WERC Environmental Design Contest

It would be great to have Purdue University represented at the WERC Environmental Design Contest April 16-19, 2023!

Your undergraduates will work on real-world engineering projects designed by our partners in industry and government agencies. We design hands-on tasks, all of which require innovation. Students learn how they can have a positive impact on the environment–regardless of their field of engineering! In addition, they get to see how teams from other universities solved the task, and they are mentored by the judges who are experienced engineers.
Your students might be most interested in Tasks 1, 3, 5, and 6. Task 4 would make a great multi-disciplinary project! See task list below. Please forward this to faculty who might be interested.
Find out more at our Informational Webinars:
• Wednesday, July 20, noon – 12:45 pm (MST)
• Wednesday, August 10, noon – 12:45 pm (MST)
Guests from EPA Office of R & D, El Paso Electric Company, and university faculty will be on hand to explain how the contest works and how teams can get involved. The two webinars will have similar content.

Click to register for Webinar or go to WERC website

2023 Tasks:
• Task 1: Wastewater Reuse for Rural Communities
• Task 2: Vehicle-to-Grid Resiliency
• Task 3: Mitigating Evaporation Loss for Mining
• Task 4: Microplastics: Detecting and Quantifying
• Task 5: Recovery of Ammonia in Produced Water for Recycling
• Task 6: NASA—Long-term Water Storage Without Biocides
• Task 7: Open Task

About the Contest:
Students pose as professional engineers as they answer an engineering RFP. Teams:
• Write a technical report (with scale-up and TEA)
• Give oral and poster presentations
• Build and demonstrate working bench-scale models of their designs.
• Learn entrepreneurship in the Flash Talks (Shark-Tank-inspired event)
• Learn real-world perspective from experienced engineers (judges)
• Publish in IEEE Xplore (top papers qualify).
What past participants say:
• 93% of 2022 students agreed or strongly agreed that the contest impacted their
o knowledge acquisition,
o sense of belonging in engineering,
o engineering skills,
o communication skills,
o confidence in solving environmental needs.
• “The interaction with the judges made this an even greater learning experience that we will carry into our careers. They helped us understand practical limitations and issues based on their real-world experiences.” (2022 Student)
• “Worth the trip! I bring teams for hands-on opportunity, interaction with peers and high-quality judges.” (2022 Faculty)
• “I like the real-world problems, Flash Talks, and incorporation of a business plan.” (2022 Faculty)
• “Less work for course instructors. Real-world projects that I do not have to create myself.” (2022 Faculty)

Click to register for Webinar or go to WERC website