Wright, Lori

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University of New HampshireUniversity of New Hampshire Scholars' RepositoryMedia Relations Administrative Offices4-17-2008UNH Students Place First In EnvironmentalDesign ContestLori WrightUNH Media RelationsFollow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/newsThis News Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Administrative Offices at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It hasbeen accepted for inclusion in Media Relations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For moreinformation, please contact nicole.hentz@unh.edu.Recommended CitationWright, Lori, "UNH Students Place First In Environmental Design Contest" (2008). UNH Today. 422.https://scholars.unh.edu/news/422UNH Students Place First in Environmental Design Contesthttp://www.unh.edu/delete/news/cj_nr/2008/April/lw17werc.cfm.html[9/8/2016 1:37:30 PM] UNH Students Place First In Environmental DesignContestMedia Contact:  Lori Wright 603-862-0574UNH Media RelationsApril 17, 2008DURHAM, N.H. — A team of University of New Hampshire business and engineering studentswon first place in their task at the 2008 Environmental Design Contest held April 6-9, 2008, atNew Mexico State University in Las Cruces, N.M.This year's team, Retrolutions, retrofitted an existing commercial building to reduce itsenvironmental footprint. The 14-member team was so impressive that they have been invitedto present their project at the EPA Science Forum in Washington, DC, May 20–22, 2008.The students developed the project EARTH (Education, Awareness, Reduction, Technology,and Holistic Approach), an integrated plan to retrofit a building in Phoenix. They conductedenergy and water audits, and suggested reducing the demand of energy and water througheducation and awareness of the building’s occupants as well as by employing existingtechnologies. They designed three technologies -- a grey water recycling system, a solarconcentrating energy production system, and a compressed air enhanced evaporative coolingsystem -- that could be implemented to minimize the buildings energy and water demands.The competition is an important bridge from a student’s academic career to a real-worldcareer, according to Jenna Jambeck, research assistant professor of civil and environmentalengineering and a faculty advisor to the team.“This is the first time they organize as an interdisciplinary group, have real deadlines to meet,prepare professional deliverables such as reports, PowerPoint presentations, posterpresentations and bench-scale demonstrations, and are judged by outsiders. They put all theirknowledge of their time at UNH into practice. This helps them to gain confidence, grow andevolve beyond the classroom while still here at UNH,” Jambeck said.Faculty advisor Jeffrey Sohl, who directs the UNH Center for Venture Research, agreed. As aformer engineer who now is a professor in the Whittemore School of Business and Economics,he believes it is critical for engineers to be exposed to the business side of engineering and forbusiness students to understand technology.“The competition gives the business students hands-on experience with developing atechnology in the lab and understanding the commercialization process. As a faculty memberit is a great feeling to hear the business students talk knowledgeably about the technologyand likewise to hear engineers discuss bottom-line implications,” Sohl said.Business administration student and Retrolutions team member Cara Hayward found thecompetition a valuable experience.UNH Students Place First in Environmental Design Contesthttp://www.unh.edu/delete/news/cj_nr/2008/April/lw17werc.cfm.html[9/8/2016 1:37:30 PM]“This competition allowed me to actually apply what I am learning in the classroom. I wasable to assist in all stages of technology development as well as plan the commercialization ofthe technology. This was an invaluable experience because I now feel as though I can makethat transfer from the classroom to the real world in any situation,” she said.In addition to the first-place win, Scott Cloutier of Rochester won the Terry McManus MemorialStudent Award. The other members of the UNH team were Justin Butterfield of Pittsfield; AmyConaty of Dighton, Mass.; Tyler Crowe of Littleton; Owen Friend-Gray of Nottingham; PatrickHartnett of Hampstead;, Cara Hayward of Acton, Mass.; John Heaney of East Kingston;Zachary Magdol of West Hartford, Conn.; Jesse Medeiros of Rochester; Hillary Schmidle ofEast Greenwich, Rhode Island; Jeff Senders of Camden, Maine; Greg Sereni of Sanbornton;and Philip Trzcinski of Londonderry.The competition, sponsored by WERC: A Consortium for Environmental Education andTechnology Development, challenges student teams to develop solutions for real-worldenvironmental problems that have been submitted by various companies and governmentinstitutions. Thirty-three teams from 23 universities including 190 participants from aroundthe United States, Bogazici University in Turkey, the Universities of Manitoba, and Waterloo inCanada, and a team from Universidad de las Américas in Puebla, Mexico, competed.The WERC consortium is comprised of New Mexico State University (its administrativelocation), the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, the University of New Mexico,Diné College, Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories.PHOTOShttp://www.unh.edu/news/img/werc_jump.jpgMembers of the Retrolutions team enjoy themselves at White Sands National Monument inNew Mexico during a break from the competition.http://www.unh.edu/news/img/werc1.jpgUNH students John Heaney and Tyler Crowe demonstrate the Retrolutions Fresnel Lens solarconcentrator technology to the judges at the competitionhttp://www.unh.edu/news/img/werc2.jpgMembers of Retrolutions present their poster and bench scale technologies to the judges.Pictured from left to right behind bench are Phillip Trzcinski, Jeff Senders, Greg Sereni andAmy Conaty. Pictured to the right of the judges is Cara Hayward.- 30 -

UNH Students Place First In Environmental Design Contest

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UNH Students Place First In Environmental Design Contest

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