PURPOSE The AHETEMS Foundation Design Competition is intended to stimulate a creative intellectual and entrepreneurial spirit, develop technical presentation skills, engender a team spirit and instill cooperation essential in a design project. This competition demonstrates to industry the technical and business capabilities of engineering and science students and illustrates that a successful idea need not be expensive to design and build. ELIGIBILITY -
Participants must be undergraduate students with a current SHPE membership. Students, who are not current SHPE members, must become SHPE members prior to submitting an entry for this competition. (Graduate students and professionals may only serve as mentors. The mentors must also be SHPE members). -
Design teams may consist at a minimum of two (2) undergraduate students and a maximum of six (6) undergraduate students. There is no limit on the number of design teams per college/university. -
Students may only compete as a registered member of one (1) team. If a student competes in more than one team, all those respective teams will be disqualified. -
Designs or inventions funded by an external source (i.e., NSF grant, government research/training grant, corporate-sponsored research) are not eligible for submission. Senior projects or theses are not eligible for submission. DESIGN CRITERIA The submitted design must be a commercially marketable product that has both a unique social benefit and improves the quality of human life. This design shall not be a duplicate of a currently existing commercial product, but can be an improvement to a currently existing commercial product. The design should be creative, but demonstrate technical merit. TEAM MENTORS Each team may solicit the assistance of no more than two (2) graduate students or engineering professionals from industry, academia, or government to serve as mentors. The mentor(s) may assist the team in detailing the design, and if selected as a team finalist, in developing the presentation charts and rehearsing the oral presentation. The name(s) and organization(s) of the mentor(s) must be included in the design concept paper. PRELIMINARY STAGE Students interested in participating in the design competition must submit the Design Competition Entry Form, an abstract and a design concept paper. No materials will be accepted by fax. Materials may be submitted electronically to designcomp@shpe.org in MS Word 97 or later. No Portable Document Format (PDF) will be accepted. Abstracts and design concept papers received in any format other than Microsoft Word will be automatically disqualified. The Design Competition Entry Form, abstract and design concept paper must be postmarked by 11:59 pm PST, Friday, October 20, 2006. Entries postmarked after this date/time will be automatically disqualified. FINALIST STAGE A qualified team of engineers from industry, academe and government will review the abstracts and design concept papers to select the ten (10) team finalists to proceed in the production of a design model or prototype to be presented on Thursday, January 11, 2007, at the SHPE National Technical Career Conference (NTCC) in Denver, Colorado. Finalists must demonstrate a working model or prototype of their design at the 2007 SHPE NTCC. Emphasis will be placed on demonstrating a working model or example of the design. Be sure that you account for every eventuality, and have a back-up plan or resource. Team finalists, who fail to present a working model or prototype, will be required to reimburse any and all travel, pre-registration and design material stipends. PRE-REGISTRATION, TRAVEL AND DESIGN MATERIALS COMPENSATION Each of the team finalists will be awarded $500 to proceed in the development of their formal presentation. No additional funds for shipping the prototype or otherwise will be provided. In addition, each team member will receive a four-night 2007 NTCC pre-registration package and a $100 travel allowance. One team mentor will also be provided a 2007 NTCC pre-registration package and a $100 travel allowance. Each of the finalists must pre-register by November 17, 2006. CONTACT INFORMATION All questions and requests for additional information should be directed to designcomp@shpe.org. DEADLINES Deadline for Design Form, abstract, and design concept paper - October 20, 2006 Acceptance notices sent to ten finalist teams.50% of design materials stipend sent to finalists - November 10, 2006 Finalists must pre-register for NTCC - November 17, 2006 Confirmation attendance notice sent to finalists - December 1, 2006 Formal design competition presentation - January 11, 2007 Winning teams announced - January 12 or 13, 2007
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