February 20, 2002
CHIPPEWA MIDDLE SCHOOL IN ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA WINS
2002 NATIONAL ENGINEERS WEEK FUTURE CITY COMPETITION
WASHINGTON, February 20 -- A city of the future – "Apricus" – designed by students from Chippewa Middle School in St. Paul, Minnesota has won the tenth annual National Engineers Week Future City CompetitionTM. Students Matthias Chan, Jo Jackson, and Alex Wrobel teamed up with their teacher, Nancy Roussin, and volunteer mentor, Stefan Gantert, a civil engineer at SEH Incorporated.
Apricus is a Latin word meaning "a sunny place." Each zone in the city contains a unique feature -- for example, in the residential area, each block includes a pond and a park area. Apricus maintains a self-sufficient system in its power, water, and waste management. The city's high tech industries include Mars research, medical and science centers, and Hovercraft wind technology. A recent development in transportation is the Laser Line, a high speed light rail system. Apricus has several farms, surrounded by green space. One of the crops grown is alfalfa, which is processed and used as biodiesel fuel.
Winning teams from 27 regional competitions held in January participated in the not-for-profit competition that took place February 19 and 20 at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. More than 30,000 middle school students from 950 schools participated nationwide.
The competition asks students to create – first on computer and then in large 3-D scale models – their visions of the city of tomorrow. Students work with engineer mentors who help guide the youngsters through the rigors of building a functioning city. Using SimCity 3000 – donated by Maxis, a software firm in Walnut Creek, Calif. – the students fabricate a metropolis from the ground up, balance a city budget and deal with intractable social issues such as pollution and unemployment, solving intricate problems of math, science, and technology along the way. Then they present and defend their city to engineer judges at the competition, write an essay about research, exploration, generation, and conservation of energy and an abstract describing their city and its services.
Members of the Chippewa team receive a free trip to U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, donated by national finals host Bentley Systems, and laptop computers, donated by DuPont. The second place team, from St. John Lutheran School in Rochester, Michigan, receives $2,000 for the school's technology program, donated by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. Third place went to East Troy Middle School in East Troy, Wisconsin, which receives a $1,000 scholarship for their school technology curriculum, provided by The National Society of Professional Engineers. All 27 regional winning teams received an all-expense-paid trip to Washington for the finals.
Special
awards sponsored by various engineering societies, corporations
and organizations included:
Best Use of Ceramics (The American Ceramic Society): St. Dominic's
School in Benicia, California
Best Use of Biotechnology Materials and Processes (American Institute of Chemical Engineers): Chippewa Middle School in St. Paul, Minnesota
Best Design for a Sustainable Community (American Society of Civil Engineers): Indian River Middle School in Chesapeake, Virginia
Best Name for a Community (American Society of Civil Engineers): St. Ignatius School in Cincinnati, Ohio
Most Innovative Design of Infrastructure Systems (American Society of Civil Engineers): St. John Neumann Catholic School in Miami, Florida
Best Indoor Environment (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers): Pine Middle School in Reno, Nevada
Best Futuristic City (American Society of Mechanical Engineers International): Lewiston-Porter Middle School in Youngstown, New York
Best Energy Efficient City: (Association of Energy Engineers) - Algonquin Middle School in Averill Park, New York
Best Use of Engineered Materials (DuPont): Trinity Middle School in Washington, Pennsylvania
Most Innovative Use of Science and Technology (DuPont): Central School in Glencoe, Illinois
Best Communications System (The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers - USA): St. John Lutheran School in Rochester, Michigan
Protecting Public Health and Safety through Competent and Ethical Engineering Practices (National Society of Professional Engineers): Atascocita Middle School in Humble, Texas
Most Innovative Power Generation System (Navy Nuclear Propulsion Program): St. Thomas More School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Best Manufacturing Zone (Society of Manufacturing Engineers): Powder Mill Middle School in Southwick, Massachusetts
Best Transportation System (U.S. Department of Transportation - Federal Highway Administration): St. Thomas More School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Best Use of Automation and Control in City Systems and Services (The Instrumentation, Systems, and Automation Society): St. John Lutheran School in Rochester, Michigan
Excellence in Systems Integration (Institute of Industrial Engineers): Taft Middle School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Best Residential Zone (The Chinese Institute of Engineers/USA): Valley Middle School in Oakland, New Jersey
St. John Lutheran School also took home the "People's Choice" award, voted on by all the Future City students.
The Future City Competition is sponsored by National Engineers Week, founded in 1951 by the National Society of Professional Engineers to increase public awareness and appreciation of the engineering profession and of technology. Co-chairs for 2002 are the American Society of Civil Engineers and DuPont.
