The Iowa State Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship announced the names of five student recipients of the John and Mary Pappajohn scholarship awards at a press conference Wednesday.

The scholarships are worth $2,000 each.

The couple donated $10,000 to create scholarships for juniors, seniors or graduate students in the Colleges of Business, Engineering, Agriculture or Veterinary Medicine who have well-defined business concepts and who are interested in creating their own business.

Of the five students chosen, three were from the College of Engineering, one from the College of Business and one from the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Chad Stuchis, graduate student in business administration, has not yet released his business idea, but he is working with a partner in Virginia.

Hans Koehnk, junior in veterinary medicine, started a contract animal research business last October that does animal research for companies that sell pharmaceuticals.

David White, graduate student in civil and construction engineering, developed a composite construction material made out of recycled materials.

Perry Miller and Armand Assadi, both PhDs in mechanical engineering, sell software toolkit solutions for use in the design of motor blades and propellers through Modelspace Corporation.

“[The award] helps justify the risk I am taking is worth it,” Assadi said. “When you do something like this, it gets scary.”

Recipients plan to use their award money to pay off student loans and advance their businesses or business ideas.

“It was definitely a surprise,” Miller said. “It came at a much needed time.”

The two-year-old Pappajohn Center, located in the ISU Research Park, was started to create student interest in entrepreneurship.

“The mission was to increase the entrepreneur capacity of Iowa,” said Benjamin Allen, dean of the College of Business.

Judi Eyles, assistant director of the Pappajohn Center, said the scholarship, which was not publicized, was made available to students who inquired about it and was sent out on an Entrepreneur Club e-mail.

“This is an excellent opportunity for students to bring out their ideas, and I think Pappajohn has done a good job in motivating young entrepreneurs,” Koehnk said.

The five winners were notified last week after 94 applicants applied three weeks prior to finals.

“We had not expected to receive 94 applicants,” Eyles said. “It was not an easy task.”

A panel of seven judges was composed of faculty in the involved colleges and Pappajohn Center staff.

Applicants were judged on their business concept or idea, the likelihood of starting the business and their entrepreneurial experience.

“[The scholarship] is inspiring, and I think it helps instill confidence in a person and in their ideas,” Stuchis said.