HAMPTON, Va. (January 21, 2020) – Students from the Hampton University Departments of Architecture and Electrical Engineering were recently selected as a finalist for JUMP into STEM, a program driven by the Department of Energy, Oak Ridge National and National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The Hampton team has been invited to the final event, which will be held at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee on Friday, January 31, 2020.
“We are proud of our students for being selected as finalists in the JUMP into STEM program. They demonstrate what tomorrow’s leaders are doing today to make a difference,” said Hampton University President, Dr. William R. Harvey.
JUMP (Join the discussion, Unveil innovation, Make connections, Promote tech-to-market) into STEM is an online building science competition for undergraduate and graduate students in the United States. Three challenges of JUMP into STEM are 1) Smart Sensors and Controls for Residential Buildings, 2) Designing a Healthier and Energy-Efficient Air Distribution System, and 3) Pushing the Envelope with Wall Retrofit Designs.
Hampton University’s team competes in the category of Smart Sensors and Controls for Residential Buildings. The team conducted their proposal, titled “Human-Centered Gaming Interface using Artificial Intelligence in College Dormitories,” based on a series of literature reviews, a statistical survey, and a graphical conceptualization, aiming at observation and understanding of the general energy use patterns, the importance of behavioral motivations, and the quality of thermal comfort.
The proposed gaming interface can be implemented immediately at Hampton University to change behavior as well as “scaled-up” to include dormitories across the nation and the world to encourage healthy competition. It can also be translated into gaming platforms for all other building types with other users. New sensor technology will be most beneficial if it can act in an educational way to raise awareness and change human behavior.
The Hampton University team members include:
5th-year Architecture:
Amir Amzajerdian
3rd– year Architecture:
Jarret Thomas
3rd-year Electrical Engineering:
Jai Huntley
Hampton University’s assistant professors Laura Battaglia and Dr. Jeehwan Lee serve as professor advisors for JUMP into STEM, focused on blending the unique strengths of architecture students from the Hampton University Department of Architecture, and Electrical Engineering with a shared desire to teach energy-efficient building science.
“Collaborative works of Hampton University’s architecture and engineering students highlight the increased availability of sensors and IoT technologies for improved building energy efficiency and occupant comfort. Our proposal is anticipated to make a significant impact on improving the energy efficiency of existing dormitories as well as on motivating human behaviors in the energy use patterns. We are very excited to compete with roughly 24 students from Georgia Tech, University of Michigan, Carnegie Mellon University, UC Berkeley, North Carolina A&T State University, Clark Atlanta University, and Tennessee State University,” said Battaglia and Lee.
In conjunction with the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Building Technology Office (BTO) student design competitions, JUMP into STEM engages undergraduate and graduate students from architecture, engineering, computer science, and other STEM disciplines departments to enter the online student design competitions for solutions to building design research and development topics as individuals or as members of a team. The challenges offer the opportunity to compete for awards, including the chance to be selected for a paid summer internship at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, CO or at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, TN.