Summit Series on the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenges

The NAE Grand Challenge Scholar Program educates engineering students in five domains: research, interdisciplinary curriculum, entrepreneurship, global perspective, and service learning.

In this spirit, in spring 2010 each regional site of the Grand Challenge Summit Series will conduct a design competition with the theme “Improving Human Wellbeing in the Developing World.” The competition is open to all 14 NAE Grand Challenges  as applied in the limited resource setting of the developing world.  Example topics include, but are not limited to, practical applications in nutrition, agriculture, diagnostics, drug delivery, disease vector control, urban design, solar energy, water access, or water treatment. 

Regional Poster Competitions

Regional Prizes

First Prize: $1,000
Second Prize: $500
Third Prize: $200

Individual students or teams of students are invited to prepare a standard 3’ wide x 4’ high (vertical dimension) poster that describes a technology, a process or a product derived from the NAE Grand Challenges that can be deployed in a low-resourced location where access to power, clean water, protection from the elements, and trained personnel may be limited to nonexistent. The content of the poster must directly address an affordable and practical technical approach to improving human wellbeing.

Poster judging will be based on the following four poster elements:

1. Issue addressed. Describe the target issue, why it is important, and where it is prevalent.
2. Proposed technology, process or product. Describe the proposed approach.
3. Innovation. Describe why the proposed approach represents an affordable and practical intervention.
4. Production and deployment. Describe how this technology, process or product will be developed and deployed given the regional resource limitations.

National Poster Competition

The 1st place poster winners from each of the regional competition sites will be invited to submit their concepts for entry at the national competition held at the National Grand Challenge Summit in Los Angeles, CA in Fall 2010.  In the spirit of promoting entrepreneurship, competitors on the national level will be asked to expand upon their poster presented at the regional meeting by preparing and presenting a marketing and business plan for their proposed technology, process or product.

Details on presentation format, national judging and grand prize awards will be provided following completion of the regional competitions.

Posters and Abstracts (for Phoenix, AZ Grand Challenges Summit)

Poster Presentation                 

Posters will be displayed at the Phoenix Grand Challenges Summit at the Arizona Biltmore Resort on Thursday, April 8, 2010. 

Poster requirements:

• Posters must not be larger than 3’ wide x 4’ tall (vertical dimension).
•  Poster content should be either printed directly onto a 3’ x 4’ sheet of paper, or pasted onto a 3’ x 4’ cardboard poster board.
• Poster screens and tacks for mounting posters will be provided onsite.