WERC Environmental Design Contest
Contact
Contribute to Workforce Development!
Register to Judge at: wercteams.nmsu.edu
Contest: April 6-9, 2025
All events at the NM Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum
4100 Dripping Springs Rd., Las Cruces, NM
Our undergraduate teams need your perspective–your judging team may be the first set of practicing engineers that have worked closely with these students.
2025 Essential Event Guide
Find:
- Team Bench-scale Map Locations
- Farm & Ranch Museum Map
- When you are scheduled for Orals, Poster, Bench-scale demos
- University logos for all participating teams
- Contest Sponsors and Judge Affiliations
Help students transition from theory to practice!
Teams follow the process of the Engineer's RFP
Teams will:
- select a task
- conduct background research
- develop a solution
- build and demonstrate a working bench-scale apparatus
- develop a business plan for full-scale implementation
- address government regulations, potential waste streams, and public relations
- submit: technical report, oral & poster presentations, and bench-scale demo.
Submit a Task Idea:
Have an idea for a real-world task that students can solve? Let's work on it for next year. Contact us!
Judging Timeline
Score Technical Reports Online:
April 1-April 6, 2025
Onsite Contest:
April 6-9, 2025
NM Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum
4100 Dripping Springs Rd., Las Cruces, NM
4/6: Dinner, Judge Orientation
4/7: Breakfast, Oral Presentations, Lunch, Poster Session
4/8: Breakfast, Bench-scale Demos, Lunch
4/9: Award Decisions, Lunch, Awards Banquet
See us in action:
Judge Resources:
2025 Task Problem Statements: Find out what teams are working on for the 2025 contest.
Register to be a judge - Go to wercteams.nmsu.edu
For a quick-start to online scoring, download our Guide below (an excerpt from the Manual).
Study the Judges' Manual prior to scoring the Technical Report.
The Manual contains:
- judging guidelines
- general schedules
- scoring rubrics
- tips for navigating the judging portal (access team reports and upload scores)
Judging FAQs
Q: Where can I find scoring rubrics? (Posted 03/22/25)
A: They are in the Judge Handbook and also on the teams site as you score teams
Q: Should I email comments to the teams for the technical report? (Posted 3/22/25)
A: No. Enter your comments for the tech report directly into the online scoring rubric. The teams will see your comments after the contest. If the team submitted a .docx file, please consider marking it up in Review mode, emailing it to us, and we will send it to the teams after the contest.
Q: When will the teams see the scores and comments that I enter online? (Posted 3/22/25)
A: After the contest. If you make in-line comments in the report, send it to the teams through the "Email to Members" button.
The questions below apply to the 30% Project Review that is not required in 2025.
Q: Am I supposed to score the 30% Project Review? (Updated 3/22/25)
A: Teams were not assigned the 30% Project Review in 2025. No. Your goal is only to give teams feedback to improve their final report. If a team submits a project report that is not up to your standards, respond to let them know that you cannot give feedback due to insufficient report information.
Q: When reviewing the 30% Project Review, I needed to tell teams to refer to the scoring rubric. Do they have access to it? (Posted 2/28/22)
A: Yes. Tell them to refer to the rubric in their Team Manual.
Q: Should I email comments to the teams? (Posted 4/1/21)
A: Yes. Please do this, but only for the 30% Project Review. You may email through the yellow "Email to members" button. Be sure to treat all teams the same. Either email them all or none of them (even if the email simply states that their review did not contain sufficient information for review).