Technical Challenge Competition
NSBE

As part of our educational outreach and in support of NSBE students in Region 1, Draper is sponsoring a Technical Challenge Competition to showcase NSBE student members’ ability to cultivate innovative ideas, solve technical problems, and present their ideas and solutions with technical writing and presentation skills. The goal of the competition is for students to identify a technical problem and develop innovative and game-changing ideas towards a potential solution. The competition starts in October 2019 and will culminate at the Region 1 Fall Regional Conference in November 2019.

Competition Overview

Draper staff will administer the competition, judging the students’ ability to define and solve open technical problems and select the winning team by a review committee comprised of engineers. Each team must develop an innovative technical solution, to a problem of their choosing, and present their approach to Draper staff. 

Contestants will submit an abstract via email, the details of which are outlined below, and the review committee will evaluate all abstract submissions received by the deadline to identify the finalists prior to the conference. Finalists will be selected from the most competitive abstracts and tasked with presenting their ideas and solutions at the conference in the form of a PowerPoint presentation. One winning team will be chosen following the presentations and scholarships awarded.

Process

Each team will propose a technical approach to a problem area of the contestants’ choosing. The first phase of the competition requires contestants to submit an abstract, with no more than 300 words, briefly summarizing a problem statement, approach, and how it relates to work conducted at Draper. The second phase, for contestants whose abstracts were selected, consists of a technical presentation to a panel of judges, showcasing the team’s proposed solution to the problem in greater detail. The presentation will aim to persuade that the student’s approach is technically feasible and thorough with respect to solving their chosen problem. The proposal may include experimental procedures and intended analysis, preliminary design and testing, or a systems level design that solves the problem. 

The submission deadline has been extended to November 11, 2019. Please find complete submission details here.

Enter

Awards

All finalists participating in the final round of the challenge competition at the Fall Regional Conference will receive participation recognition from Draper. The winning team will be chosen by the judges based on the competition guidelines.

First Place: $3,500

The winning team will be selected and notified at the conference. Any team who is unable to present their presentation at the conference will be disqualified.

Judging 

The following criteria will be used to evaluate the written abstract and for problem solution and the technical presentation:

Abstract:

  • Clear Identification of Problem Statement (45%)
  • Novel Technical Approach (45%)
  • Why is Draper uniquely suited to help solve this technical problem (10%)

Technical Presentation:

  • Innovation and Creativity (20%)
  • Technical Depth of Solution (20%)
  • Alignment with Draper Capabilities (10%)
  • Depth of Research into Prior Art (15%)
  • Feasibility of solution (15%)
  • Broader Impact, Potential Benefit to Society (10%)
  • Presentation skills (10%)

In the event of a tie, the judges will determine the winner based on a team’s ability to convey the problem challenges, risks, feasibility and overall creativity/originality of the tied entries. Judges’ decisions are final, binding, and conclusive on all matters related to the competition.

Eligibility 

  • Must be a member of NSBE.
  • Employees of Draper (and their immediate family members and/or those living in the same household, whether or not related) are not eligible to win.
  • Graduate and Undergraduate students who are enrolled in a degree program in the 2019-2020 academic calendar year.
  • Teams must consist of 1-4 members
  • All majors welcome
  • All contestants must register their information, along with the title and abstract submitted via email, listing names, addresses, phone numbers, e-mail address, NSBE Membership Number, college attending, major and degrees received or expected (B.S., M.S., etc.).
  • Student-competitors under the age of 18 are required to provide the contact information, name, email and phone number, of a parent, guardian or university advisor, to nsbe@draper.com, in order to participate and receive the scholarship award.

Please find full terms of participation here.