By UNIVERSITY RELATIONS
Fort Hays State University’s chapter of the Technology and Engineering Education Collegiate Association won five individual national championships and the all-around national title in nine competitive events against 12 other universities at the 82nd annual International Technology and Engineering Educators Association conference in Baltimore.
Twenty-six students and four sponsors represented the university.
The Technology Challenge team took the championship in the Technology Challenge, a quiz-bowl style competition with categories in the history and evolution of technology, education theory and pedagogy, engineering design, manufacturing and production, power, energy, and transportation, construction, and communication.
Team members were Luke Barber, Jerry Hoffman, Mark Schuckman and Casey Shinkle.
For the third consecutive year, FHSU also won the Live Manufacturing Competition, which required students to create a desktop game called “Tiki Toss” while developing and implementing a complete manufacturing assembly line, producing a final manufactured product on site.
Teams are judged on criteria consisting of but not limited to, product design, flow and operation process, product quality, aesthetic appeal, and the overall performance and operation of the manufacturing process.
Team members were Jordan Boone, Michael Dick, Eric Prockish, Dason Sweat, Hoffman and Shinkle.
FHSU also won the Problem Solving Competition for the third time in four years. The competition required them to design, build and program a scaled replica of an automated restaurant using an Arduino platform.
Their design featured an all acrylic floor plan that showcased construction techniques, electrical wiring and electrical components. The design had to move food from the kitchen to the tables and then to the dishwasher.
Team members were Vincent Evans, Daniel Fagan, Dalton Kraus and Benjamin Windom.
The Robotics teams earned first and second place finishes at nationals this year. Team No. 1, the National VEX Robotics champion, was Micah Nuss, Tage Rothchild, Jordan Sargent, and Barber.
This was Fort Hays State’s third title in the last four years.
Fort Hays State’s second-place Team No. 2 drew all its members from the university’s Kansas Academy of Mathematics and Science and the Academy of Mathematics and Science, which has students from other states and countries.
The team was Hyunjun “Brian” Chang; Daniel Hong; Sangwon Ji; Hanbit Kim; Jaeyol “Peter” Lee, Yuxan “Marsh” Ma; Hwuiyun “Jacob” Park; Joonha Park; June Park; Aum Pate; and Brady Schoenrogge.
FHSU’s Educational Display team earned a first- and a third-place finish in the Education Display competition, which requires individuals from each team to apply to present at the International Technology and Engineering Education Association STEM Showcase.
In this peer-reviewed process, individuals are notified if their submissions are accepted. The students are required to create showcase displays which they present at the conference. They also submit research papers on their showcases. Technology and engineering educators serve as judges.
Schuckman won a national championship with his research on drone technology and Matthew Freel placed third with his research on Lichtenberg wood figures.