FAMU Students Place Third in 2024 AMIE Design Challenge Contest
TALLAHASSEE – Florida A&M University (FAMU) engineering students placed third in the 2024 Advancing Minorities’ Interest in Engineering (AMIE) Design Challenge. Members of the FAMU team were mechanical engineering student Camille Crump; civil engineering students Elam Richardson and Kennedy Jackson; computer engineering students Ameria Ellis and Taylor Gooden; biomedical engineering student Morgan Tyler; and electrical engineering student Jacob Porche.
“As a project manager, it’s always a proud moment to see the hard work and tenacity of my teammates pay off. I was part of the Engineering LLC and have been in the EESI Program for three years, and those experiences have empowered me to strive toward achieving my full potential in everything I do,” said Project Manager Richardson. “This is my second year competing in and placing at the AMIE Design Competition, and one lesson has always held true: as engineers, we are always stronger as a team, collaborating through our various passions. I attribute our success to this lesson and to the Educating Engineering Students Innovatively (EESI) Program for shaping me into the proud engineering scholar I am today.”
Teams from Maryland Eastern Shore University and Hampton University placed first and second respectively among the 14 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) schools of engineering who competed in in the 2024 AMIE Design Challenge.
“The students did a phenomenal job. The Design Challenge is a signature program of AMIE. It demonstrates the unique value of the AMIE partnerships across Industry, Government and the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) accredited HBCU Schools of Engineering,” said AMIE Chief Executive Officer Veronica Nelson.
This year, there were 15 AMIE Partner Sponsors including Abbott, IBM, RTX, HP, Boston Scientific, GDIT, Intel, The Boeing Company, Idaho National Laboratory, KBR, Leidos, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Optum, Oracle and Qurate Retail Group.
Camille Crump, Morgan Tyler, Jacob Porche, Kennedy Jackson, Iry Martin, Taylor Gooden, Ameria Ellis, Elam Richardson.
The 2024 Design Challenge Problem Statement focused on Algorithmic Bias/AI Bias. Teams selected an industry/solution area to identify the risks of AI Bias and how it may negatively affect specific populations. Based on the risks identified, teams proposed solutions that could be utilized industry-wide to mitigate/eliminate the identified biases.
The FAMU team’s problem statement was: “How might we enhance the inclusivity of makeup shades, to ensure representation that caters to unique skin tones and an empowering beauty experience?”
“I love to see our FAMU EESI and Engineering LLC students get the opportunity to compete in this engineering design competition year after year. I can always see their confidence after the AIME Design Competition, knowing that FAMU has prepared them to compete nationally to enter the STEM workforce,” said Charmane V. Caldwell, Ph.D., director, Student Access, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. “In the past six years, our students have placed three different times in the top three of ABET-accredited HBCU engineering schools. This not only speaks to the student's tenacity but the program's strength.”
More than 95 students competing from fourteen (14) institutions, including Alabama A&M University, FAMU, Hampton University, Howard University, Jackson State University, Morgan State University, Norfolk State University, Prairie View A&M University, Southern University, Tennessee State University, Tuskegee University, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, University of the District of Columbia and Virginia State University.
The first, second and third place teams were invited to attend and present at the 2024 AMIE Annual Conference hosted by North Carolina A&T State University, in Greensboro, N.C., in September. Caldwell said this allowed the FAMU team to present in front of Deans of all the HBCUs that have accredited engineering programs.
The top three teams and all participating teams also received a monetary award for the students and the HBCU Schools of Engineering Retention Programs as shown below. For their third-place finish, each FAMU student received $400, while the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering program received $4,000 toward student retention.
AMIE is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to expand corporate and government alliances with the 17 ABET accredited HBCU schools of engineering to implement and support programs to attract, educate, graduate and place underrepresented minority students in engineering and computer science careers.
Back to Stories
