A University of Texas at Dallas student team is one of 13 nationally and two in Texas to advance to the final round of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Collegiate Wind Competition (CWC). The 40-member team will present its designs for a turbine and hypothetical offshore wind farm plus a community education and outreach plan to a panel of judges in May in Boulder, Colorado.

This will be the first time UTD will compete for awards in the CWC after it participated last year as a noncompeting team.

Dan Bouzolin, a mechanical engineering senior in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, said the team has kept in constant communication to stay on track.

Some members of the UT Dallas Collegiate Wind Competition team are pictured with Dr. Todd Griffith (bottom left), the team’s faculty advisor.

“In addition to regular team meetings, our subteams have open lines of communication that facilitate quick responses to any change in the design,” said Bouzolin, turbine design lead for the team. “This strategy, coupled with our members’ motivation for the work that they do, makes us a strong contender for this year’s CWC.”

Fernando Harmjanz, an electrical engineering senior and electrical engineering team lead, said working on the project has taught students the practical applications of engineering concepts.

“Participating in the competition and working with such foreign and often complex concepts has trained us to be able to find the answers to questions like ‘What does this do?’ and ‘Why does something work like that?’” Harmjanz said. “It’s opened our eyes to the real beauty of electrical engineering and wind energy.”

The Connection Creation Contest team responsible for education and outreach has provided community workshops to teach younger students about wind energy.

“I can’t wait to present the results of our community outreach efforts at the competition, and I can’t wait to hear about the collective impact the competitors will have made on our communities,” said Alyssa Tran, a mechanical engineering freshman who leads the Connection Creation Contest team.

Students are putting long hours into the competition, which is an extracurricular activity for most.

“Our team’s enthusiasm is what helps make a good project great,” said Jose Marquez, a mechanical engineering senior.

Dr. Todd Griffith, the team’s faculty advisor, said he has been excited to see how the team has grown in the past year.

“The Wind Comets team’s dedicated effort has resulted in a more mature design, while expanding students’ knowledge and growing the team — and having lots of fun,” said Griffith, associate professor of mechanical engineering in the Jonsson School.

Codebreakers Place 4th in NSA Challenge

University of Texas at Dallas students placed fourth in the nation in the 2022 National Security Agency (NSA) Codebreaker Challenge, which asked college students to solve a fictional ransomware attack.

A team of 141 UTD students earned the highest ranking of any Texas team in the semester-long competition, which included more than 5,000 students from 600 U.S. academic institutions. Schools earned points based on the number of participating students who last fall solved nine increasingly difficult tasks to identify attackers and recover files.

The 2022 challenge was UTD’s second year to participate in the competition, which is designed to get students involved in cybersecurity and help the NSA recruit potential interns and employees. In 2021, the team placed eighth nationwide, an achievement that led to internships for several students and a campus visit last fall by NSA officials to discuss the agency’s programs.

Computer science senior David Wank, one of the team’s leaders and an officer of UTD’s student-led Computer Security Group, was one of three Comets who completed all nine tasks. The other students were Neel Pareshbhai Patel and Andrei Racila, computer science graduate students.

“The Codebreaker Challenge is a great way for anyone interested in cybersecurity to get their feet wet without experience,” Wank said. “We’d like to get more students involved.”

Dr. Kangkook Jee, assistant professor of computer science, said the challenge gives students hands-on practice with the type of cybersecurity problems that the NSA addresses. He invites more students to get involved in the 2023 challenge.

“I want to encourage more students to get their hands dirty and try to solve these real-world problems,” Jee said. “We hope to have more students in the next challenge.”

Josh Wiedemeier BS’20, MS’22, a computer science doctoral student and Eugene McDermott Graduate Fellow who competed in the 2021 challenge, coached the 2022 team.

“Even if you’re very new to cybersecurity, you can participate and have a good time,” Wiedemeier said.

For more information about joining the team, contact Jee at kangkook.jee@utdallas.edu.

Putnam Club Earns Honors for Math Skills

From left: Dr. Nathan Williams, mathematics senior Weston Miller, computer science senior Evan Bailey and mathematical sciences teaching assistant Matthew Babbitt.

A team of University of Texas at Dallas undergraduate students ranked among the top 10% in the 83rd annual William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition, finishing No. 32 in a field of 456 college squads.

Computer science senior Evan Bailey, computer science junior Suraj Mathashery and mathematics senior Weston Miller all placed in the top 500 individually in last December’s competition, which included more than 3,400 participants. Bailey, who was the top UTD finisher at No. 178, and Mathashery are National Merit Scholars.

The competition, which began in 1938 and is administered by the Mathematical Association of America, features undergraduates from the U.S. and Canada and is considered to be one of the most challenging mathematics competitions in the world. It consists of 12 problems that must be solved in just six hours. But the time constraint is far from the only challenge.

The problems are designed to be extremely difficult and unconventional. It is a proof-based competition, meaning there are multiple correct methods to solve the problems. This requires a significant amount of creative thinking and novelty in their approach. Students are tested on a wide range of topics, including algebra, number theory, geometry and combinatorics.

Few competitors can correctly solve even one problem. In the most recent competition, the average score was about 8.2 out of 120, and the median score was 1.

“Even for a professional research mathematician, these problems can be very challenging,” said Dr. Nathan Williams, assistant professor of mathematical sciences in the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. “It’s not like you just reach some point in your career and are able to suddenly solve them. Not even close.”

Williams and mathematical sciences teaching assistant and PhD student Matthew Babbitt are coaches of the UT Dallas Putnam Club. UT Dallas has participated in the competition nearly every year since 2006, and in 2016, it had its best finish of 18th place.

Dr. Vladimir Dragovic, professor and head of mathematical sciences, said the UT Dallas Putnam Club will help students in their future careers.

“Mathematics education is not just about numbers and equations,” he said. “It’s about problem-solving, critical thinking and logical reasoning. It teaches us to analyze and interpret data, make informed decisions and navigate the world with confidence and clarity.”

Accolades is an occasional News Center feature that highlights recent accomplishments of The University of Texas at Dallas faculty, students and staff. To submit items for consideration, contact your school’s communications manager.