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~: | Tuesday, 0ctober28th, 2014

 

lllinois Tech students take home to prizes
in ComEd Student Innovation Contest

Kori Bowns
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Commonwealth Edison, most com-
monly referred to as ComEd, is the largest
electric utility company in the state of Illinois.
ComEd serves electricity service to the Chi—
cago area and other parts of northern Illinois.

On May 27, 2014, ComEd officially
announced the launch of its new Student In-
novation Challenge, a contest that challenged
students within ComEd’s service area to cre-
ate innovative products or services that would
help low-income customers better manage
their electricity consumption in order to save
money. The solutions had to relate to ComEd’s
new smart meter technology, digital electric
meters that collect energy usage information
and sent it to ComEd at regular intervals, al-
lowing customers to attempt to better under-
stand their energy usage.

The contest received entries from
over 60 students at 11 different colleges and
universities; the top five finalists were selected
to present their ideas at a judging and award
ceremony for a share of a $10,000 prize. These
top five finalists included three proposals de-
signed by IIT students.

On October 23, on the 57th floor

 

of the Chase Building downtown, the judg-
ing and awards ceremony began with a brief
introduction from several ComEd represen-
tatives. ComEd’s President and CEO, Anne
Pramaggiore, led the evening with a few open-
ing remarks. “We knew this competition was
no small task, but we were also confident that
our local talent in our local universities were a
tremendous resource that we need to tap into,”
said Pramaggiore. “The contest submissions
this evening were envisioned by the bright
minds of tomorrow’s innovators, and they are
superb.”

Each proposal then presented their
ideas to a panel of four judges, including Iason
Blumberg, the CEO and Managing Director of
Energy Foundry, Emile Cambry, In, professor
at North Park University’s Kellogg School of
Management and founder of entrepreneurship
incubator BLUE1647, Karen Weigert, Chief
Sustainability Officer for the City of Chicago,
and Andrea Zopp, CEO and President of Chi-
cago Urban League.

The first proposal to present was by
Christina Noonan, a master’s degree candidate
at Illinois Institute of Technology’s Institute of
Design. Her idea focuses on modifying cus-
tomer behavior by using networked energy
monitors that allow customers to know how

ARC Spotlight:
Veronica Hannink

Khaleela Zaman
DISTRIBUTION MANAGER

Occasionally at the Academic Re-
source Center (ARC)’s MMAE table, you will
find Veronica Hannink Finishing out her last
semester at IIT, she has been here for six years
while pursuing a co-terminal degree (both a
bachelor’s and a master’s) in mechanical engi—
neering. Based on the reasons why Veronica
enjoys working at the ARC, it is no surprise
that she has been working there for seven se-
mesters now. “I love to help people learn,” she
says. She enjoys teaching the subject and has
even considered eventually teaching it as a pro—
fession. For now, though, she will be working
in the industry for a while and will see what
happens, knowing the plethora of possibilities
available in her field. Veronica has already se-
cured a job to follow her graduation in Decem—
ber working with Electro-Motive Diesel.

In order to sum up how beneficial
the ARC is for students, Veronica Hannink
said that the ARC is a good resource. She elab—
orated that the tutorscan often identify with
the students on a lot of things, and the tutors
are usually easier to approach with a problem

than the professor. Even just hearing the ma-
terial from a difl'erent perspective in a differ-
ent learning environment than in class with
the professor is often very helpful for students.
There is also the opportunity to go to the ARC
just to work with friends, utilizing the online
materials or coming in for an exam review.
Obviously, the ARC has a lot to offer in order
to help students perform better in their classes.

Who really is MMAE tutor Veronica
Hannink? She considers herself an “eclectic
person,” who balances extracurricular with
her studies. Veronica has run track and cross
country, sang in the a cappella group, and is
a part of the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship.
She clearly “know[s] how to have fun and pur-
sue interests... and how to study.”

Veronica’s piece of advice to students
is to work hard--put in the effort-while also
learning to get enough sleep and eat properly.
She also encourages students to live life to the
fullest, not to just study. She says that college is
“such a time of exploration,” where it is about
“learning about yourself as much as it is about
learning about your field.” In Hannink's words,
“work hard and live we .”

they are using their energy and how they can
change their habits to save money on electric-
ity. .
The next proposal was presented by
Xinli Lin and Szu Ying Ching, also master’s
degree students at IIT’s Institute of Design.
Their proposal is a prepaid electricity program
where customers can buy a prepaid card at 10-
cal retailers, link that value with their ComEd
account, then monitor the money and energy
that they spend as time goes on, allowing them
to keep track of their account balance in real
time as well as offering energy-saving tips and
rewards for low energy consumption.

Ryan Reichelt, doctoral student at
Midwestern University, presented his concept
next. His product is a free smartphone appli-
cation that shows ComEd smart meter data
to customers in a user-friendly and engaging
format that is easily understood. His app also
offers several features such as goal-setting and
publishing achievements to social media.

The next proposal was presented
by Peter Graff, Harnsel de la Cruz, and Steve
Krejcik, all students at University of Illinois -
Chicago. Their team’s solution is an object that
looks very similar to a household light dim-
mer that is paired with ComEd’s smart meter,
allowing customers to have an easy-to-reach

visual representative of the electricity usage in
their household without needing intemet ac-
cess.

The final proposal came from Abio-
dun Iwayemi, another IIT student. His idea is
to use custom-manufactured electrons to help
customers identify and monitor their energy
consumption and present that data on smart-
phones and tablets.

After over an hour of presentations
and time for the judges to deliberate, the final
results were in. The fifth place prize went to
Noonan from IIT, the fourth place prize went
to Graff, de la Cruz, and Krejcik from UIC,
the third place prize went to Reichelt from
Midwestern University, the second place prize
went to Iwayemi from IIT, and the first place
prize was awarded to IIT students Lin and Ch-
ing for their proposal.

All of the student competitors pre-
sented interesting and innovative solutions
that can benefit energy customers in the city,
and each team shared part of the prize money
awarded by ComEd. Illinois Tech is certainly
home to great minds of innovation that will be
shaping the lives of people in the future.

Photos by Kori Bowns

c an.” -

 

Photo by Khaleela Zaman