Richland One teacher wins state entrepreneurial award

Dr. Martin Cwiakala Keenan High School engineering teacher Dr. Martin Cwiakala has been awarded the 2009 Jerry Zucker Entrepreneurial Spirit Award by the State Department of Education. Dr. Cwiakala was presented with the award at the 2009 Education and Business Summit held in Greenville on June 24.

Dr. Cwiakala is the first teacher in the state to receive the award that recognizes individuals with exceptional vision, creative ingenuity, and the ability to take creative ideas and use them to develop marketable products. His robotics and engineering students have won numerous local, state, national and international awards and acclaim.

Under the guidance of Dr. Cwiakala, his students used telepresence technology to develop an amusement park ride that could be used by disabled children or persons unable to experience conventional amusement rides

The Zucker award was created in recognition and in memory of Charleston businessman, inventor, and philanthropist Jerry Zucker who held more than 350 patents in his lifetime.