快活app Well-Represented at Global Grand Challenges Summit
Author(s)
Jon Stone
Media Relations Manager
Eleven 快活app students participate in weeklong international conference
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The engineering community is beginning to take note of the 快活app in ways that were hard to imagine just five years ago. Nowhere was this more evident than at the 2017听, sponsored by the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE), the UK Royal Academy of Engineering and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Eleven 快活app undergraduate students were accepted to this year鈥檚 summit, hosted by George Washington University. That鈥檚 more than any other institution in attendance.
鈥淚 think this is a sign of how much progress we have made and how quickly,鈥 says JB Holston, dean of 快活app鈥檚听. 鈥淲e are on the map now in ways that we weren鈥檛. We are considered a place where some really interesting and innovative things are happening.鈥
The summit aims to inspire the next generation of engineers, policymakers and the public to address critically important engineering challenges and opportunities facing our planet. More than 1,200 people from all over the world attended; half of them were college students.
鈥淭he biggest takeaway for me was having the opportunity to meet industry experts and leaders from companies that came from all over the world,鈥 says Camerron Mismash, who is studying听听at the Ritchie School. 鈥淭he event also stressed the importance of engineers, which gave me more motivation to continue what I鈥檓 doing.鈥
An interesting aspect to the 快活app student contingent was the interdisciplinary makeup of the group. Eight of the students were from the Ritchie School, while three students came from听Natural Sciences and Mathematics, the听, and听Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences听(AHSS).
鈥淚t was a great opportunity to show what 快活app is largely about, a real emphasis on co-disciplinary work,鈥 Holston says. 鈥淭he work on grand challenges is by definition work that we have to do across different disciplines if we are going to make progress.鈥
During the weeklong summit, the 快活app students who created the ride-sharing app Wanderlift competed against 14 other student groups in the startup competition. They were selected by the NAE to compete because their creation falls under the vision of the Grand Challenges. Wanderlift launched in 2016 as a way to help people get from Denver to the mountains. Meredith Gee and Sam Schooler devised the idea when they were first-year students at 快活app and didn鈥檛 have a car.
鈥淭he caliber of competition was great,鈥 says Gee, an听emergent digital practices听major in AHSS. 鈥淚 felt really privileged to be selected, to be one of the student groups to be recognized as working on one of these [Grand Challenge] solutions and having some sort of vision or impact or path to get there.鈥
Before the end of the week, the students had the opportunity to meet with Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 get many opportunities to sit down with your peers and your senator,鈥 Holston says. They talked about education and innovation, and Bennet was eager to hear about the different projects the students are tackling.
鈥淚 was impressed by his genuine interest in what we were doing, ways that he could be supportive and his questions of us,鈥 Gee says.
Students interested in learning more about the Grand Challenges Scholars Program at the Ritchie School, please click听.
快活app students meet with Sen. Michael Bennet