A record number of student teams from community colleges across the country competed this year in the annual Community College Innovation Challenge, with the American Association of Community Colleges announcing on Tuesday that 12 teams have advanced to the final round in June.
Now in its ninth year, the competition run by AACC, in partnership with the National Science Foundation, seeks to strengthen entrepreneurial thinking among community college students by challenging them to develop STEM-based solutions to real-world problems. It also enables students to discover and demonstrate their capacity to use STEM to make a difference in the world and translate that knowledge into action.
The finalists will attend an “Innovation Boot Camp” in June in the Washington, D.C., area and interact with entrepreneurs and experts in business planning, stakeholder engagement, strategic communication and marketplace dynamics. The camp culminates in an innovation poster session on Capitol Hill with STEM leaders and congressional stakeholders, and a pitch presentation to determine the first, second and third-place winning teams.
“The finalist projects showcase the incredible talent and creativity of the nation’s community college students,” AACC President and CEO Walter Bumphus said in a release. “I am proud to stand with our partners at the National Science Foundation to provide this forum to advance these student leaders as they become our future scientists, entrepreneurs, and engineers addressing real-world issues and positively impacting our daily lives.”
Among the ideas teams presented this year are solutions for addressing food insecurity, burn care, aviation safety, nicotine addiction, energy efficiency, fire prevention and safety, neonatal health, and autonomous and assistive technologies. The finalist school teams — which comprise two to four students and a faculty or administrator mentor — and their projects are:
- Bergen Community College (New Jersey)
Pop-up hydroponic farms made from recycled materials
To address the lack of access to produce in urban communities, this innovation is a modular hydroponic grow system using recycled shipping pallets that can be stacked inside vacant properties to create “pop-up” hydroponic farms.
- Coalinga College (California)
The Dream Team Burn Care Innovation
The project seeks to improve the treatment of burn-related injuries through the development of a burn relief spray with hydrogel technology that soothes pain, promotes faster healing and prevents infection.
- Dallas College (Texas)
Team AVIADAR – Alerts VIA Detection and Ranging
AVIADAR is an innovative LiDAR-based system tailored for aviation, providing pilots with real-time alerts about their surroundings, which will reduce fatalities and set better standards for accident prevention.
- Des Moines Area Community College (Iowa)
Smart tapering vaporizer with AI-coaching – AI-CQD
The project addresses nicotine addiction. The team’s tech-driven solution integrates real-time habit analysis, psychological reinforcement, and customizable tapering to address evolving user needs enabling a structured, adaptive quitting journey.
- Henry Ford College (Michigan)
SunSync – Smart blind system for comfort and energy saving
The self-powered smart blind system aims to harvest solar energy, uses sensors and applies machine learning to improve energy efficiency, comfort and privacy.
- Holyoke Comunity College (Massachusetts)
Green computer processing – reducing data energy consumption
AI-powered data centers are projected to significantly increase global electricity demand. This project looks to built a closed-loop cooling system that recaptures lost energy, reduces waste and cuts costs, while setting a new standard for sustainable data processing.
- Houston Community College (Texas)
The NanoSense Mask
The Texas team has designed a mask to aid firefighters. It features sensors that detect harmful gases and monitor firefighters’ health in real-time.
- Irvine Valley College (California)
Defend LA – automatic fire prevention system
To address the surge in wildfires, the project focuses on an automatic and pressurized hose system that deploys fire-retardant gel around the exterior of a structure.
- J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College (Virginia)
Automated street-cleaning robot
The robot has sensors and smart navigation to keep public spaces cleaner with less human effort.
- Middlesex Community College (Massachusetts)
InSight
This wearable navigation system is disguised as sleek headphones using sensors, LiDAR technology and AI-powered imaging cameras to assist the blind with navigation and spatial awareness.
- Perimeter College at Georgia State University (Georgia)
RoyaNest – Neonatal thermoregulation made simple
RoyaNest is a low-cost device designed to address birth asphyxia, which uses layered evaporative cooling to maintain a baby’s body temperature in the therapeutic range for 72 hours, improving infant survival rates.
- Tulsa Community College (Oklahoma)
Portal – An integrated drone delivery solution
This smart-home feature enables secure, efficient drone deliveries. Built into homes during construction, it includes a motorized external hatch, theft-resistant storage and an interior retrieval door.
