UT Tyler Engineering Students Advance in National Collegiate Building Science Competition

December 10, 2024 | Hannah Buchanan

A team of mechanical engineering students at The University of Texas at Tyler has advanced to the finals of the 2024-25 JUMP into STEM Collegiate Building Science Competition, supported by the U.S. Department of Energy.

The UT Tyler team, Shady Crusaders!, advanced by placing third in the “Managing Peak Power Demand in Buildings” challenge with their project designed to lessen the peak thermal loads experienced by mobile homes. Their solution involved the design and justification of a retractable shade system that can be extended during sunny periods to reduce solar heat gain and retracted during colder times to allow beneficial warmth from the sun.

UT Tyler student team members listed by hometown are:
TYLER – Rachel Emerine.
GHANA – Emmanuel Asare and Derick Phanos.
PALESTINE (country) – Mustafa El Miari.

Dr. Nelson Fumo, UT Tyler associate professor, teaches the class with this competition project embedded into the coursework and served as the team’s faculty adviser. “Students benefit from real-world challenges and engagement through this competition,” said Fumo. “Skills developed include critical thinking, teamwork, resilience, adaptability and communication.”

Finalists will present their projects January 30 – 31, 2025, at the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado. Winners chosen from the final nine teams will receive 10-week, paid summer internships at one of three pre-selected national labs.

The annual JUMP into STEM program prepares the next generation of scientists to address the challenges of climate change with a strong focus on urgency and equity in their technical solutions. For additional information, go to jumpintostem.org/.

As the region’s only comprehensive engineering school, the UT Tyler College of Engineering provides students a solid foundation through collaborative, hands-on courses led by faculty with extensive experience. For more information, visit uttyler.edu.

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 more than 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.