Spring 2026 Contest

Speakers
Session 1 
Dean Rubenstein
Amey Prajapati
Aasmi Nagrecha
John Piselli

Session 2
James Schramek​
Allegra Francis
Will Beadles
Aidan McDevitt​
​​
Emcees
Andrew Abrantes
Raina Seth

​​
Judges
Prof. Deidre Ragan 
Jason Mandeville

Department
Session 1
Mechanical Engineering
​Mechanical Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Mechanical Engineering

Session 2
Aerospace Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
Data Science
​Mechanical Engineering

​Department
Computer Engineering
Aerospace Engineering
​

​Affiliation
Aerospace Engineering
Civil Engineering

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Mechanical engineering sophomore Rachel Perini discusses the dangers in hip replacements and a possible solution at the Spring 2014 Contest.

Spring 2026 marked the 27th running of the contest. Attendance of the finals now exceeds 350 people. Because of the excellent effort by students and their instructors in their course Effective Speaking for Engineering (CAS 100A for Engineers), this contest is raising the level of presentations among all engineering students in the College of Engineering at Pennsylvania State University.

To raise the level of presentations given by engineering undergraduates, the Leonhard Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Education has initiated a contest in which engineering students from Penn State's College of Engineering vie to give the best 10-minute presentation that presents an engineering solution to a societal problem.​ The eight finalists arise from a nationally recognized speaking course for engineering students. More than 350 engineering students take this course each semester. Managing the contest is the Penn State student organization Utree (Undergraduate Research and Teaching Experiences in Engineering).

Kate Waskiw, a sophomore in industrial engineering, discusses using a new way to treat moringa seeds to purify water in the Fall 2014 Contest.