The 2025 WERC Environmental Design Contest, a national engineering competition based in Las Cruces, NM, proudly recognizes the Electric Company Charitable Foundation as a Diamond-level sponsor—the highest level of support at the competition. Their generous donation highlights a strong commitment to innovation, education, and clean energy in the Southwest.
Alongside the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium, which also sponsored WERC at the Diamond level, the Electric Company Community Foundation helped empower a new generation of engineers to solve real-world environmental problems. Their support funded one of the contest’s most forward-thinking challenges: Task 2: Managing distributed energy systems (DERMS) using hydrogen as energy storage
In this task, student teams from across the country explored how to store extra solar power in hydrogen fuel cells during the day and return it to the electric grid at night—when the sun isn’t shining. Their designs focused on safety, reliability, and sustainability, sparking creative ideas at the cutting edge of clean energy and grid resilience. Isaak Camargo from Brigham Young University shared, “I felt privileged to participate in the competition and learned so much in the process. In fact, what I got out of this was way more valuable than any cash award could have been.”
This year’s top honors in the Electric Community Foundation-sponsored challenge, Task 2, went to a standout team from California Polytechnic State University – San Luis Obispo. Under the leadership of Santina Gatti, the team—Dante Benedetti, Jackson Fisher, Luke Trusheim, Sofia Morris, Mattie Nelson, Jaxon Sprogis, and Jonah Walker—impressed judges with their innovative approach to hydrogen storage, their effective grid management, and strong teamwork.
The hometown team from New Mexico State University claimed the New Mexico Space Grant Consortium Outstanding Team award and the Electric Company Community Foundation First Place in the Task 2 Bench-scale competition. Led by Team Leader Ryan Evans, teammates Alejandro Garcia, Jorge Macias, Luis Ponce Ituarte, and Robert Sohm earned top honors with a polished system that integrated a working solar panel array and hydrogen fuel cells into a small-scale model of an electrical grid. Their project not only showcased technical excellence, but also embodied the innovative spirit and engineering talent that NMSU proudly cultivates.
“Support from organizations like the Electric Company Community Foundation allows us to offer hands-on, career-shaping experiences for students who are passionate about solving environmental challenges,” said M. Ginger Scarbrough, Ph.D., Program Manager for the WERC Environmental Design Contest. “Their investment is also an investment in the future of clean energy innovation.”
In addition to funding, El Paso Electric also sends engineers to serve as judges. These professionals mentor students and give them insight into how large-scale engineering projects work in the real world. Judge Eva Deemer noted, “I kept forgetting these were undergraduate students—their solutions were so thorough and advanced.”span>
The WERC Contest, hosted annually by New Mexico State University’s College of Engineering, continues to be a national stage where academic learning meets real-world challenges. Sponsors like the Electric Company Community Foundation not only make these technical challenges possible but also help shape tomorrow’s environmental leaders.
To learn more about the WERC Environmental Design Contest or sponsorship opportunities, visit https://werc.nmsu.edu.
