By Jens Dana
Tim Wessman didn?t fidget the night before his wedding. He said he simply spent a romantic evening with his fianc?e, proofreading his award-winning entry for a calculator design contest.
Three years ago, Hewlett Packard started the annual Create-a-Calculator challenge as a promotion to encourage elementary, middle and high school students to design original products. This year, they included university students in the competition and were impressed with the quality of Wessman?s entry, said Michael Wilcox, manager of Utah Public Sector Business. Wilcox presented Wessman with a $4,000 check last Friday for his winning entry.
?The judging committee said Tim?s design was the most feasible ? with the best understanding of the functions of a calculator ? they have seen,? Wilcox said. ?Overall, HP is impressed with his professionalism. He is a great representative of BYU.?
Wessman, a junior majoring in manufacturing engineering, said he started using HP calculators when he was 12 and has been writing calculator programs for years. He graduated from high school the same year HP started the contest, so he was ineligible to participate. When HP added the university level to the competition this year, Wessman said he already had some solid ideas for his entry.
?Everyone thinks it took me forever to do it,? Wessman said. ?I actually spent 10 hours working on the whole thing, but I?ve been thinking about it for a long time.?
Wessman finished his entry write-up the night before his wedding, with his fianc?e?s help, and his dad mailed his entry while he was on his honeymoon. He said he was surprised early this September when he found out he had won.
?I was about to leave to take a calculus test when I got the e-mail,? Wessman said. ?I didn?t really believe it at first. Eventually I calmed down enough to take my test, but I didn?t do too well because I was so distracted.?
Alan Parkinson, dean of the College of Engineering and Technology, said he is pleased a BYU student did so well in the national competition.
?We have some very creative students in the college,? Parkinson said. ?Our goal is to stretch them academically so they can reach their potential.?
Wessman said he didn?t have much time to enjoy his success at the competition. His newly organized company, Precision Surveying Solutions, is working to launch a new data collector for surveyors by November. But he still finds time to share his expertise on calculators.
?If you?ve ever been heckled in the Bookstore by someone about calculators, it was probably me,? he said.