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Miami University Interdisciplinary Technology Development Challenge (MUITDC) 08-09

Submission Deadline 5:00 p.m. September 29, 2008

To submit enter team member names and faculty mentor name in the entry form and send the completed MUITDC Entry Form as e-mail attachment to Martha Weber (weberme@muohio.edu) by Sep 29, 2008.

MUITDC Guidelines

Objectives
This contest fosters interdisciplinary development research by providing an opportunity for teams of undergraduate students to develop and demonstrate a technology at the laboratory scale, to provide fiscal projections that indicate a financial viability, and to identify policy issues that incorporate esthetic and societal concerns.

Academic Year 08-09 Topic
Given the Ohio Governor's interest in energy and particular alternative energy, the topic for academic year 08-09 is “Recovered Energy Systems".

Background

Recovered energy systems are defined as a system where energy that is produced by the system is recovered and reused in place of new energy. One example is Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) which are powered by both internal combustion engine and electric motor independently or jointly, doubling the fuel efficiency compared with a conventional vehicle. The recovered energy part of these systems is designed to capture energy that is normally lost through braking and coasting to recharge the batteries, which in turn powers the electric motor, without the need for plugging in. A parallel hybrid electric vehicle can use the electric motor or the internal combustion engine to propel the vehicle. A series hybrid electric vehicle uses the electric motor to provide added power to the internal combustion engine when it needs it most, for example in stop-and-go driving and acceleration and, therefore achieve greater fuel economy than conventional gasoline-engine vehicles.

Why we expect solutions to the challenges: 

1. Energy is consreved. It is transformed into other forms such as heat, motion, or sound which can be reused.
2. Therefore, there are many other possible systems where energy is produced during routine processes.
3. For example, recent development in nanotechnology has shown that even the energy of human motion can produce harvestable energy when clothing fabric has nanowires incorporated into the fabric.

Guidelines
A contest team must:

1. Have at least five and no more than eight student members, and
2. Include at least one student that majors in each of these fields: engineering, science, business, design, and a department that studies societal acceptance/concerns of new technology, and
3. Have at least one faculty mentor who will be responsible for oversight of the project.  Individual departments or programs may wish to consider providing independent study credit for this project 

SUBMISSION PROCESS - PHASE I FALL SEMESTER

September 29, 2008 by 5:00 p.m.- Entry Deadline
Submit the MUITDC Entry Form that identifies the team members and faculty mentor(s) as an e-mail attachment to Martha Weber (weberme@muohio.edu in the Office for the Advancement of Research and Scholarship (OARS).  Additional resource individuals and guidelines for the November presentation will be provided to each team after entry.

Week of November 11, 2008 - Technical Presentation
Each team will create and present to a judging panel a project overview, including:

1. An explanation of the technology
2. A timetable for building the lab prototype
3. A business analysis process
4. A method for identifying societal concerns
5. A plan for designing the system in an environmentally and esthetically acceptable way

The judging panel will select teams to move on to the Phase II of the contest to be conducted during Spring Semester.

PRODUCTION PROCESS - PHASE II
SPRING SEMESTER

April 15, 2009- Prototype Production Deadline 
Each selected team will build a working laboratory scale prototype during the spring semester. Teams will demonstrate the prototype to the judging panel at the Undergraduate Research Forum.   Teams must also submit to OARS a business plan and a technical plan of the prototype by 5:00 p.m. on April 8, 2009. The business plan should include the societal issues along with the normal data in a business plan.  The technical plan should have all the technical specification and production data along with scale-up costs and issues.  The design and environmental issues should be part of the technical plan.

Resources and Project Budget
In early spring semeser, the selected teams can adjust the team rosters and add other faculty expertise.  Any adjustments should be reported to OARS.  Each team's faculty mentor will receive a $3,000 grant to support the cost of the prototyping project.  At this time any research compliance issues will have to be addressed by the students and faculty mentor.

Invention Disclosure/Intellectual Property
All invention disclosures must be made during the process. Given the inclusion of faculty mentors and other faculty consultants, the intellectual property developed by these projects will be owned by Miami University.  Consistent with the Miami University Policy, all participants would share in any revenues generated.

Awards
All team members will receive a participation certificate.  The top three teams will receive the following cash awards:  $1,000 for third, $2,500 for second, and $5,000 for first place.  Faculty mentors will receive recognition and their home departments will receive a plaque indicating their success.

 

Contact the Office for the Advancement of Research and Scholarship at 529-3600
 or
visit the OARS website for further details
 http://www.muohio.edu/oars/