Alex Herman was nervous, and with good reason.

He was the "CEO" of Lockheed Martin and was about to be grilled by a five-person panel about what his company was doing to help improve immigration reform, education and basic scientific research.

Luckily for him, if he had botched the response, the consequences wouldn't have had international repercussions. Even luckier for Herman, he nailed his answer, which helped him win the title of "The Next CEO."

Herman (junior-finance) was one of ten undergraduates who competed in the 7th annual contest, which was organized by the Smeal College of Business and previously known as "Smeal Survivor."

Contestants researched a company, such as Lockheed Martin, Royal Dutch/Shell and Sony, and then assumed the position of CEO for the competition.

In the first two rounds, the contestants had a few minutes to make a statement about how their company was dealing with an issue and then answer a follow-up question from a judge.

After the ten original contestants were reduced to three, the format changed to a rapid-fire question and answer session based on the contestants' previous statements.

Robin Stevens, the chairwoman of the committee that organized the event, said this year's format was different from previous years.

"We made some changes so the focus was more on the competition than the introductions," she said.

The contestants applied to compete and had to submit letters of intent and a résumé.

"We were looking for what recruiters are looking for," Stevens said of her contestants.

Andrew Seck, a Royal Dutch/Shell business planning and support manager and judge at last night's contest, said he was impressed by what he saw.

"The level of professionalism is just incredible," he said. "Companies would be honored to hire the caliber of students coming out of Penn State."

Before the contest, Erik Peterson, senior vice president at Washington, D.C., think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), gave a presentation about "The Seven Revolutions" -- the seven factors CSIS thought would be most important by the year 2025.

The three factors included population, technology and economic integration.

Peterson said that the future will be one of "hyper-promise" and "hyper-peril."

"The opportunities will be all the more significant; the dangers all the more profound," he said.

Herman, who will work in the sales and trading department at Goldman Sachs this summer, said he enjoyed studying for the contest and answering questions from the judges.

The only part of the contest he said he didn't like was waiting for it to start.

"I enjoy public speaking, just not waiting for it," he laughed.