When undergraduates from two Volgenau School departments challenged each other to a STEM competition, more than 100 students showed up with designs for remote controlled robots, wave extinguishers, pizza poachers, and more.
The competition, Battle of the STEM Departments, required each team to present their project in a 5-minute lightning talk. "Content is important, but this format emphasizes delivery of the presentation. This concise format aims to grab the audience's attention and allow people to understand a large amount of information in a short amount of time," said Kammy Sanghera, associate professor in applied information technology, and PI for the grant funded by National Center for Women in Information Technology (NCWIT).
Patrick Early, who graduated in December 2014 with a degree in electrical engineering, said the showdown competition was the most memorable event of his time at Mason. "My group and I worked especially hard to complete our project and it was truly fulfilling being able to show what we all accomplished and win first prize."
Volunteer judges score entries in three areas: challenge/difficulty of project; presentation style; and the social/community impact of the idea. In addition to judges' scores, the audience voted for a people's choice award. The winners received cash prizes ranging from $50 to $150.
Early's teammate, Martyna Bula co-presented their project entry "Apparatus for Remote Control of Humanoid Robots," which won first place in both the overall competition and the people's choice. The team advisor and sponsor Daniel Lofaro, associate professor in electrical and computer engineering said it was great that the team, which also included Eric Eide and Mannan Javid, won both awards.
After the event, students enjoyed music and a mini reception. The reception gave judges from DARPA, CISCO, and ARAR Technology a chance to meet students and talk about potential markets for their products. Caroline Chien, a volunteer judge from DARPA, said she wished more groups presented, and she was impressed to see students developing their innovative ideas while they were still completing their undergraduate degrees.
"Funding from NCWIT sponsored the challenge and allowed us to recruit three Volgenau School of Engineering undergraduate students – Jade Garrett, Melissa Davis, and Anisa Harris to facilitate the program," said Sanghera.
"Jade and Melissa worked hard to organize many aspects of this showdown, and as emcees, they created an upbeat, music filled memorable experience for all of us that day. I look forward to repeating this fun event in the future!" said Pelin Kurtay, associate chair of electrical and computer engineering and Co-PI for the project.
Sanghera said that in the future she would like to see the competition open to any student in the Volgenau School of Engineering and include any projects that they have developed while attending Mason.
Competition Winners
1st Place and People's Choice - Apparatus for Remote Control of Humanoid Robots (ARCHR) -Martyna Bula and Patrick Early together with Eric Eric Eide and Mannan Javid(Electrical and Computer Engineering)
2nd Place: Wave Extinguisher - Seth Robertson and Viet Tran (Electrical and Computer Engineering)
3rd Place: Pizza Poacher - Tetis Chang and Stephanie Olson (Applied Information Technology)