Russell L. Agrusa CSE Student Innovation Competition

Russ Agrusa smiles at a podium surrounded by the U.S. flag, NYS flag and several flags featuring the UB Crest.

Russ Agrusa (BS ’76) generously donated $250,000 to establish the Russell L. Agrusa CSE Student Innovation Competition fund in late 2020. 

The annual Agrusa Competition seeks to:

… encourage students to conduct and present research in areas where industry need is greatest in a world and where the demands for automation and connectivity are rapidly increasing; this could include but is not limited to, Internet of Things (IoT), mobile/wireless systems, AI, and cloud computing.

Russell L. Agrusa

The annual Russell L. Agrusa CSE Student Competition was set up to “encourage students to conduct and present research in areas where industry need is greatest in a world and where the demands for automation and connectivity are rapidly increasing; this could include but is not limited to, software engineering, Internet of Things (IoT), mobile/wireless systems, AI, and cloud computing.”

In each year, three cash prizes will be awarded for the winning solutions that address real-world problems with potential impacts on technologies and our society.

At least 80% of the annual spendable fund will be given as three or more prizes. How the total is distributed among the three winners is to be determined by the CSE Award Selection Committee. However, each winning team will have to reach an agreement on how the cash prize will be allocated at the time of the submission.

Award winners are expected to help promote the Competition and CSE department on social media and agree to share their success stories in school and after graduation with the donor and CSE.

On This Page

Awards

Professor Zola stands with a student holding a plaque and they each smile.

Every year, three or more cash prizes will be awarded to the winning solutions that address real-world problems with potential impacts on technologies and our society. 

The CSE Award Selection Committee will give at least 80% of the annual spendable fund as three or more cash prizes, and will allocate the total prize money among three or more winning teams.  At the time of project submission, each student team will submit an agreement describing how the cash prize will be allocated among team members.

Eligibility

Students and their projects must meet four eligibility criteria:

  1. Individual CSE students or multidisciplinary student teams led by CSE students, with one or more CSE faculty mentors, are eligible to participate in the Competition and receive awards. Undergraduates, graduates, and PhD students are eligible to participate.
  2. The project must contain substantially new activities after January 1, 2024 for submission to this competition by November 1, 2024 in the same year.
  3. The project must have a prototype system/solution, whether it involves any hardware or not.
  4. The same project must have not won any awards from similar competitions at regional or national levels (except research grants and awards received to fund the project activities).

How to Submit

Submit all application and project materials via the Agrusa Competition Submission Form.

Evaluation Criteria

The CSE Award Selection Committee will judge submissions based on their:

  • Novelty
  • Technical contributions
  • Potential impacts on technology and our society

Previous Competitions

About Russ Agrusa

Russ Agrusa in Davis Hall.

Russ Agrusa founded and served as CEO of ICONICS, a leading industrial software automation provider, which was recently acquired by Mitsubishi Electric.

Agrusa is a long-term supporter of UB and CSE.  He has chaired and is currently co-chair of the CSE Departmental Advisory Board (DAB) since its inception.  He also served on the SEAS Dean’s Advisory Council. 

In addition to the fund for the competition, Agrusa has made several other generous donations, one of which is recognized with the naming of Davis 101 as the Agrusa Auditorium.

Contact Us

Questions, comments, or advice? Please contact us at cse-agrusa@buffalo.edu.