{"id":50355,"date":"2018-06-25T04:03:34","date_gmt":"2018-06-25T08:03:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/utnews.utoledo.edu\/?p=50355"},"modified":"2018-06-25T06:38:22","modified_gmt":"2018-06-25T10:38:22","slug":"ut-team-receives-research-award-at-international-biodesign-challenge-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/06_25_2018\/ut-team-receives-research-award-at-international-biodesign-challenge-summit","title":{"rendered":"UT team receives research award at international Biodesign Challenge Summit"},"content":{"rendered":"

UT students who thought outside \u2014 and inside \u2014 the hive won the Outstanding Field Research Award June 22 at the Biodesign Challenge Summit in New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cApigiene Hive: Rethinking Bee Hygiene\u201d was selected for the honor that recognizes a team that takes the initiative to go into the field and interview experts as well as potentially affected communities in order to find and understand the social impacts of their project. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Members of the UT team \u2014 from left, Madeline Tomczak, Jesse Grumelot, Domenic Pennetta and Lucya Keune \u2014 posed for a photo with the Outstanding Field Research Award they won June 22 at the Biodesign Challenge Summit, which was held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.<\/p><\/div>Members of the UT team are Madeline Tomczak, who graduated with a bachelor of science degree in environmental science in May; Domenic Pennetta, a sophomore majoring in art; Jesse Grumelot, who graduated in May with a bachelor of science degree in bioengineering; and Lucya Keune, a senior studying visual arts.<\/p>\n

The four were in New York for the award ceremony and exhibition with Brian Carpenter and Eric Zeigler, assistant professors in the Department of Art in the College of Arts and Letters, who taught the Biodesign Challenge class spring semester.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are very proud of our UT students,\u201d Carpenter said. \u201cThis challenge is fantastic. It encourages students to think creatively, take risks, and gather science and data. They realize their designs can work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis competition was such an incredible opportunity for our students,\u201d Zeigler said. \u201cFor UT to win an award our first year in the challenge shows the dedication and creativity of our students.\u201d <\/p>\n

Solving problems creatively is what the Biodesign Challenge is all about. The Genspace NYC program offers college students the chance to envision future applications of biotechnology by working together interdisciplinarily.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>At UT, the Biodesign Challenge class brought together students majoring in art, bioengineering and environmental science, as well as peers from the Jesup Scott Honors College.<\/p>\n

UT went head to head against 29 schools from across the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, France, Guatemala, Japan and Scotland. Six awards were presented at the challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was an incredible win on a world stage. Our students competed against teams from New York University, Rutgers, the University of Sydney, the Illinois Institute of Technology, Ghent University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Georgetown. It was our first time out of the gate, and UT took an award,\u201d said Barbara WF Miner, professor and chair of the UT Department of Art. \u201cWe are ecstatic!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c[The 30] finalists were selected from a pool of 450 participants,\u201d Daniel Grushkin, founder and director of the Biodesign Challenge, said. \u201cI firmly believe that they are leading us into a sustainable future with their visions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UT team wanted to help the bee population and created additions for the popular Langstroth hive to fight one of the insect\u2019s biggest foes: mites.<\/p>\n

A fibrous brush filled with zebra mussel powder at the hive entrance targets Varroa destructor mites on the surface of adult bees. The insects will clean off the powder \u2014 and the mites \u2014 and leftover powder will help kill the intruders inside the hive. <\/p>\n

And to tackle the Acarapis woodi mites, which invade the hive and lay eggs, the team turned to a natural deterrent: mint, which was infused with the wax frames.<\/p>\n

At the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the UT students presented their project to more than 200 scientists, designers, entrepreneurs and artists.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur students\u2019 design is economically feasible; beekeepers would just add two simple modifications to their existing hives,\u201d Zeigler said. \u201cIt\u2019s a happy solution, and one that could have tremendous market impact all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEric, the students and I want to thank the University for its support,\u201d Carpenter said. \u201cWe wouldn\u2019t have been able to develop this class without assistance from the College of Arts and Letters; the Jesup Scott Honors College; the College of Engineering; the Department of Art; and the Department of Environmental Sciences. We\u2019re already looking forward to next year\u2019s challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UT students who wanted to help the bee population by making additions to a popular hive have won the Outstanding Field Research Award at the Biodesign Challenge Summit in New York.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,60,34,36,39,1,3,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50355"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50355"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50362,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50355\/revisions\/50362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}