Mar 29, 2012 - Claremont, Calif. - A Harvey Mudd College student team will head to Las Cruces, N.M., April 1-4 to compete for the first time in the 2012 International Environmental Design Contest.

Hosted by New Mexico State University, the contest challenges students to solve real-world issues involving water, energy and the environment. Students present and demonstrate their research and design solutions to panels of judges comprised of environmental professionals.

HMC team members Jinhwa Chun ’12, Ozzie Gooen ’12, Sam Ettinger ’12, Sunhwi Bang ’14 and Carolina Reyes ’14 worked on a project entitled “Implementing a Sustainable Micro-Hydroelectric Station in Latin American Communities.”

“We are trying to implement a community-based outreach program that utilizes a small-scale renewable energy system in rural areas of Latin American countries,” said team leader Chun.

Chun, Bang and Reyes will travel to New Mexico to represent their team at the competition and to broaden their knowledge. “We would like to look for potential collaboration and see what other environmental engineering projects college students are working on,” Chun said.

The contest was founded in 1991 by WERC, formerly known as the Waste-management Education and Research Consortium, which promotes environmental education and technology development.