Problem solved

Brie

Brie Reid, a junior in design and environmental analysis, with teammates from the University of Michigan, Ohio State and Carnegie Mellon, won the $20,000 grand prize at the Microsoft Firenze Student Innovation Competition, held at the software giant’s Redmond, Wash., headquarters Feb. 4-6. She was one of four Cornell contestants.

Students were given problems to solve in business, engineering or design. Reid’s team (deliberate vagueness ahead) was a project related to technology and the workplace.

Says Reid, “When our name was called I was kind of in a daze up until the moment that the Microsoft executives shook my hand as they handed over the giant check. One of the things that really stood out to me was getting personalized one-on-one feedback from the execs. It was really inspiring to hear their thoughts about me and my impact on the competition…. I’m still kind of in disbelief that our team won. Maybe it will sink in when I cash the check?”