Category Archives: NOVA Awards

3D Printing, Community Partnerships, Design Challenge, Design Thinking, Fab Lab, Fabrication, Makers By Design NSF Grant, NOVA Awards, NOVA Fab Lab, STEM Awards

Spring Fab Lab Design Challenge Winners Awarded

Congratulations to the winners of the Spring ’23 NOVA Fab Lab Design Challenge!

The theme for this semester was Upcycling, where we challenged college, high school, and middle school students to use their innovative skills to design a product that reuses discarded objects or materials to create a product of usefulness and quality.

Grand prize winners Anirudh Holavanahalli, Rohan Matta, and Ajay Penugonda designed tires into a functional bookshelf, called “HigherTire”. They were awarded $1000 to split and their product was fabricated by the Fab Lab staff.

Anirudh Holavanahalli reflected “I like the concept of the design challenge and I’m also happy with the design that we as a team created. We reused old tires and added some wood and mechanics. I really like how the design looks, it’s hard to create. [The fabrication] looks exact and identical.

Fellow grand champion Rohan Matta added “I really like the design challenge because you don’t really see these types of upcycle designs, where it’s not just about how cool it looks. I never thought the final product would come out this good.”
Northern Virginia Community College students were well represented in the post-secondary division. Champion Makayla Draper participated in her second design challenge, also winning last Fall, and said she enjoyed “the theory aspect of this challenge.” Fellow NOVA compatriot Joe Le Sage also enjoyed the challenge, saying “it was fun to participate. I needed an excuse to design something and this was a good excuse.”

Mary Ratcliff, one of our Fab Lab Coordinators, started at NOVA in the fall and from week one was involved in conceptualizing the upcycling idea for the challenge and spearheading the logistics of communicating with participants and fabricating the product alongside Fab Lab Coordinator Richard Sewell and technician David Burn.

Ratcliff said “the Spring Design Challenge Awards Ceremony was a celebration of creativity, innovation, and resourcefulness. Winners from middle school, high school, and post-secondary divisions were honored for their imaginative, yet practical applications of upcycling. Wood pallets, CDs, and plastic bottles were just a few of the transformed materials incorporated into the winning designs. Congratulations to all Spring Design Challenge participants!”

One of the judges, John Hicks, owner of Fillagreen, loved the sustainability potential for upcycled products and reflected on his involvement:

“It was a great experience to see the creativity and thought leaders in today’s students. I look forward to seeing the great positive impact these participants will make on the world! Sustainability is within reach and is attainable through small steps.”

Thank you to our sponsors and community partners BAE Systems, Inc., Micron Technology, and Fillagreen as well as our judges John Hicks, David Tuohey, and Jim Crane.

We will be announcing our next Fab Lab Design Challenge in the Fall. For updates sign up for our monthly IET Newsletter at newsletter.novastem.us

#WeDoSTEM #DesignThinking #Upcycling

Career & Technical Education, Career Skills, CTE, Cybersecurity, Engineering Technology, Information Technology, Internet of Things, Interpersonal Skills, Mentoring, NOVA Awards, NOVA IET, SkillsUSA, STEM Awards, Student Success

NOVA Wins Gold, Silver, and Bronze at SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference!

NOVA’s SkillsUSA National Competitors

Back Row (L to R): Soham Nawthale, Jonatan Solomon Gebremichael, Nathaniel Bunger, Ardian Peach

Front Row: Takeshi Tamashiro-Pardo, Marcus Dent, Claudio Molina, Dhyuthi Chegu, Kanykei Korosheva, Mahelet Gebremichael, Nora Kaup

Last September, upon being recognized at a special NOVA ceremony for winning a bronze medal in Cybersecurity at the 2022 SkillsUSA National Conference, Ardian Peach was prescient about NOVA prospects in future SkillsUSA events when he declared “although this is NOVA’s first medal on the national stage, it won’t be the last.”

How right he was. Last week, June 19-23, at the 2023 SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference in Atlanta, NOVA took home Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals, with Peach one-upping himself from last year with a silver in Cybersecurity.

The Skills USA National Leadership & Skills Conference is the ultimate recognition of excellence in career and technical education. This event brings together thousands of students, instructors, business partners, and administrators to celebrate the accomplishments of those preparing for careers in trade, technical and skilled service occupations, and it’s an incredible opportunity for students to showcase their talents and skills on the national level.

NOVA’s Jonatan Solomon Gebremichael Wins Gold!

NOVA triumphed with their first national gold. Jonatan Solomon Gebremichael won in the category of Internet of Things: Smart Homes, a three-day intense hands on event where he was required to install a smart TV, smart thermostat, antennae and more onto a make shift room. The event included a troubleshooting component which required him to fix certain things that “went wrong” with his installation.

Gebremichael was ecstatic over his win, saying “It felt amazing. It was something that I’ve never thought would happen because I did not imagine that I was going to win. I worked so hard, not because I wanted to win, but because I truly enjoy what I do. Being encapsulated in my work and my love and appreciation for STEM and engineering led me to this moment. I’ve won at other competitions, but nothing this big nationally, and for that I am so, so happy. Words cannot even express right now. NOVA has brought me to the forefront of my dreams.”

Read more about Jonatan’s experience here.

As mentioned earlier, Ardian Peach returned to take silver in Cybersecurity and earned back-to-back National stage winner status. The three-person team of Nathaniel Bunger, Kanykei Korosheva and Mahelet Gebremichael earned bronze in the Engineering Technology Design team challenge. Claudio Molina also took bronze in Principles of Engineering.  Dhyuthi Chegu took the silver in Extemporaneous Speaking.

Mahelet Gebremichael, Kanykei Korosheva, and Ardian Peach with their medals.

Ardian Peach remarked on his continued success “there’s really something special about being able to compete at nationals against some of the brightest students in the country, and fly home with a medal. We’ve proven that our skills go far outside the classroom and have real world impact, and I’m really proud of that. I’ve gotten opportunities at NOVA that I couldn’t get at a lot of 4 year institutions, which have definitely put me ahead. Shoutout to AllCyber at the Woodbridge campus for helping me prepare for SkillsUSA Nationals!”

Peach will transfer to University of Central Florida this Fall and just this week received news that he has been accepted to the USA National Cybersecurity Camp/Combine, which is used to select the team to compete at the International Cybersecurity Challenge.

NOVA’s SkillsUSA team began their journey in Fall 2022, which culminated in 13 gold medals at the State Championship in April (read more about that here) and 12 students qualifying for Nationals. Students arrived in Atlanta on Monday, June 19, registered and went straight to work.  Some worked on final adjustments to their projects, others put in one final night of studying and review while others met other students and industry professionals from across the country.  The conference was held at the Georgia World Congress Center with some events held at nearby venues.  Thousands of students competed from all 50 states.

The theme for the conference was “Our Time is Now” and NOVA students proved themselves up to the task.  Each team member supported each other and cheered each other on as the conference and competitive events progressed.

One of the bronze medalists In Engineering Technology, Kanykei Korosheva (who is also president of NOVA’s Student Government Association), said that being part of SkillsUSA “has truly been an extraordinary journey throughout my college experience, enriching me with invaluable skills and unforgettable memories. The camaraderie and collaborative spirit we fostered as a team were instrumental in our success. The networking aspect of SkillsUSA opened doors to new friendships, mentorship possibilities, and potential career prospects.”

Her teammate Mahelet Gebremichael added “this has been an incredible journey for me. It required courage to step out of my comfort zone and explore various areas of engineering, technology, and design through my competition. NOVA has played a crucial role in my growth by providing opportunities to engage in clubs, attend conferences, and even pursue an internship that exposed me to real-world applications of my studies. NOVA’s commitment to providing opportunities for all students, regardless of their background or level of confidence, is truly remarkable and Skills USA plays a big role in connecting students with the same passion and interest, providing a platform for collaboration and learning from one another.”

Nate Bunger, a fellow bronze medalist, was similarly grateful for the support he has received in his success: “SkillsUSA, along with the gracious help and resources of NOVA, helped build my skills, let me explore my passion, and gave me the tools necessary to succeed in our competition.”

NOVA’s medalists are listed below.

  • Jonathan Solomon Gebremichael – Gold medal: Smart Homes, Internet of Things
  • Ardian Peach – Silver medal: Cybersecurity
  • Dhyuthi Chegu – Silver medal: Extemporaneous Speaking
  • Nathaniel Bunger – Bronze medal: Engineering Technology Design, 3-person team event
  • Mahelet Gebremichael – Bronze medal: Engineering Technology Design, 3-person team event
  • Kanykei Korosheva – Bronze medal: Engineering Technology Design, 3-person team event
  • Claudio Molina – Bronze medal: Principles of Engineering

There was success for other NOVA students as well. Marcus Dent, placed 5th in telecommunications/cabling and received an immediate job offer from his mentor. Takeshi Tamashiro-Pardo competed in Information Technology and earned his industry certification, CompTIA A+ core 1 and core 2.

Along with all the students listed above, Nora Kaup – First aid/CPR, Soham Nawthale – Computer Programming, and Tanjim Redhwan – Realted Technical Math competed at the national level after winning at the State Championship in April.

Special thanks goes to NOVA IET’s CTE Coordinator M. Andy Chaves and NOVA SySTEMic’s Fab Lab Coordinator Mary Ratcliff for expertly guiding and advising students through the entire process.

Congratulations SkillsUSA NOVA students! You make us proud and boldly lead the way for others at NOVA to strive and succeed.

#BoldyNOVA #SkillsUSA #InDemandTech #NOVAIET

Career & Technical Education, Career Skills, Computer Programming, Cybersecurity, Engineering Technology, Information Technology, Interpersonal Skills, Mentoring, Network Engineering, NOVA Awards, SkillsUSA, STEM Competitions, Student Success

NOVA Students Win 13 Gold Medals at SkillsUSA State Championship!

At the SkillsUSA Virginia State Leadership Conference in Virginia Beach this past weekend, 15 students represented Northern Virginia Community College: 13 won gold medals for NOVA and 2 won silver!

Each of the gold medalists were declared State Champions in their respective competitive events (including Cybersecurity, Computer Programming, Engineering Technology Design, Information Technology Services, and more) and qualify for the National SkillsUSA Conference in June in Atlanta.

Overall there were 10 individual champions and 2 team champions (a two-person team and a three-person team).  Here are the winning NOVA students and their events:

Competition # on team NOVA Student/SKILLSUSA Member SkillsUSA Virginia State Leadership Conference 2023 Placement
Computer Programming 1 Soham Nawthale State Champion
Related Technical Math 1 Tanjim Redhwan State Champion
Cybersecurity 2 Chimere Nzedu State Champion
Cybersecurity 2 Ardian Peach State Champion
Engineering Technology Design 3 Maddie Gebremichael State Champion
Engineering Technology Design 3 Kanykei Korosheva State Champion
Engineering Technology Design 3 Nathaniel Bunger State Champion
Internet of Things 1 Jonathan Solomon Gebremichael State Champion
Extemp Speaking 1 Dhyuthi Chegu State Champion
First Aid CPR 1 Cindy Tran Silver Medalist
First Aid CPR 1 Nora Kaup State Champion
Information Technology Services 1 Alyssa Vasilica Silver Medalist
Principles of Engineering 1 Takeshi Tamashiro-Pardo* State Champion
Telecommunications & Cabling 1 Claudio Molina State Champion

The State Leadership Conference provided students with the opportunity to utilize the technical knowledge learned in the classroom to solve problems and apply what they learned (with coaching and advising from industry professionals) in a competition environment. Now they have the opportunity to represent NOVA on the national stage!

#InDemand #SkillsUSA

 

Design Thinking, Engineering Design Challenge, Fab Lab, NOVA Awards, NOVA Fab Lab

Fab Lab Design Challenge

 

Congratulations to our NOVA Fab Lab Design Challenge Winners for Spring 2022!

The NOVA Fab Lab held an in-person awards ceremony on Thursday, June 16th to recognize the Spring 2022 Design Challenge winners. As the ceremony’s highlight, students were able to see their designs realized as the actual fabricated products were revealed to them for the first time, alongside family members and friends. Participants also received their prizes, networked with judges and sponsors, and toured NOVA’s state-of-the-art Fab Lab after the event. This year’s challenge was for middle school, high school, or college students to design or refine a product to improve any area of their school. Sponsors for the Design Challenge were BAE Systems, Micron, Amtek Company, Digital Realty, and Dewberry Engineering.

Design Thinking and creative solutions to common challenges are a prominent feature in STEM education and the technology workforce, making the Design Challenge a touchstone for talented young minds to generate ideas in an equitable way. The NOVA Fab Lab’s mission is to decrease the growing skills gap in the Digital Fabrication arena by providing students a more holistic fabrication experience, including access to the most advanced processes, training in 3D Modeling and design, and a foundation in the principles of Design Thinking and creative problem solving.

With a goal of broadening participation and meeting students where they are at, NOVA allowed student entries in any format, including hand-drawn submissions. This was done to re-focus the goal away from simply displaying digital proficiency and more toward ‘solving a problem’ in their community. “One of the Fab Lab missions is to empower students to think and fabricate in unison and help them unlock their potential to recognize and solve complex problems” said Richard Sewell, NOVA’s Fab Lab Coordinator.

Prior to the final submissions, the NOVA Fab Lab provided 16 free Dominating Our Design Challenge prep sessions in February and March. The first, entitled Using Design Thinking, provided a process for moving an idea to a functional solution. The second, Learning the Tools,helped participants learn the strengths and weaknesses for rapid prototyping on four common fabrication technologies: laser cutting, 3D Printing, CNC Routing, and plastic thermoforming. Dominating Our Design Challenge sessions were utilized by 141 participants in 4 locations: Prince William Public Libraries, Arlington Tech, SERVE Family Shelter, the NOVA Fab Lab, and virtually.

After the design submission deadline of April 17, the Fab Lab received 62 total entries, comprised of 123 participants. Once submitted, participants were judged based upon their digital or hand-drawn designs and written descriptions. The top three then had their winning designs fabricated by our Fab Lab team using a CNC router, woodshop equipment and hand tools as well as a Stratasys F370 3D printer and received their fabricated products at the ceremony.

The 1st place award was won by a two-person team consisting of Eli Reeder and Logan Pennington from The Nokesville School for their product titled, iDesk, which is a desk with an iPad screen and charger built-in. The iDesk solves the problem of having to charge laptops and is purposed so that teachers can send assignments directly to the desk tablet. Eli and Logan won the top prize of $500 plus an Ender-3 S1 3D printer, certificate plaques, and their fabricated product.

NOVA’s own Carmen Chica earned 2nd place with her All In Chair design, a desk with a wide backplate chair composed of two adjustable arms to create right-handed and left-handed usage, so all students feel included. Carmen was awarded $300, a 3D printer, a certificate plaque, and her fabricated product.

The 3rd place award went to Harris Lechtman, from George C. Marshall High School for his Study Buddy Organizer, which offers a solution to limited desk space through an attachment that holds a phone, a drink, pencil slots and other sections for desk items. Harris won $100 plus the 3D printer, plaque, and his fabricated product.

Fab Lab Coordinator Lance Lacey reflected on the payoff of a design coming to realization: “I always enjoy seeing the students expressions as they interact with the physical prototype of their idea for the first time. Before it was an idea and a sketch, but then they see an actual functioning product!”

There were also three honorable mention designs: Eva Torrico from Thomas Jefferson Middle School submitted a Terretami Fork, which combines a spoon, fork, knife, straw, chopsticks, and a milk puncturer all into one reusable utensil.

Tyler Freeman, Connor Freeman, and Lucas Morton from MOT Charter High Schooldesigned a Recyclable Lunch Tray with biodegradable and recyclable material that can be vacuum-formed to allow for bulk-production.

Devin Gerdes, from NOVA, was recognized for Print Catcher, which is a customized basket that prevents sheets from touching the ground once they have been printed.

The Design Challenge is made less of a challenge for NOVA SySTEMic to organize thanks to the generous support of our sponsors: BAE Systems (special thanks to David Sargent and Hannah Wilson), Micron (Zuzana Steen and Robert Simmons), Amtek Company (Alex Baddock), Digital Realty, and Dewberry Engineering (Arlene Evans and Barry Dewberry–Arlene is a NOVA Alumna!)

Industry representatives also served as Design Challenge Judges: from BAE, Jim Sturim (a Project Engineer) and Elly Taylor (a Test Technician). From Digital Realty, Karen Petersburg (a Design Manager), and from Dewberry Engineering, Carmen Bere (a Project Engineer).

The Design Challenge also received stellar support from NOVA, including Dr. Chad Knights, VP of IET and College Computing; IET Dean Paula Ford, Dean of Math, Science, and Engineering; Dr. Abe Eftekari, NOVA SySTEMic Program Manager; Aleksander Marthinussen and Kelly Persons from the NOVA Foundation. NOVA Faculty Nina Lord and Michael Spiller also brought their classes over to the Fab Lab to participate.

Additional recognition and thanks to Kristen Burnham from Prince William Public Libraries, Michelle Van Lare from Arlington Tech, Brittany Greer from Rosie Riveters and Amrata Sahasrabudhe from SERVE Family Shelter.

Finally, special recognition goes to the NOVA Fab Lab team including Lance Lacey, Richard Sewell, Brendan Murphy, Kai Le and Valerie Bierhuizen, who developed, strategized and implemented Design Challenge procedures for months, as well as providing effective outreach to get all participants and sponsors involved.

NOVA SySTEMic Coordinator Brendan Murphy reflected on the focus of student creativity: “We built the challenge to be intentionally open-ended to allow for a wide variety of solutions. It’s truly exciting and inspiring to see the creative ideas that students design.”

First place winners Eli Reeder and Logan Pennington had some sage advice for aspiring future Design Challenge participants; “No idea is a bad idea,” said Eli. “Don’t stress out, because you have a lot of time to do it. You spend most of your time brainstorming. Keep it simple,” Logan added. “If you have a good idea already, don’t stress yourself trying to improve it, just tweak the small things.”

The inaugural Design Challenge Ceremony in July 2021 began the process of bringing back in-person events to the Fab Lab. Going forward, the challenge will be held twice-a-year, in both the fall and spring semesters and is open to middle school, high school and college students.

More information about the Fall Design Challenge will be available here and on the NOVA Fab Lab page by the end of the summer.

#WeDoSTEM #DesignThinking

Employee Spotlight, Engineering Technology, Information Technology, NOVA Awards, NOVA IET, NOVA IET Career Pathways

Staff Spotlight: Allison McElfresh is a 2022 NOVA Reward and Recognition Program Awardee

Congratulations to IET Advising’s Allison McElfresh for being a 2022 NOVA Reward and Recognition Program awardee!

The Reward and Recognition Program recognizes administrative and professional faculty, classified staff, teaching faculty, and adjunct faculty who have demonstrated outstanding contributions and exemplary performance.

Allison McElfresh is the strategic lead for advising for students in any of NOVA’s Seventeen Information and Engineering Technology associate degrees and career studies certificates. She brings 14 years of experience as an Advisor and Program Analyst at NOVA to her role.  According to Allison, “One of the greatest challenges of the advising position is finding a balance between responsive advising, where we provide support to students who contact us because they know they need help vs proactive advising, where we try to anticipate problems our IET students might encounter and then attempt to solve those problems before the student even becomes aware of them.”

Her vision is to use data more effectively when advising students and to create resources that help students more easily find the information they need regarding course selection and transfer planning.

So far, she has been able to combine Python programming and Excel to produce tracking sheets that show which students have completed which requirements for their degrees or certificates, so the IET Advisors could identify students who had completed a CSC without being aware of it, so they could be contacted to apply for graduation.  The sheets have also been useful in identifying students who had applied for graduation but forgotten to transfer classes in from another college, allowing those students to complete the transfer process in time.

Allison regularly takes IT classes at NOVA herself in order to acquire the skills to better solve advising problems.  She has been taking courses in Python Programming and Advanced Database Management, and will be working towards the new Data Analytics Specialist CSC which should be added to NOVA’s curriculum sometime in 2023.

“I can’t wait to see the ways in which Machine Learning and Data Analytics can help me find creative ways to advise my students better.”  If you have any advising questions for one of the IET degree or certificate programs, you can reach Allison McElfresh and the other members of the IET Advising team at iet@nvcc.edu.