Students Place Well at Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Contest

May 12, 2015

University of Scranton students took first and third place honors in competitions at the 2015 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Region 2 Student Activities Conference, which was held in April at The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. In total, 18 University students participated in contests that included robotics, physics, design and student paper and ethics competitions, as well as leadership training.

IEEE Region 2 includes Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Washington, D.C., and parts of New Jersey, Ohio and Virginia. Students competing at the conference represented Bucknell University, Drexel University, Ohio State University, Penn State University and West Virginia University, among others.

A team of University freshmen – Wilson Ortiz of Pocono Summit, Tara Hambrose of South Abington Township, and Luke Alonso of Chesterbrook – won first place in the Micromouse Robotics Kit Competition. The competition consisted of programming an autonomous robotic mouse kit that negotiates a maze of standard dimensions from a specified corner to its center in the shortest time.

Junior Timothy Thomas of Lake Ariel also won first place in the T-Shirt Design Competition.

University sophomore Chris Gasper of Jessup, junior Daniel Donovan of Binghamton, New York, and freshman Ben Loya of Bethel, Connecticut, won third place in the Physics Competition. In the competition, students calculated distances and angles to launch objects at specific locations using a Gauss cannon.

University seniors Alexander Ferretti of Lancaster, Daniel Ortiz of Suffern, New York, Matthew McCoy of St. James, New York, and Dominick Sparks of Clifton Township won third place in the Sumo Robot Competition. In the competition, students designed and created an autonomous robot that was pitted against another with the goal of finding the opponent robot and pushing it out of a ring.

Andrew Berger, Ph.D., professor of physics/electrical engineering, serves as both the counselor and club mentor of The University of Scranton IEEE Student Branch.

The IEEE Student Activities Conference is held at a different university/college in the Mid-Atlantic region each year.

A team of University of Scranton freshmen won first place in the Micromouse Robotics Kit Competition at the 2015 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Region 2 Student Activities Conference. Students at the competition represented Bucknell University, Drexel University, Ohio State University, Penn State University and West Virginia University, among others. From left, University of Scranton freshmen Luke Alonso, Tara Hambrose, and Wilson Ortiz.

Junior Timothy Thomas also won first place in the T-Shirt Design Competition at the IEEE regional conference. He was among the 18 University of Scranton students who participated in the event.

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