Four student teams win first place at Avnet Tech Games

*Arizona Republic covered this event in an article, Students test their skills at Avnet Tech Games

Last Saturday, four out of five CGCC teams won first place in different competitions at the Avnet Tech Games, an annual college technology competition that provides students with an opportunity to apply what they learn in school to real-world scenarios. The games are open to college students nationwide. Student teams are presented with a scenario and compete against other student teams from colleges across the country. Projects are submitted to judges who are able to score them remotely and declare a winner.

Each first-place student receives $1,000 scholarship. Additionally, four students received an HP laptop. In sum, CGCC students won $13,000 and possible summer internships.

Winning categories included:

Green Video Competition - This fun and exciting event combines video production skills, environmental awareness and marketing skills. "Let's Go," which highlights the energy savings of the gold-LEED certified Ironwood Hall on the Pecos Campus, took first place and was produced by engineering students Dustin Allen, Kendra Charnick, Joel Parker and Brian Weeks with faculty sponsor Elie Chmouni.


Design and Build a Digital Device - Students had four hours to design and build a digital electronic device to control a four-way traffic stop, including pedestrians wishing to cross streets using an ultrasonic transducer. Students had to design a simulation using one of the leading digital design software, Xilinx, and hardware (latest product of Avnet FPGA board) for the project as well as write and present a technical report to engineering judges from local industry.  Students winning first place included Nicco Horvath, Michelle Smekal and Neel Mistry with faculty coach Bassam Matar.

Java Blitz - This event provided students with the opportunity to develop an application using Java 7 Standard Edition. The work submitted by the teams were judged based on a predefined set of criteria, which included (but may not be limited to) functional requirements, code quality and overall quality and validation using predefined criteria.  Winning students included Larry Standage, Samuel Slater and Zachary Peshke with faculty sponsor Rameen Kaliqu..

HP Build the Fastest Computer - Who can build, tune and troubleshoot the fastest computer? Students were tested on "Build it Fast," a timed event on building a computer the fastest; "Troubleshoot it Fast," a timed event on troubleshooting a computer the fastest; and "Refurb it Fast," a race to build a computer using refurbished parts. Jeremy Morgan, Blake Knoll, and Troy Gerloff won first place with faculty sponsor Elie Chmouni.