A record-setting group of more than 200 participants set the tone for the lofty goals hit by the Fall 2024 National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Grand Challenges Summit & Create@UH Showcase, held at the Cullen College of Engineering in early December on the eve of finals.
The College developed the Create@UH program to enhance capstone/senior design projects. Working in close collaboration with departments and their design course faculty leaders, the program provides support for curricular-based design activities for all engineering undergraduate majors.
For this particular showcase, 60 undergraduate student teams presented their curricular-based design projects. A team of first year ENGI 1100 honors students, taught by Professor Fritz Claydon of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, won the Audience Choice Award for their project, “Engineering Better Medicine: Carbon Nanotubes for Cancer Cells.” The group members are Moises Rios, Kevin Fernando, Dominic Nguyen, and Juan Pablo Cabrera.
The NAE Grand Challenges Scholars Program provides a 2-to-3-year cohort experience for students, who are mentored by faculty and peers as they apply their curricular and co-curricular works to the grand challenges outlined by the National Academy of Engineering. The summit provides an opportunity for these students to present their work to their fellow students, as well as faculty and staff.
Christine Ehlig-Economides, a professor in the Petroleum Engineering Department, provided the faculty keynote address for the summit, “Social & Energy Transitions In My Lifetime.” Ehlig-Economides is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the first woman in the U.S. to earn a doctorate degree in petroleum engineering.
Hannah Santina, a junior studying Mechanical Engineering, delivered the Grand Challenge Scholar Lightning Talk — a short-form, powerful address with minimal slides and meant to be less than three minutes. With 2:39, Santina energized everyone with her talk, “Lessons From My Summer Internship at CenterPoint Energy.” A recording of this is available on LinkedIn.
The next summit and showcase will take place during the Spring 2025 semester. It is scheduled for April 28 from 10 a.m. to noon in the Houston Room of the Student Center South. For more information about Create@UH, click here. For more information about the NAE Grand Challenge Scholars Program, click here. In addition, a new showcase event will be held at the end of the Spring 2025 semester at UH at Sugar Land to highlight the excellent work students in the majors located there have done.
Were you a student that presented at this event? We'd love to showcase your work on our social media channels! Please tag us on Instagram or LinkedIn, or email Stephen Greenwell, sjgreen2 [at] central.uh.edu (sjgreen2[at]central[dot]uh[dot]edu).