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MESA USA

Event Information:

New Mexico MESA is proud to announce our 2022 MESA USA State Competition!

The theme for the 2022-23 MESA USA National Engineering Design Competition is: Designing for Equity in Your Community.

For this project, student teams will identify an individual or group who experiences some type of inequity (i.e., a user). Teams will employ human-centered design practices to engineer a solution. Teams must use a coding component as the main component of their design. Teams must use a community centered issue for their project.

Examples of Designing for Equity in Your Community can be (but are not limited to) projects that address:

  • A physical or learning disability;
  • Food scarcity;
  • Access to healthcare;
  • Access to clean water or other resources;
  • Access to employment or education; or
  • A social inequity.

Each competing team must consist of 2-4 students who are active members of a MESA program affiliated with the MESA USA national organization. Solutions and recommendation(s) for next steps will be presented at the MESA USA National Engineering Design Competition. The first place middle and high school teams from State events will participate in the national competition. This National Competition event will occur in June 2023.

Full competition information and logistics are available in the 2022-2023 National MESA USA Handbook and the 2023 New Mexico MESA USA Logistics Guide. AVAILABLE NOW in Resources Section on THIS Page. 

Competition Components

The components listed below will be used to assess the effective implementation of a human-centered design approach in the context of designing for equity, effective implementation of the engineering design process, and the functionality of the prototype.

  1. Design Brief – The objective of the Design Brief is to provide a brief, non-technical overview of the entire project. Students must use the provided Design Brief Template. This will be submitted at Registration and is REQUIRED to participate in MESA USA.
  2. Technical Presentation and Interview– The objective of the Technical Presentation and Interview is to provide an overview of the prototype functionality including a technical explanation of the mechanical operations, software operations, and integration of the two. Students will deliver a short presentation, which includes a demonstration of the functionality of the prototype, followed by a question and answer session with judges. This will be conducted the day of the event.
  3. Poster and Symposium – The objective of the Poster is to provide an overview of the project, highlight key points of the design process, discuss relevant testing and data collection, present the resulting prototype, and share recommendations for further development. Students will prepare an electronic academic poster. This will be submitted electronically at Registration and is REQUIRED to participate in MESA USA. Teams may print their poster if they want for use in their Technical Interview, but grading will occur in advance.
  4. Prototype Pitch – The objective of the Prototype Pitch is to convince the audience that the design meets the user’s needs and has value as a product to address an issue of inequity. Students will prepare a creative, engaging presentation to pitch their prototype to an audience, including a group of judges. The presentation should define the problem; should show how they address the theme of Designing for Equity in Your Community; provide a detailed description of the user and their needs; discuss current solutions to the problem and their weaknesses; and provide a demonstration of their prototype highlighting its advantages. This will be conducted the day of the event.

IMPORTANT DATES AND DEADLINES:

  • February 1, 2023-Registration Available
  • December 2022/January 2023-Technical Trainings TBD
    • Micro:biit/Circuit Playground Express, Levels 1 and 2
    • Arduino. Levels 1 and 2
    • App Development, Levels 1 and 2
    • Website Development, Levels 1 and 2
  • December 10, 2022-MESA USA Winter Convening MESA USA Training
  • Extended Deadline: April 11, 2023-MESA USA Registration Due at 8AM
  • April 26, 2023-MESA USA Competition 
  • April 27, 2023-MESA USA Awards Show at 4PM

 

 

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