Students Alyssa Grossen, 13; David Hoang, 14; and Lauren Mathias, 12, comprised the team with St. Philip Neri teacher Sue Hawkins and electrical engineer Wayne Recla. The team advanced to Washington by winning the Oklahoma regional competition last month. Its city, Chrysalis, is set in the year 2237.
The featured components of St. Philip Neri's communications system are antennas and titanium microchips. An embedded microscopic finger phone transmits voice into an electrical signal through a diaphragm amplifier and antenna. The signal goes to a tower and then to a receiver. Each person's head is embedded with an antenna and microchip that converts the signal into vibrations that are transmitted via bone conduction to the cochlea of the inner ear.
"The concepts behind their system were solid, consistent and well-connected," said award judge Domonique Green, who served with fellow IEEE member and judge Lowell Smith. "Their idea wasn't just focused on one form of communication. They thought about the future and how their system would be an asset to everyone."
IEEE Senior Member Joe Lillie of Lafayette, La., chair of National Engineers Week 2004, presented each team member with a plaque and $100 U.S. Savings Bond. IEEE member Todd Hiemer is a co-regional coordinator for the Oklahoma competition.
The Future City Competition, which IEEE-USA introduced to Engineers Week in 1993, is designed to encourage the future generation of engineers. Seventh and eighth grade students create their own vision of a city of tomorrow, working first on computer and then constructing three-dimensional scale models. About 30,000 students competed this past year. Pittsburgh regional champion Riverview Junior / Senior High School won the overall competition Wednesday. Visit www.futurecity.org or www.eweek.org for more information.
IEEE-USA is an organizational unit of The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., created in 1973 to advance the public good, while promoting the careers and public-policy interests of the more than 225,000 electrical, electronics, computer and software engineers who are U.S. members of the IEEE. The IEEE is the world's largest technical professional society. For more information, go to http://www.ieeeusa.org.