Future Connections Between Plants, Human Beings Competition Open to UW Students

University of Wyoming students have the opportunity to provide creative ideas on connections between plants and human beings.

The “Future Connections Between Plants and Human Beings” competition -- offered through the UW College of Engineering and Physical Sciences -- is open to all UW students to highlight their best creativity and design ideas based on cutting-edge knowledge and technologies for connections between plants and human beings. Registration is open through midnight Friday, Oct. 21.

The challenge for teams of two to three students is to effectively integrate and showcase creative and, perhaps, even imaginary future connections between plants and human beings.

The competition looks to explore the questions of how we are connecting with plants, such as indoor/outdoor plants and crops. How did we connect with plants in the past? What could be creative ways to connect plants and human beings in the future? How do these connections impact our resources, such as energy, water and food; health; the environment; and social-economical behaviors in the future? What are cutting-edge technologies, and how can we use these technologies to achieve these possible connections?

“Indoor hydroponic greenery systems are promising in building technology for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the building sector based on plant evapotranspiration effects and occupants’ comfort benefits,” says Liping Wang, a UW Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering and Construction Management associate professor and competition organizer. “This new technology can be integrated with other disciplines for identifying sustainable solutions to grand challenges we are facing or will face.”

She adds that the annual competition encourages students to initiate and conduct cross-disciplinary collaborations on frontiers of knowledge toward a sustainable and resilient future.

The rules/guidelines for the competition can be found at www.uwyo.edu/civil/competition/index.html.

Prizes -- which include portable hard drives, books and calculators -- will be given to the top three projects.

Top winners of the design competition may have the opportunity to be mentored by Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering and Construction Management faculty members and participate in selected parts of the research project building integrated indoor greenery systems that is sponsored by the National Science Foundation. One to two undergraduates will be selected for the spring semester.

For more information, email Wang at lwang12@uwyo.edu.