This grant provides funds to support an annual engineering design contest to be held in conjunction with the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) National Conference. All members of SHPE student chapters will be eligible. Students will work in teams of two to six to provide the design and a prototype of a commercially marketable product that is a benefit to mankind and improves quality of life. The design shall not be a duplicate of an existing product, but may be an enhancement of an existing product. About ten finalists will represent their student chapters in a formal presentation run-off, and a winner will be selected by a panel of four to six judges. The selected students will be funded to travel to and attend the National Conference, where the final competition will be held. It is expected that this activity will help to attract Hispanic students into engineering and to improve their retention rates. It also will provide an interesting and useful experience to those who participate.
