TROY, N.Y. (AP) -- A couple of entrepreneurial guys from RPI are being praised as "big thinkers" by Popular Science magazine.

Eben Bayer and Gavin McIntyre created a strong, low-cost material from mushrooms that could replace Styrofoam and other plastics used in wall insulation, packaging and other products.

For their environmentally friendly invention, the two are among the people being honored by Popular Science for creating "stunning homebuilt inventions" and being "big-thinking geniuses."

The Rensselaer graduates founded Ecovative Design in the RPI incubator complex. They plan to move soon to nearby Green Island to begin volume manufacturing of organic insulation and packaging materials.

The story is featured in the June edition of Popular Science, now on newsstands.