Category Archives: STEM Awards

Engineering Design Challenge, NOVA Fab Lab, STEM Awards

NOVA Fab Lab Design Challenge Winners

July 29, 2021 blenon

NOVA Fab Lab Design Challenge 2021 Winners

On July 14th the NOVA Fab Lab held an in-person awards ceremony to recognize the 2021 Design Challenge winners, alongside their family members and friends, who were able to see their fabricated designs, meet the judges, receive their prizes and participate in a Fab Lab tour!

The Design challenge consisted of secondary and post-secondary students designing a product that would interact with a common household item to create a toy or game, to “make something amazing out of something ordinary.” Participants were judged based upon digital designs and written descriptions. The top three then had their winning designs fabricated in the lab (using a Stratasys F370 3D printer) and received them for the first time at the ceremony.

The 1st place award was won by a two-person team consisting of Charlotte Miller and Michael Neal for their product titled, Puzzle Knot. Numerous rubber bands are hooked and interwoven through the cubical structure of the product and then the user must try to unravel the resultant knot. This team won the top prize of an Ultimaker Original+ 3D printer, one year of Solidworks design software, certificate plaques, and their fabricated product.

Ines Kapur earned 2nd place with her Corkables design. Inspired by a childhood craft project (which she still has today), Ines created a series of fun animal faces and legs which attached to either end of a cork. These could then be personalized several ways. Ines received a voucher for a free product development consultation with Storycraft Lab, one year of Solidworks design software, certificate plaque, and her fabricated product.

The 3rd place award went to Oscar Platt for his Spyn Art Machine, which incorporated multiple 3D-printed parts such as cranks, gears, and pins into an assembly capable of making spirograph art on its spinning circular surface. Oscar received one year of Solidworks design software, a certificate plaque, and multiple fabricated versions of his design.

All participants had a chance to hear from the judges and explore the Fab Lab space. A guided tour was provided after the event with an emphasis on the additive manufacturing technology (3D printing) used to create the winning design prototypes. Awards, support, and volunteer judges were provided by our sponsors the Amtek Company, Storycraft Lab, and Micron. Special thanks to our judges including, Alex Baddock with the Amtek Company, Naomi Claire Crellin with Storycraft Lab, and Afnan Ali with Lockhead Martin. #WeDoSTEM

Original Tweet about the event
Quote Tweet by NOVA President, Dr. Kress

Community Partnerships, Employee Spotlight, Publicity, STEM Awards

NOVA SySTEMic Coordinator Nominated for Gov Award

September 21, 2020 blenon

Tiffanie Rosier, our Woodbridge STEM Coordinator, has been nominated for a 2020 Governor’s Honor Award for Personal and Professional Excellence. Tiffanie specializes in STEM Career Exploration, and has been particularly adept at transitioning STEM Career events into a virtual platform, connecting with both students and the corporate world. Tiffanie has also taken on the role of Remote Student Support (RS3) for NOVA IET.

Summary of Nomination
Ms. Rosier is admired by her NOVA SySTEMic team for her positive outlook, willingness to help, and her commitment to the students at Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA). Ms. Rosier is currently associated with the Perkins Grant Committee and in collaboration with team members to further CTE efforts. Ms. Rosier constantly seeks out and shares opportunities to encourage career development or participate in events to anyone she encounters within the NOVA community.

Significance
The recent restrictions to in-person events due to the COVID-19 pandemic meant there was a need to quickly adapt to a “new normal”. Ms. Rosier put her resilience and resourcefulness to good use to make sure this would be accomplished.

Initiative and Creativity
Without the ability to host in-person events, the career focused, Ms. Rosier, focused her energy into seamlessly transitioning into a virtual platform; allowing accessibility to a broader, diverse
audience. Ms. Rosier’s numerous connections in the corporate world has allowed her to provide greater exposure to all NOVA students. Most recently, she partnered with NOVA’s Career Connection team and organizations like Leidos and LinkedIn to make engaging and educational virtual events accessible during a critical time when employment was a concern for many students.

Ms. Rosier also recently stepped in to fill the need within the Information and Engineering Technologies Division as a Remote Student Support (RS3) advisor. Within four months, Ms. Rosier has taken ownership of this new role and is actively involved in guiding new and current students.

Benefit
She continues to coordinate with NOVA faculty and staff to offer professional and personal growth opportunities and has reached over 800 students in the past year. As an RS3 Advisor, Ms.
Rosier, successfully connected with upwards of 300 students and 25 military veterans to provide them advising, guidance in course sections, and completing financial aid requirements. Every individual Ms. Rosier reaches will be more prepared for their educational and career path because of her efforts.

Mission
In line with the mission of Northern Virginia Community College, Ms. Rosier delivers exceptional service to the college as well as the community. Her dedication to career development has proven to inspire students to set goals, challenge themselves, and explore opportunities in Northern Virginia’s competitive workforce.

Quote from Nominee
“I am honored to receive the nomination for the Personal & Professional Excellence Award! I consider myself a lifelong learner and people have always shared information with me about the importance of personal and professional development as early as my college years. I try to seize any opportunity that I can to learn something new or enhance myself by strengthening myself in other areas. I am a firm believer in giving and giving back and leave no one behind. I try to share all that I can with others, in order to support them in thinking about their own personal or professional development needs.”

Business Engagement, Community Partnerships, IET Newsletter, NOVA Loudoun Campus, NOVA STEM Faculty, STEM Awards, STEM Courses, STEM Degrees

NOVA Adjunct Wins NVTC Data Center Champion Award

August 28, 2020 blenon

NOVA Adjunct Faculty T.J. Ciccone has been named the Data Center Community Champion at the 2nd annual NVTC Virginia Data Center Awards in McLean for his leadership, support, and contributions to NOVA’s Data Center Operations (DCO) program and students.

The virtual event was attended by more than 150 industry executives, economic development professionals and state elected officials to recognize individuals and projects that represent excellence in areas of sustainability, construction, support, and advocacy and community engagement. Northern Virginia is the largest data center market in the world, according to NVTC’s 2020 Impact of Data Centers on the State and Local Economies of Virginia. You can read more about the 2nd annual NVTC awards here.

Professor Ciccone is the Vice President of Critical Operations at Stack Infrastructure and has helped lead the way in Data Center Operations for our college community by creating industry engagement opportunities for NOVA students, building industry-driven curriculum and providing data center tours and on-site laboratory activities.

His class at NOVA, ENE 195 – Intro to Data Center Operations (DCO), is part of the NOVA Engineering Technology A.A.S Degree DCO Specialization as well as the DCO Certificate program and expands basic knowledge on how data centers work from an engineering standpoint. This course is the only fully college accredited data center program in Virginia and more than 70% of students who have taken the intro course are now working in a data center. Professor Ciccone is teaching in-person (with social distancing) this semester at the Loudoun campus.

He responded to his NVTC award by saying “I am honored to be named a Data Center Community Champion, and beyond grateful to Northern Virginia Community College for embracing the need for an accredited data center program. It expands and increases the available talent pool, the diversity of candidates for the labor force, and most importantly the opportunity for young people from all walks of life to enter a career in technology. To be part of this, the largest data center market in the world, is very humbling.”

Congratulations, Professor Ciccone – we’re grateful to have you at NOVA!

#BoldlyNOVA #WeDoSTEM