FORT WALTON BEACH — After months of research, engineering, tinkering and writing, a group of local college undergraduates can say they have engineered one of the greatest student-made projects in the world.
University of West Florida Emerald Coast students Nathaniel Eubanks, Chris Hayes, Vadim Ilin and Andrew Potter recently placed first in the international Myron Zucker Undergraduate Student Design Contest for their project, “Design of a Solar Array Positioning Controller.”
Ilin, 31, said they built a device that follows the sun or any other light source so it autonomously gets energy no matter where it’s at.
“It was challenging for sure,” the Fort Walton Beach man said. “ … It was very interesting to see all the different topics we covered in our curriculum coming together for this project.
“I still can’t believe (we won.) We didn’t expect it. We knew we had a good project, but this contest was an international award.”
Muhammad Rashid, an advisor for UWF’s Emerald Coast and Pensacola campuses, said the team’s work wasn’t something they simply put together. Students in his program work for two semesters to develop their projects, from conception to creating the packaging for the final product.
“I was not surprised when our nominations won,” said Rashid who submitted two projects in the contest, which placed first and second. “I was expecting at least one of them to place. We do so much work on it that the projects are good quality.”
Rashid said students present updates on their progress in the first semester and work with a mentor in the second semester.
At the end of the second semester, each group of usually two to four students present their project to their class, instructors and other faculty.
The winning teams will receive their awards in October at the Industry Applications Society’s annual meeting in Orlando. From there, Rashid said the possibilities are endless.
“Our students are dedicated to high quality,” he said. “They graduate and get jobs with top companies like Motorola, GM and the military, or they go on to get their graduate degree from great schools like Georgia Technical Institute or the University of Florida.
“We believe our program provides a quality education and gives our students opportunities to use those skills in life.”
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Angel McCurdy at 850-315-4432 or amccurdy@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @AngelMnwfdn.