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Join us at the 2025 WERC Environmental Design Contest

Next Contest: April 6-9, 2025

The contest focuses on workforce development and is modeled after the engineering RFP. Students work on real-world tasks designed by our partners in industry and government. Teams build a working bench-scale apparatus, develop written and oral presentation skills, hone their teamwork skills, and discuss their designs with professional engineers.

2025 Tasks:

  • Post-Wildfire Watershed Restoration
  • Smart Grids with Hydrogen Integration
  • Fungi Bioremediation of Mining Waters
  • NASA Task – Life Support Systems for Moon-to-Mars Habitats
  • Produced Water-Valuable Recovery and Waste Minimization
  • Open Task – Teams propose their own environmental challenge

Students participating in the last 34 years of the contest have gone on to work at the EPA, become university professors, manage engineering firms and government agencies, and much more. Their memories of the WERC Environmental Design Contest bring them back as consultants, judges, and sponsors. 

See https://linktr.ee/wercnm for contest videos

Student Art 

Webinars:

  • July 25, 2024, 12:30p CDT
  • August 14, 2024, 12:30p CDT
  • Both sessions are live and will present similar information. 

The 1-hour Webinar introduces you to the 2025 WERC Environmental Design Contest. 

  • Faculty will share with you why they bring students and how they fund their participation.
  • Government and industry partners describe how the real-world tasks are developed and how teams are mentored by professional engineers.

Webinar Speakers:

  • WERC's Lead Judge: Malynda Capelle (USBR BGNDRF) 
  • EPA Office of R&D: Michael Jahne 
  • DOE Office of Fossil Energy & Carbon Management: Caleb Woodall
  • Faculty:
    • Louisiana State University: John Pardue
    • Michigan Technological University: Audra Morse
    • Ohio University: Darin Ridgway
    • Washington University in St. Louis: Krystin Wyckoff

 

 

Register for a Webinar ▸