Category Archives: Product Design Incubator (PDI)

ATE PI Conference 2024, BUILD Welding NSF Grant, Conferences, Data Center Operations, DCO PD NSF Grant, DCO Professional Learning Fellowship, Design Thinking, Digital Fabrication, Fabrication, In-Demand Technology Pathways, NSF Grants, PDI NSF Grant, Product Design Incubator (PDI)

Promoting NOVA Grant Funded Programs at the ATE PI Conference in DC

3 grant award programs showcased at the annual DC event

The 2024 NSF ATE PI (Principal Investigator’s) Conference successfully wrapped up this month in Washington, D.C., gathering over 850 ATE (Advanced Technical Education) grantees and partners from across the U.S.

The event provides a valuable opportunity for sharing innovations and fostering collaboration among educators in advanced technological education. Teams from NOVA SySTEMic and NOVA IET attended, as well as students from NOVA’s Product Design Incubator (PDI) program, to actively raise awareness about National Science Foundation (NSF) grant-funded initiatives through presentations, spotlight sessions, and networking events.

NOVA highlighted 3 different NSF grant award programs in spotlight sessions and through ATE Connects, a hub for networking and collaboration where ATE projects are showcased with posters, materials, and discussion.

The 3 highlighted NSF grant awards were:

  1. Data Center Operations Program Development (DCO PD), which seeks to support colleges across the country in developing programs, courses and content to increase capacity for data center education through 3 components; A DCO Professional Learning (PL) Fellowship for educators, An awareness and recruitment campaign through ACTE’s national conferences, and a Data Center Education Digital Resource Hub. More info about DCO PD can be found here. 
  2. The Product Design Incubator (PDI), which prepares community college students for success in digital fabrication through a product design challenge, guiding them from ideation to final presentation. PDI’s goals are to increase industry engagement, foster interdisciplinary collaboration, and produce IET workers with strong communication, collaboration, and critical thinking skills – all highly valued by regional employers. To date, PDI has completed 2 cohorts at NOVA. In 2025, we plan to accept our last cohort of 24 students and increase collaboration with our industry and academic partners. More about PDI here.
  3. BUILD: Futures in Welding and Fabrication. The NSF BUILD grant is a new and developing program that will enhance welding instruction at NOVA by redesigning and restructuring courses to align with industry demands, addressing the regional need for a new generation of skilled welders in an aging workforce. BUILD will offer additional support resources to welding students, boosting their competitiveness in the job market. BUILD has 4 goals: to rebuild and modernize the welding credential, to develop a welding fabrication capstone course, to improve access to welding co-curricular support, and to increase outreach to High School students. More about NOVA’s welding program can be found here.
Career Skills, Design Thinking, Entrepreneurship, Grants, Interpersonal Skills, Mentoring, Networking, NOVA Fab Lab, PDI NSF Grant, Product Design Incubator (PDI), Women in IET

NOVA’s Fab Lab Completes 2nd Product Design Incubator (PDI) Cohort

On June 14, the NOVA Fab Lab held a Product Design Incubator (PDI) Pitch Event at the Richard J. Ernst Community Cultural Center at the NOVA Annandale Campus.

Sixteen PDI fellows showcased their innovative product design ideas aimed at improving disaster readiness, financial education, closet assistance, timeliness, and cybersecurity.

The presentations were made to an audience that included 12 NOVA professors, four deans, past PDI fellows, and industry guests from Capital One, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), serial entrepreneurs from new startups, GDIT, Microsoft, and Amazon.

PDI, funded by the National Science Foundation, took place at NOVA’s Manassas campus and aimed to equip students with interdisciplinary product design skills. It was created in response to industry partners’ demand for candidates proficient in collaboration, communication, problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity, and innovation.

Throughout the spring, students participated in entrepreneurship workshops, working in interdisciplinary groups to brainstorm, collect data, and develop solutions. Over the summer, they transformed their concepts into tangible products, creating marketing materials, pitches, and prototypes.

Richard Sewell, Fab Lab Coordinator, led the program, with IET Project Manager Chris Russell and Associate Professor of Business Administration Cameisha Chin serving as co-leads.

Cameisha shared, “Students engaged in meaningful collaborative efforts during the program. At times, they mitigated difficult decisions, mediated differences, and worked to achieve their goals on a timeline.  They produced outcomes that were meaningful to each member of their group based on the ideation methodology.”

Cybersecurity fellow Khan Richardson and Cloud Computing fellow Saugat Dhakal developed “blackbox,” a device that intercepts and monitors wireless signals using Signals Intelligence (SIGINT), which involves collecting and analyzing electronic signals and communication-related information.

Both students praised the program, with Khan stating, “We wouldn’t be at this event without the tools and the instructors that the Fab Lab provided us.” Saugat added, “The Fab Lab exposed us to people outside of our majors, and we learned how to use the UV and 3D printers, which made us more confident.”

Judy Marouf, Mohamed Aziz Laouiti, and Jonathan Bonilla created “closetpal,” a personal style assistance app that helps users plan outfits based on the weather, mood, and destination. Users can upload photos of their clothes, and over time, the app will get to know their style preferences better.

Mohamed explained, “I enjoyed working in a team and coming up with an idea that wasn’t my own. We were advised not to bring in our own ideas. They wanted us to start from scratch because that way, each team member owns a part of the product.”

Judy shared, “The really cool thing is that during the first two weeks of the program, we learned something new every day—printing, making t-shirts and stickers, and much more. We learned who we are as teammates, too, and that’s something you don’t usually get to do. I was so close to not applying because I was scared, but I’m so glad I did. I’m so grateful for this opportunity.”

Cloud Computing fellow Camila Lemes Goncalves and engineering student Katie Velasco-Nunez designed “We Nudge,” an app that combines a navigation system with digital calendars, providing appointment reminders and traffic updates. Like “closetpal,” over time “We Nudge” will get to know users’ habits better.

Katie explained, “Camila and I were trying to figure out a common problem we had. After Mr. Russell asked several students why they were late, we came up with this idea. I love our project and was motivated to come to the Fab Lab, which I hadn’t known about until my engineering professor brought our class here. Mr. Sewell gave us the whole spiel, which definitely caught my attention.”

“Moolah,” a budgeting app for college students aged 18 to 25, was developed by cybersecurity student Robert Biliter, business and administration student Haritha Pisupati, computer science student Anosha Khairi, and computer engineering student Jaden Todd. A key component is to partner with colleges in order to keep the app free for students.

The team emphasized the supportive environment of the Fab Lab. Jaden said, “It’s a comfortable environment for both science and art students to meet and match up. It allows us to take ideas and turn them into reality.”

Haritha added, “I think it’s the aesthetic and the vibe itself. The environment helps you concentrate. It’s a place where you can meet people who are different from you and learn a lot from them.”

Team “Hermes Net,” consisting of business management student Stephanie Marino, engineering student  Helina Semu, engineering and welding student Matthew Manero, and general studies student Kyle Morrison, created an autonomous drone system that uses waypoint technology and cellular repeaters to deploy cellular service over disaster-struck areas.

Helina highlighted the importance of their product, saying, “Imagine you’re in an area that has been struck by a disaster. You can’t call for help, you can’t call your family. Your family’s trying to call you, but they can’t get to you. Imagine the relief it would provide to know that even if something like this happened to you, your calls could get through.”

“It’s an obvious physical need; you need to be able to call for help, but it’s also an emotional need. Even if you’re fine and your family’s fine, just knowing that is important,” added Kyle.

Fab Lab employee Jason Armstrong, who participated in PDI last year, said, “Seeing the pitches was really cool because I recognized all the hard work these students put in. I appreciated it more because I knew how challenging the program was.”

Richard Sewell expressed his admiration for the students’ dedication, saying, “It’s always amazing to see what students come up with and how far they take it when push comes to shove. Their answers showed how much time they spent thinking about logistics.”

The event acknowledged the invaluable contributions of faculty mentors, directors, deans, speakers, and industry partners who provided guidance and feedback to the students throughout the program.

Design Challenge, Design Thinking, Fabrication, Fellowships, NOVA Fab Lab, NSF Grant, Product Design Incubator, Product Design Incubator (PDI), Professional Development

PDI Entrepreneur Group Spotlight: Hermes Net and We Nudge

NOVA Fab Lab’s Product Design Incubator (PDI): From Idea to Reality 

Sixteen NOVA fellows from various academic fields, including business administration, computer science, engineering, and more, participated in NOVA Fab Lab’s second Product Design Incubator (PDI), funded by the National Science Foundation.

Fab Lab Coordinator Richard Sewell is the program lead, with IET Project Manager Chris Russell and Associate Professor of Business Administration Cameisha Chin serving as co-leads.

“The goal of PDI is to take students without any design experience and help them create a fully formed idea,” Chris explained.

Fellows learned entrepreneurship skills during six spring semester workshops, designed and prototyped a project during a summer product design incubator, pitched their project to regional entrepreneurs, and received a stipend upon completion.

To start, five groups of fellows brainstormed ideas using the Disagio Model. “Disagio” is an Italian word meaning “discomfort” or “unease.” A disagio is something that bothers you, a source of a problem that recurs in your mind over and over again. After identifying numerous disagi, groups chose one that resonated with all of them. Here we take a closer look at two of our groups: Hermes Net and We Nudge.

Hermes Net

Engineering student Helina Semu, engineering and welding student Matthew Manero, general studies student Kyle Morrison, and business management student Stephanie Marino designed “Hermes Net,” a product that uses drones to provide cellular service to areas affected by natural disasters. Hermes Net is named after Hermes, the Greek god known as the “messenger.”

Kyle explained, “During a natural disaster, local cell towers are often down, causing phones to connect to distant towers, which then become overloaded. Our drones, positioned higher in the air with a better line of sight, would receive signals from the phones and distribute the load to more distant cell towers, alleviating the congestion.”

Embarking on such an ambitious project was both exciting and challenging. “There are various aspects to our project including aerospace, electronics, communications, business, and organization,” Matthew said.

Other challenges included being unable to find information about a specific drone they were interested in, including its cost and size, and having difficulty finding products to compare theirs to, considering their particular product hasn’t been designed before.

Despite these challenges, when asked if they would recommend PDI to their NOVA peers, they replied with a collective, “Absolutely.” They mentioned gaining technical skills, soft skills, public speaking skills, discovering new passions, graphic design, Adobe, 3D printing, soldering, and more.

“I’ve never done anything like this before. It’s well-structured, fun, and I’ve learned so much in so little time,” Helina said.

“I loved working with this team,” Stephanie shared. “I loved the aspect of interdisciplinary collaboration because we have such a wide range of talents. It felt like our project had a life of its own—we got to know it as we created it.”

“It’s been amazing getting to know our mentors, teachers, and guest speakers,” NOVA PDI fellow Stephanie Marino said. “They openly shared things they’ve learned along the way and mistakes they’ve made. It made me appreciate the wealth of knowledge this school has. This project and the Fab Lab are wonderful.”

We Nudge

While four fellows collaborated on the “Hermes Net” project, two fellows,  Cloud Computing student Camila Lemes Goncalves and engineering student Katie Velasco-Nunez, designed “We Nudge,” an application that merges a navigation system and digital calendars and sends appointment reminders and traffic updates.

They came up with the idea after noticing how often classmates, as well as themselves, arrived five to ten minutes late to class. “We call it the lateness syndrome,” Katie said.

“We text each other: I’m running late today. I forgot to grab my cell phone. I parked far away today. I left home late. Just little things that make you late. A lot of people feel a connection with our project—being late is a big issue,” Camila shared.

“It’s been interesting to research how being late affects not only the person who is late, but also the person(s) who has been waiting for them,” she added.

Although Camila and Katie were originally part of a team of four, two members of their group exited the program along the way. They were given the option to split up and join other groups or invite others into their group, but they decided to stick together as a team of two. In effect, their workload increased, but so did their trust, connection, and communication.

Both of them recommend PDI as well as the Fab Lab. “It’s been fun getting to learn new things, creating a website, and seeing our project come together,” Katie said. “Resources in the Fab Lab helped a lot.”

“I applied to PDI after I found out about all of the resources in the Fab Lab, including the 3D printer and the laser machine. It’s a great program and will look good on my resume,” Camila said.

NOVA Fab Lab’s PDI shows how teamwork across different fields can lead to innovative ideas. The skills and experiences these students gained will help them in their future careers.

ATE PI Conference 2023, Bridge Programs, Career & Technical Education, Conferences, Data Center Operations, DCO PD NSF Grant, DCO Tech NSF Grant, Design Thinking, Digital Fabrication, Externships, Fabrication, In-Demand Technology Pathways, Makers By Design NSF Grant, PDI NSF Grant, Product Design Incubator (PDI)

NOVA IET Highlights 4 NSF Grants at ATE PI Conference

Our team was on-point with presentations and exhibits at the ATE Principal Investigators’ Conference #ATEPI in Washington, D.C. this week, extolling the various National Science Foundation (NSF) funded grants that have provided us with vital avenues to expand technical education to help meet the need to fill #InDemandTech jobs and careers.

Northern Virginia Community College staff and faculty Josh Labrie, Natasha Schuh-Nuhfer, Richard Sewell, Cameisha Chin, Chris Russell, Jim Crane, and Thomas (TJ) Ciccone, (VP STACK Infrastructure) were on-hand to present and highlight 4 grants at the conference:

DCO PD (Data Center Operations Program Development), intended to raise awareness for the national need for data center operations education and to increase capacity for DCO education at community colleges and technical colleges around the nation.

DCO Tech (Data Center Operations Technology Training), designed to increase regional capacity for training in Engineering Technology and Data Center Operations through expanded recruitment, employment training, and increased collaboration between industry, K-12 educators, and faculty.

MBD (Makers By Design), created to strengthen the engineering technology pathways by providing professional learning for K-12 teachers, running digital fabrication summer camps, and hosting design challenges.

PDI (Product Design Incubator), established to train groups of community college students through a product design challenge, integrating entrepreneurship training and design thinking to guide students from initial ideation through the prototyping and pitch processes.

Read more about these grants and opportunities for fellowships, training, and more at https://lnkd.in/gyGpU22v

The ATE PI conference brings together more than 800 NSF ATE grantees and their project partners to focus on the critical issues related to advanced technological education. Conference participants represent community colleges, business and industry, secondary school systems, and four-year colleges covering projects in a wide variety of areas, such as information technology, engineering technology, micro- and nanotechnologies, chemical technology, biotechnology, and others.

American Association of Community Colleges

#DataCenterOperations #DCO #DesignThinking #Fabrication#Entrepreneurship

Career Skills, Design Thinking, Entrepreneurship, Grants, Networking, NOVA Fab Lab, PDI NSF Grant, Product Design Incubator (PDI)

PDI Completes Inaugural Cohort with Pitch Event

On Friday, June16th students from the Fab Lab’s inaugural Product Design Incubator (PDI) presented their product pitches to an audience of faculty, staff, and industry guests.

PDI is a project designed to train groups of community college students through a product design challenge. The PDI curriculum integrates entrepreneurship training and design thinking to guide students from initial ideation through the prototyping and pitch processes. PDI increases contact between students and industry professionals, fosters interdisciplinary collaboration between NOVA students and staff, and increases the supply of IET workers with industry-required collaboration, communication, and critical thinking skills.

At the pitch event, student groups met informally with guests during a networking event, then gave formal 10-minute pitches. Two product prototypes were presented: Student Rise, a student-led recruitment service for internships; and Novagation, a mobile indoor navigation app for college campuses.

Isaiah Harris, a PDI student who helmed Novigation, said “PDI is a great opportunity because it puts you in contact with so many people in the industry and it allows you to learn so many different skills from business to marketing to product design and creative thinking. Definitely recommended. It really allows you to work as a team and will help you figure out what your strengths are and also how to improve upon your weaknesses.”

Tina Dang, another PDI student added “I’ve been able to meet some amazing people in PDI. It has taught me how to communicate better and learn how to adapt in difficult situations and has also allowed my creativity to expand.”

As far as the advisors, Fab Lab Coordinator Richard Sewell praised what the students achieved: “I’m immensely proud of the work that students accomplished during their time at the Lab. They’ve all shown tremendous growth in their ability to collaborate, innovate, and design.”

In addition, NOVA associate professor of business and PDI advisor Cameisha Chin embarked that “each project presented was clear, compelling, and commercially viable. Students demonstrated both an entrepreneurial spirit and a shrewd business sense.”

For more on PDI in general, click here.

 

Design Thinking, Fabrication, Fellowships, NSF Grant, Product Design Incubator, Product Design Incubator (PDI), Professional Development

Apply For Paid Design Centered Programs

Product Design Incubator:

Do you have a brilliant idea for a new product? The NOVA Fab Lab is hosting a Product Design Incubator for NOVA students to learn design thinking, develop entrepreneurial skills, and prototype and build a product at the NOVA Fab Lab.

PDI participants will:

  • Learn entrepreneurship skills during 6 spring workshops.
  • Design and protype a product during a summer product design incubator.
  • Pitch a product to regional entrepreneurs
  • Receive a $3000 stipend for completion

You can complete a apply PDI application at fablab.novastem.us/PDIapply

PDI is possible thanks to a National Science Foundation (NSF) Grant.