UT Tyler Engineering Students Win $40,000 in Second Phase of DOE Community Energy Innovation Competition

April 9, 2024 | Hannah Buchanan

Two teams of mechanical engineering students at The University of Texas at Tyler have won the collegiate track progress phase of the U.S. Department of Energy American-Made Community Energy Innovation Prize. UT Tyler is now among the top three finalists with one other U.S.-based collegiate team.

Each team received an additional $20,000 and mentorship services for their activities to help ensure the benefits of clean energy are felt in local underserved communities. They both advanced from the initial concept phase in January and were awarded $15,000 each. The competition will conclude with the third and final impact phase in which teams will compete for a share of the $100,000 grand prize. The grand-prize winners will be announced in May.

The UT Tyler finalists and their concepts are:

• Greener CASA, representing the Tyler campus: Pedro Montano and Rafael Reyes, both of Longview, and Diego Diaz of Puerto Rico – Creating an academia-community partnership to bring free energy audits to underserved communities to promote energy efficiency.
• GreenSynergy, representing the Houston Engineering Center: Oswaldo Garcia, Peter de Vries, Grant Howard, Muhammad Khan, Arnold Garcia, Anne Josiah, Syed Jafferi, Parth Modi, Rafael Vivanco, all of Houston – Integrating clean energy into education, utilizing solar panels, fuels cells and other technologies to foster learning and sustainability.

“Congratulations again to our two teams of students, led by Dr. Nelson Fumo and Dr. Mohammad Biswas, and their community partners,” said Dr. Nael Barakat, professor and chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. “Serving the broader community within this energy equity program is an exemplary demonstration of how technology can improve and benefit society. We are proud of both teams and wish them the best in the final phase of this competition offered by the Department of Energy.”

The Community Energy Innovation Prize is designed to strengthen relationships and support underserved communities in their clean energy transitions. For more information, visit energy.gov/eere/funding/eere-prizes-and-competitions.

With a mission to improve educational and health care outcomes for East Texas and beyond, UT Tyler offers more than 90 undergraduate and graduate programs to nearly 10,000 students. Through its alignment with UT Tyler Health Science Center and UT Health East Texas, UT Tyler has unified these entities to serve Texas with quality education, cutting-edge research and excellent patient care. Classified by Carnegie as a doctoral research institution and by U.S. News & World Report as a national university, UT Tyler has campuses in Tyler, Longview, Palestine and Houston.