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The 2019 ASHRAE Student Design Competition and Applied Engineering Challenge winners have been announced. The competition recognizes outstanding student design projects, encourages undergraduate students to apply their knowledge of practical design of energy-efficient HVAC systems and promote teamwork. Forty two teams competed and 26 were judged at Society level.

This year’s Design Competition focused on a new small hospital in Budapest, Hungary. The project involved building a new four-story 70,000 square feet (6,503 square meter) medical, clinical, surgical and office building in Budapest. Teams competed in one of the three categories:

  • HVAC Design Calculations
  • HVAC System Selection
  • Integrated Sustainable Building Design (ISBD)

Integrated Sustainable Building Design

First place in the HVAC Design Calculations category was awarded to Beshoy Badr, George Mounir, John Victor, Kerollos Samir, Paula Wanis and Samaa Khaled of Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. Faculty advisors are Dr. Ashraf Kotb and Dr. Hany Elsayed. Placing first in the HVAC System Selection category were Mitch Mallett-Hiatt, Colin Miller and Samuel Underwood of University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Neb. David Yuill, Ph.D. served as the team’s faculty mentor and Rick Hiatt, P.E. was their industry mentor.  

Receiving first place in Integrated Sustainable Building Design category was Greeshma Bindu-Nandakumar, Vijay Chithambaram, Hope Tique Organista and Joshua Vasudevan of Loughborough University, Leicestershire, United Kingdom. Faculty advisor is Dr. Mahroo Eftekhari.

self-sustaining community

Designs were required to accommodate a community of 5,000 people on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico

In the 2019 Setty Family Foundation Applied Engineering Challenge, students were challenged to design a self-sustaining community that included essential amenities (utilities, police, fire protection, schools, healthcare, housing, etc.). Designs were required to accommodate a community of 5,000 people on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico.

Samuel Bean, Alexander Sparks, Jacob Scarpino and Sarah Mayer from the University of New Hampshire, Durham, N.H., received first place. Nils Carlson was the team’s sponsor and Anthony Puntin, Martin Wosnik and Christopher White served as advisors.

The projects will be recognized during the 2020 ASHRAE Winter Conference, Feb. 1-5 in Orlando, Fla. The Winter Conference is held in conjunction with the ASHRAE co-sponsored AHR Expo, which will be Feb. 3-5 at the Orange County Convention Center. For a full list of Student Design Competition winners (First, Second, Third and Rising Star), please visit the Competitions page.

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