Past Funding Opportunity: Marine Energy Collegiate Competition Prize (Fiscal Years 2020–2021)

Announcement

• First-Ever Marine Energy Collegiate Competition Engaged 100+ Students Across Diverse Disciplines
• Energy Department Announces 2020 Marine Energy Collegiate Competition Winning Teams
• Meet the 2021 Marine Energy Collegiate Competition Contenders
• Three Winners Claim Top Honors at 2021 Marine Energy Collegiate Competition
• DOE Announces the 2022 Marine Energy Collegiate Competition Contenders
• Website: Marine Energy Collegiate Competition: Powering the Blue Economy.

Selection Date

• Fiscal Year 2020: 07/23/2020
• Fiscal Year 2021: 10/15/2021

Prize Objective

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) hosts a challenge for university students to advance one of the most up-and-coming industries: marine energy. This competition is designed to challenge interdisciplinary teams of both undergraduate and graduate students to offer unique solutions to the burgeoning marine energy industry that can play a vital role in powering the blue economy.

Description

For the competition, teams of students will:

• Develop a market-research-supported business plan, which will include key aspects of their design of a system that could be commercialized to address power needs for a chosen sector of the blue economy
• Pitch their plan to a panel of judges and hypothetical investors
• Have the option to build and test a device to achieve energy production
• Engage with their community through outreach and educational activities.

EERE Selections

• DOE Announces the 2022 Marine Energy Collegiate Competition Contenders
• Three Winners Claim Top Honors at 2021 Marine Energy Collegiate Competition
• Energy Department Announces 2020 Marine Energy Collegiate Competition Winning Teams

Funding Awardees

• 2020
  • Overall Winner: University of Hawaii
  • Second-Place Winner: University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
  • Third-Place Winner: Tie: Columbia University with Virginia Tech and Ana G. Mendez, Gurabo
  • Individual category winners included the following:
    • Rising Star Award: North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University
    • Moonshot Award: College of the Florida Keys
    • Best Plan: Columbia University with Virginia Tech
    • Best Pitch: University of Hawaii
    • Best Poster: University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
• 2021
  • First-Place Winner: Purdue University
  • Second-Place Winner: University of Washington
  • Third-Place Winner: Virginia Tech with the University of California, Los Angeles
  • Individual category winners included the following:
    • Build and Test Challenge Winners
      • Build Winner: University of Massachusetts with St. Bonaventure University
      • Test Winner: Oregon State University
    • Community Outreach and Engagement Award: Oregon State University
    • Individual Product Category Winners:
      • Best Pitch: University of Massachusetts with St. Bonaventure University
      • Best Poster: University of Massachusetts
      • Best Written Report: University of Washington
    • MacGyver Award: University of North Florida
    • Moonshot Award: Institute of Engineering, National Autonomous University with Dartmouth College, Autonomous University of Baja California, Autonomous University of Mexico State, National Polytechnic Institute, and University of Caribe