
Both Siva and Diana were selected to present their projects and compete in the DFJ Venture Challenge, a West Coast business plan competition available to the colleges and universities across the West Coast that currently have a business plan competition.