UT Tyler teams share $100K top prize in energy innovation competition

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TYLER, Texas (KETK) – Two teams of engineering students from The University of Texas at Tyler took first and third place in an energy innovation competition, winning a combined $70,000 of the $100,000 grand prize.

According to the release, each team originally awarded $15,000 in January and an additional $20,000 in April to advance to the advancement phase of the Department of Energy (DOE) Community Energy Innovation Competition. The money was reportedly awarded to ensure that the benefits of clean energy are felt in local communities.

Courtesy of the U.S. Department of Energy

Photo by Taylor Mankle, National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Courtesy of US Department of Energy

The top three university teams competed in the Impact Phase for a share of the grand prize. The first-place team with the Greener CASA concept won $45,000, while GreenSynergy, which came in third, won $25,000.

“We congratulate our two teams of mechanical engineering students, led by Dr. Nelson Fumo and Dr. Mohammad Biswas, and their community partners,” said UT Tyler College of Engineering Dean Dr. Javier Kypuros. “Their concepts demonstrate exemplary teamwork, use of technology and collaboration to help improve and benefit communities in need.”

The Greener CASA concept by Diego Diaz, Pedro Montano and Rafael Reyes is a partnership aimed at making free energy audits available to disadvantaged communities, the release said.

The GreenSynergy concept was represented by Oswaldo Garcia, Peter de Vries, Grant Howard, Muhammad Khan, Arnold Garcia, Anne Josiah, Syed Jafferi and Parth Modi. Their plan focuses on supporting learning and sustainability using technology to integrate clean energy into education.

“Supporting underserved communities in their local energy transitions is a cornerstone of DOE’s work to ensure that every American benefits from a clean energy economy,” said Jeff Marootian, principal deputy assistant secretary in DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. “We are proud of the ingenuity and dedication these student-led teams brought to this challenge, and we encourage them to share their hard-earned experience with future clean energy projects in their own communities.”