SEAS students take first place honors in the AMIE Design Challenge

The UDC School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) team surpassed Florida A&M University and Tuskegee University to win first prize and $10,800 in the 2022 Advancing Minorities’ Interest in Engineering (AMIE) Design Challenge held virtually on April 1.

The interdisciplinary team included biomedical engineering student Glacia Martin (team captain), computer science student Ciero Kilpatrick (co-captain), computer science and medical engineering student Chidera Igwebuike, electrical engineering student TaiZeree’ Walker and internet technology student Adrienne Lambert.

Dr. Ji Chen, UDC visiting assistant professor in mechanical and biomedical engineering and Dr. Max Denis, UDC assistant professor in mechanical and biomedical engineering and George Omae, industry advisor from Boston Scientific, served as faculty advisors.

The Design Challenge was a part of an industry collaboration with AMIE to demonstrate emerging technologies and how they are used to solve real-life problems. Each university team was judged on their design, problem-solving, communication and business model.

This year’s Design Challenge focused on the following problem statement: “How might we design a solution to improve the quality of life in clean water, urban infrastructure, clean energy, transportation and access to high-speed internet?”

UDC’s team sought to design a solution to improve the wellness of college students by harvesting kinetic energy as a rewarding application of clean energy. Their answer was an innovative piezoelectric sensor-based device called “Gravicube,” demonstrating leadership, innovative user-centric solutions and out-of-the-box thinking.

In addition to second-prize winner Florida A&M and third-prize winner Tuskegee University, UDC faced stiff competition from Hampton University, Morgan State, Jackson University, University of Maryland Eastern shore, Alabama A&M, Virginia State University and Prairie View A&M.

“I am thrilled that UDC won first place in the AMIE Design Challenge, which included 15 universities and is a signature event,” UDC SEAS Dean Devdas Shetty said. “This team showed tremendous leadership abilities. I am proud of our students and faculty mentors.”

Team photo from left Taizeree’ Walker, Ciero Kilpatrick, Chidera Igwebuike, Glacia Martin