X-Prize Competition Hosts High Schoolers
A group of California high school students is bringing its award-winning design for the automotive 'Dashboard of the Future' to Detroit this week as part of the Automotive X Prize competition.
The winning team, from Santa Barbara, Calif., is comprised of Dos Pueblos High School students Jake Moghtader, 16, Nikhil Shinday, 15, and Kelvin Noronha,15 and their adult mentor Kevin Schantz, a software architect at the software and IT services firm QAD.
"We are all really eager to show off our design in Detroit," Noronha said. "This could be a great way to kick off a career in green technology or the auto industry. It's a really exciting opportunity, especially as we're very interested in cars."
As winners of the Dash+ competition, the high school contest that challenged students across the country to design an eco-friendly dashboard of the future, a team of three students and their mentor began a three-day Grand Prize VIP experience in Detroit Monday.
Dash+ is part of the education program funded by the United States Department of Energy for the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize, the competition to inspire a new generation of viable, super-efficient vehicles.
To kick off the trip, the team will first pitch its dashboard that encourages fuel-efficient driving to industry representatives, gaining feedback on the team's designs and ideas. The presentation will take place at The Henry Ford in Dearborn. The students will also get a one-on-one workshop with professor Clyde Foles at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. They will also participate in a discussion with a college admissions counselor who will offer advice on developing a portfolio and pursuing a career in transportation design. And, they'll tour the U.S. EPA offices in Ann Arbor.
Diseño Verde, meaning "Green Design" in Spanish, the team's design incorporates technology that continuously calculates maximum fuel economy as well as alerts the driver of environmental impact and awards 'GreenPoints' to create an eco-friendly competition within the driver's social network.
"Detroit was chosen as our Grand Prize destination to place the team at the center of the automotive industry," said Mitch Aiken, director of education for the Automotive X Prize. "The trip is both a fun reward and an opportunity to expand the students' awareness of the career options that exist in the automotive and environmental industries."
The competition challenged students to use their creativity and science, technology, engineering, and math skills to design a dashboard, complete a technical plan and create a pitch video. More than 10,000 online votes representing all 50 states were combined with scores from an independent panel of expert judges to determine the winning team.
They will also participate in a discussion with a college admissions counselor who will offer advice on developing a portfolio and pursuing a career in transportation design.
And they'll visit Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn to watch the X Prize cars in competition.
More at http://fuelourfuturenow.com/contest or www.progrressiveautoxprize.org.
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