Energy Awareness App Earns Two ACEP Students Prestigious Award

April 24, 2023

This is an excerpt of a story from ACEP's blog, From the Grid.

In late February this year, Nicole Mah anxiously awaited the results of her first attempted grant proposal — an application for the 2023 Dr. Alex Hills Engineering and Civic Engagement Award. On the day the award application was due, she emailed and chatted with ACEP’s data governance lead Vanessa Raymond to put the finishing touches on the budget justification. At 8 p.m. she decided to call it good enough and send it in. “Wish me luck,” she texted over ACEP’s Discord server.

When the date for the award announcement passed a few weeks later, the applicants heard nothing. Mah was deflated.  “I guess we didn’t get it! I worked so hard on that. And we never heard anything back.” But a week later, she saw the following email in her inbox.

“Congratulations Nicole and Tuva, a panel of faculty and engineering professionals has selected your Energy Awareness App as the winner of the Dr. Alex Hills Engineering and Civic Engagement Award!”

Mah and her project partner Tuva Granøien learned about the award from their UAA computer science professor, Dr. Frank Witmer. After presenting their senior capstone project, a Community Energy Awareness App for the community of Kotzebue, part of a research project with PI Dayne Broderson funded by the Denali Commission, Witmer thought their project would be a good candidate for the award.

“I had asked all the students to consider applying for the award but this project with ACEP did seem most applicable and so I encouraged them to go for it,” said Witmer. “It's a good experience for them, and it's an important project for Kotzebue. As part of the capstone class, we discuss ethical and social impacts of computing and I encourage students to make positive community contributions. I want to support computer science students reaching out and connecting with communities whenever I can.”

Read the full story here.