ROME, NY — The Air Force Research Laboratory Information Directorate’s (AFRL/RI) STEM Outreach Program, powered by Griffiss Institute (GI) and Innovare Advancement Center, is happy to announce that the 2022 AFRL Challenge Competition will once again be held in-person for high school teams during the week of Spring Break.
The 13th AFRL Challenge Competition will be held at the Innovare Advancement Center beginning on Monday, April 11, ending on Friday, April 15, 2022.
The Challenge Competition is an annual competitive STEM initiative for local high school students. It is held during a week when students are on a school break and its intent is to provide a more realistic view into the types of high-tech problems the nation is facing today, and how engineers and researchers go about dissecting and solving these problems. The best explanation to describe the competition is “mental marathon”.
The teams will receive the challenge problem upon their arrival Monday morning and have the next three days to solve it. AFRL engineers and scientists will be on hand to answer questions regarding the challenge problem throughout the week. On Friday, judging will take place in the morning, followed by an awards ceremony to support, congratulate, and recognize the technology leaders of tomorrow.
For many of the participants, being able to spend a week bouncing ideas off local engineers will be an incredible benefit and opportunity.
The AFRL Challenge Competition gives many of the participants a new perspective on the field of engineering and they get to learn more about the work that takes place at both, the Air Force Research Laboratory Information Directorate, the Griffiss Institute, and the Innovare Advancement Center.
Once again the students will be competing for college scholarships. The first-place team will each receive a $3,000 scholarship, the second-place team members will each receive a $2,000 scholarship, the third-place team will receive a $1,000 scholarship each, and the fourth-place team will each receive a $500 scholarship.
“We are excited to be holding the competition in person again this year. This year’s challenge involves machine learning and image classification. It is an interesting topic and is relevant to the Air Force Research lab,” says Jeff DeMatteis, the AFRL/RI STEM Outreach Coordinator.
This year’s AFRL Challenge Competition is generously sponsored by Indium Corporation and by Stewart’s Shops – Griffiss location, Floyd Ave, Rome.
The seven area high school teams participating in the 2022 Challenge are:
Central Valley Academy
Students: Seth Brownrigg and Eamon Miller
Teachers: Wes Laurion and Kelly Long
Madison Oneida BOCES
Students: Dylan Snow and Caulin Young-Oster
Teacher: Michael Briggs
Oneida High School
Students: Kaleb Lanz and Jonathan Litwak
Teacher: Pete Gillander
Rome Free Academy
Students: Kenneth Davis and Colyn Seeley
Teacher: Albert Bangs
Thomas R. Proctor High School
Students: Jonathan Howard and Hsa Moo Paw
Teacher: Jessica Dubois
Utica Academy of Science Charter School
Students: Mohamed Alhyawah and Muamer Huseinovic
Teacher: Harun Seker
Westmoreland High School
Students: Sean Hyde and Joshua Suber
Teacher: Nicholas Darrah