Winners Announced for the 2017 Global Grand Challenges Summit Student Day Business Model Competition and Poster Competition

Three student teams and 11 individual students have won awards at the 2017 Global Grand Challenges Summit (GGCS) in Washington, D.C.  This year’s summit was the third in a series, jointly organized by the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE), the U.K. Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE), and the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), and was held July 18-20, 2017, on the campus of George Washington University.

On July 18, five teams of undergraduate students from each of the host countries competed in the Student Day Business Model Competition, presenting ideas and business models for addressing one or more of the NAE’s 14 Grand Challenges for Engineering.

The winners of the Student Day Business Model Competition are:

• First Place: “Worldcare Technologies,” developed by students Allison Duchnak, Martin Hartel, Kirk Hutchison, Christopher Liu, Yajur Maker, and Caitlyn Smith of the University of California, San Diego in the United States.
• Second Place: “MoreWater,” developed by students George Huish, Sean Irving, Jessica Mountfield, Andrew Petty, Mike Thundow, and Sam Watkins of Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom.
• Third Place: “Dream House,” developed by students Yizheng Bao, Yufang Gao, Jingyong Huo, Chunyu Ji, Qun Mou, Xiaoqing Sun, Lifeng Wang, and Huixia Xi of Shanghai University in China.

The first place winners of the 2017 GGCS Student Day Business Model Competition received $25,000.  Second place winners received $15,000.  Third place winners received $10,000.

The summit also included an opportunity for university students to present posters related to research on the NAE’s 14 Grand Challenges for Engineering. Winners were chosen in three categories for both undergraduate and graduate groups.  The winning posters won based Originality, Impact, or Design.

The undergraduate winners of the Student Poster Competition are:

• Originality: "Ultra Clean - An ultrasonic & vacuum wear-free washing machine” by Shida Zheng of China
• Impact: “Nomadic Resource Generation” by Cristovao Mario Cacombe, Daniel Kokocinski, Joao Martins Nunes, Morgan Pierre-Mitchell, and Ali Younessi of the United Kingdom
• Design: “Point-of-care health informatics for proactive epilepsy seizure alert” by Stefan Manoharan of the United States

The graduate winners of the Student Day Poster Competition are:

• Originality: “Network design for in-motion wireless charging of electric vehicles in urban areas” by Mamdouh Mubarak of the United States
• Impact: “Virtual reality enhanced intelligent upper-arm exoskeleton for rehabilitation of stroke patients” by Rana Soltani-Zarrin and Amin Zeiaee of the United States
• Design: “Encapsulated biomaterial-enabled microsensor for pancreatic health monitoring” by George Banis of the United States

Students with the winning posters received $2,000 each.

All 2017 winners received certificates and were recognized during a special session of the GGCS on July 20.

The 2017 GGCS Student Day Video can be viewed below:

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The mission of the National Academy of Engineering is to advance the well-being of the nation by promoting a vibrant engineering profession and by marshalling the expertise and insights of eminent engineers to provide independent advice to the federal government on matters involving engineering and technology. The NAE is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, an independent, nonprofit organization chartered by Congress to provide objective analysis and advice to the nation on matters of science, technology, and health.