The WERC Environmental Design Contest, held annually at New Mexico State University, is opening registration for 2025 this October! More than just a competition, the WERC Contest offers a one-of-a-kind platform for undergraduate students to tackle real-world environmental challenges, hone their technical skills, explore their passions in engineering, and network with practicing engineers.
Michael Jane, WERC Judge and Task Developer from the EPA office of Research & Development, describes, “Interacting with the students, it is excellent to see their enthusiasm… They are excited, and they should be, because these are really challenging problems, and they come up with great solutions to them. It gives [students] something to talk about in a job interview… They want to hear about real-world stuff, not just a small class project.”
The 2025 event will run April 6-9, bringing together students from colleges across the country for one incredibly valuable team-building and career-building experience. Winning teams take home $4500+, and all teams walk away with sharpened engineering skills and powerful connections to professionals at organizations like Los Alamos National Labs, El Paso Electric Co., Chevron, NASA, the EPA, and more.
For a firsthand look at what the experience is like for students, and how WERC is inspiring a new generation of engineers to pursue their research interests and build impactful careers, check out the video below featuring Beau Neidich.
The environmental challenge is for all fields of engineering, not just environmental engineers. Students from Aerospace, Civil, Chemical, Electrical, Environmental, Mechanical, Petroleum, and Industrial will find design challenges for their field of engineering included in the task list below.
2025 Task List
Each year, the WERC Contest features a diverse and relevant set of tasks for up-and-coming engineers to investigate. The 2025 tasks include:
Mitigating the Effects of Wildfires on Watersheds
Task Developers: EPA, Los Alamos National Labs, and Souder, Miller & Associates
Best suited for: Civil and Chemical Engineering majors
Smart Grids with Hydrogen Integration—Optimizing Storage & Use of Renewables
Task Developers: El Paso Electric Co. and Plug Power
Best suited for: Electrical and Mechanical Engineering majors
Using Fungi to Remediate Mining Waters
Task Developers: Freeport-McMoRan
Best suited for: Civil, Environmental, and Chemical Engineering majors
NASA’s Life Support Systems: Dust Mitigation in Lunar Habitats
Task Developers: NASA
Best suited for: Electrical, Mechanical, and Industrial Engineering majors
Produced Water: Valuable Constituent Recovery
Task Developers: Chevron, NGL Water Solutions, and others
Best suited for: Chemical, Environmental, and Civil Engineering majors
Open Task
Teams can propose their own environmental challenge under the guidance of the DOE Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management. This task is open to all engineering disciplines.
Mentorship and Networking Opportunities
The WERC Contest provides students with the unique opportunity to receive mentorship from practicing engineers. Engineers representing 10 different states and a variety of prestigious engineering firms, government agencies, and other organizations—most of whom serve as task developers (see task list)—review and judge team projects.
These professionals take the time to get to know each student as they work with teams over the course of three days, providing valuable insights from their own experience and helping students refine their solutions. Sometimes, WERC judges even offer jobs right on the spot!
Registration Info & Milestones
Securing your spot early means bigger savings for teams!
Early bird registration, is discounted at $880 per team, and will be available from mid-October to December 31, 2024.
The regular registration period follows, from January 1 to February 5, 2025, at $980 per team.
And late registration ends on March 8, 2025, at $1,080 per team.
This article was originally posted on the Institute of Competition Sciences website and can be found here: https://www.competitionsciences.org/2024/10/22/a-2025-contest-that-empowers-future-engineers-to-tackle-real-world-issues/?mc_cid=728caa0f39&mc_eid=6bc238aa06
