The American Association of Community Colleges, in partnership with the National Science Foundation, announced that it has selected 12 finalist teams to advance to the June 2024 final round of the Community College Innovation Challenge—and one of the teams is from right here in North Texas.

A team from Dallas College is among the 12 finalists, advancing to the final round for its project “Autonomous Monitoring for Blaze Emergency Response (AMBER).”

An early detection system that can spot fire risks before they get out of hand, AMBER uses infrared cameras and sensors to alert farmers and local authorities. When it’s combined with a third-party drone provider, AMBER can quickly track and mobilize a rapid fire response, preserving agricutural land from potentially devastating destruction.

Teams will attend an  ‘Innovation Boot Camp’ in June

Now in its eighth year, the CCIC competition seeks to strengthen entrepreneurial thinking among community college students by challenging them to develop “STEM-based solutions to real-world problems.” It also enables students to “discover and demonstrate their capacity to use STEM to make a difference in the world and translate that knowledge into action.”

Teams consist of two to four students and a faculty or administrator team mentor. Finalists—including the Dallas College team—will attend an Innovation Boot Camp in June and interact with entrepreneurs and experts in business planning, stakeholder engagement, strategic communication, and marketplace dynamics.

The boot camp will culminate in a Student Innovation Poster Session on Capitol Hill with STEM leaders and congressional stakeholders.

A final pitch presentation will determine the first, second, and third-place winning teams.

“Congratulations to the 2024 CCIC finalists,” Walter G. Bumphus, president and CEO of AACC, said in a statement. “Once again, I’m inspired by the incredible level of talent and creativity our community college students showcase through the CCIC. Along with our partners at the National Science Foundation, we know this program is a foundation for future scientists, entrepreneurs, and engineers and are very proud to shine the spotlight on these talented future leaders.”

Other finalist teams this year presented solutions for addressing clean water, renewable energy, HIV treatment, healthcare, and assistive technology devices. 

The other 11 finalists are:

Coalinga College (California)
Project: Got Calcium: The New Battery Innovation
The Coalinga College team seeks to switch from lithium to calcium batteries to improve cost-effectiveness, safety, and battery performance offering an eco-friendly alternative for energy storage solutions.

Columbus State Community College (Ohio)
Project: Aquavive’s Ripple Effect: Transforming Water Protection
Aquavive is a groundbreaking pollution detection buoy system that offers pristine, potable water accessible to all. Combined with a user-friendly app, Aquavive promotes environmental monitoring and STEM education with the goal of uniting communities to invest in clean water.

County College of Morris (New Jersey)
Project: Using Molecular Solar Thermal Systems as a Solar Alternative
The County College of Morris team proposes to safely and efficiently increase the world’s energy supply through a molecular solar thermal system. This system is non-toxic, cost-efficient, and can capture light energy as heat, and then convert stored heat as energy.

Henry Ford College (Michigan)
Project: Stay Vigilant with Source Alert
Source Alert is an application that connects to internet search engines and word/image processing services to detect the source of information and display it to the user in real-time. Source Alert can serve to raise public awareness to potential misinformation.

Houston Community College, TX
Project: The MaxCap Supercapacitor
MaxCap offers an energy storage technology solution for the electric vehicle market by introducing metal oxide-vertical polyaniline hybrid supercapacitors, which provide greater performance, sustainability, and cost-efficency than current energy storage options.

Hudson County Community College (New Jersey)
Project: S.E.E. (Sound Enabled Emplacement)
S.E.E. is an assistive technology device designed to guide visually impaired individuals to key areas in their home. Through the use of remote, users activate speakers to emit sounds for navigation, which allows for safe, confident, and independent movement.

Itawamba Community College (Mississippi)
Project: ViruShield: Next-Generation Care for HIV Patients
ViruShield is a subcutaneous pump that tests for HIV viral loads and administers doses of medication to an HIV-positive patient to help increase treatment compliance and prevent AIDs.

Perimeter College at Georgia State University (Georgia)
Project: Georgina Care
The Perimeter College team seeks to redesign cervical cancer screening by offering a noninvasive alternative to the speculum. This alternative makes screening more accessible and has the potential to impact cervical cancer mortality rates, especially in low-income countries.

Red Rocks Community College (Colorado)
Project: Bloom Buster
In all 50 states, harmful algae blooms represent an environmental issue that impacts human health and aquatic ecosystems. The Bloom Buster system can effectively remove suspended particles, algae, and other contaminants from lake water leading to water quality improvement.

University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville (Arkansas)
Project: IntelliCline – Smart Ramp
IntelliCline is a smart ramp solution that can adjust slope, height, and temperature to enhance accessibility for people with disabilities. By eliminating common barriers, IntelliCline improves quality of life and creates more inclusive communities.

Virginia Western Community College (Virginia)
Project: Plastic Up Cycling
The Virginia Western team proposes an affordable and sustainable way to reuse plastic through the development of a 3D filament printer, which turns recyclables into reinforced filament. The filament is being used to create specialized materials to rebuild a local school playground.

For updates about the 2024 Innovation Boot Camp and the winners, you can follow @Comm_College or visit www.aaccinnovationchallenge.com. 

Get on the list.
Dallas Innovates, every day.

Sign up to keep your eye on what’s new and next in Dallas-Fort Worth, every day.

Former Miami Hurricanes EDGE Jayden Wayne has announced his commitment for the 2024 season. According to On3’s Hayes Fawcett, Wayne is headed across the country to the Upper West Coast to join the Washington Huskies football program.

Wayne is quite familiar with the state of Washington, having grown up in Tacoma, WA. However, the six-foot-four defensive lineman played his high school football at the renowned IMG Academy in Florida. As a member of the 2023 recruiting cycle, Wayne was considered one of the elites as he was a top 100 four-star recruit with a rating of 94.6. Nationally, he was No. 85 overall in this class and ranked No. 11 at the EDGE position. He was the 20th-best player to come out of the state of Florida, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Kirk Cousins’ tenure as the starting quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons is just now taking flight. Matt Ryan’s professional career, which featured 14 years under center in Atlanta, just made its final descent.

But the Falcons may spend the next several years watching a brand of football that hasn’t been seen since Ryan was traded in the spring of 2022.

“I think there’s a lot of similarities,” Falcons right guard Chris Lindstrom said at Tuesday’s press conference. “I think both those guys have a lot of experience, are great leaders and both extremely successful.”

Ryan is the Falcons’ all-time leader in passing yards (59,735) and touchdowns (367), two categories in which he ranks top 10 in NFL history. He’s also played more games in franchise history than anyone else who’s donned the red and black.

In the two years that followed Ryan’s departure, the Falcons started three faces at quarterback – Marcus Mariota, Desmond Ridder and Taylor Heinicke. None proved to be formidable short- or long-term options.

So, Atlanta aggressively pursued the 35-year-old Cousins, a 12-year veteran with 150 games of experience – and proven results – under his belt.

The Falcons signed Cousins to a four-year, $180 million contract March 13. He’s spent the last month and a half perusing the grounds of the team’s headquarters in Flowery Branch, bouncing in and out of meetings and training rooms as he recovers from a torn Achilles suffered Oct. 29.

During his introduction the night he was signed, Cousins stressed the importance of building bonds with teammates as soon as possible. Evidently, he’s off to a strong start.

“When you get here and watch how the guy works, it’s remarkable,” Lindstrom said. “The way he interacts with us has been great. You can’t ask for anything more. You just see the way he approaches every single day, the intensity in every single rep and the purpose behind it.”

Stylistically, Ryan and Cousins are both pocket passers known for their precision and intelligence. They’ll never be confused for dual threats, but they don’t need to be.

Both players have four Pro Bowl nods to their name. Ryan earned the nickname “Matty Ice” for his late-game performances, guiding 46 game-winning drives. He averaged one such drive per every five career starts. Cousins’ average is the same.

There’s an element of veteran savvy present in each – a calm, trustworthy voice and the right arm to match it. Lindstrom worked alongside Ryan for three years, seeing these traits each day.

Safety Jessie Bates III, who signed with the Falcons last spring, never played with Ryan. He does, however, know the value Cousins’ experience provides to the team, let alone the offense.

“His presence alone, just being there is next level,” Bates said. “The coaches can’t be out on the field too much, but when you have a guy like Kirk Cousins, he can go out there and run a whole script. That presence is something that’s priceless.”

Cousins has been a topic of hot discussion in and around Flowery Branch of late, as the Falcons drafted his potential successor – first-round pick Michael Penix Jr. – before he played his first snap in Atlanta.

But the Falcons remain firmly behind Cousins and the things he can accomplish in the years ahead, watching as he’s lived up to the billing they expected when dishing out a sizable contract this spring.

“The exciting thing about him is we know his makeup and his mentality, and we know it fits what we’re about and this culture that we’ve been working hard to build,” general manager Terry Fontenot said. “So, you definitely feel the impact.”