2024 RCSC Sustainable Design Challenge
Guidelines

This is a team competition. The competition is limited to 20 teams. All team members must be present during the competition Friday 4/12/2024 2:30-8:00 pm and Saturday 4/13/2024 9:00 am-3:20 pm.
 

Team Composition and Requirements

Teams must have three or four full-time undergraduate students who are currently enrolled at the University of Arizona. Students may be from any major or academic program. All team members must have an active UANet ID and UA email address to register and participate in this competition.

 

Registration Deadline

Team member names and UArizona email addresses must be provided during registration. Once 20 qualified teams have registered, registration will be closed. The last possible day for team registration is 4/5/24. Team members cannot be added after registration is submitted. 

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Competition Format

The specific design challenge will be revealed at the start of the competition on April 12, 2024 at 2:00 pm. Teams will have 5 hours on Day 1 (Friday) to develop their solution and presentation. Teams will present to reviewers on Day 1 and get feedback and suggestions for improving their presentations. On Day 2 (Saturday) teams will compete in four rounds with presentations to judges. The top 10 teams after Round 2 advance to Round 3 Semifinals. The top 5 teams in Semifinal Round 3 advance to Finals in Round 4. The Semifinals will be single-elimination head-to-head competitions. Finalists will be ranked based upon the scoring rubric.

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Scoring

Prior to the competition, teams can earn up to 40 points by completing pre-work exercises: 1. Design Thinking Exercise (up to 20 points), and 2. Brainstorming Exercise (up to 20 points). Pre-work scoring will be based on the following rubric: 

 

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The last day to submit pre-work for scoring is 4/7/2024. Teams do not need to complete the pre-work to participate in the competition.

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The same Competition Scoring rubric will be based throughout the four rounds of the competition:

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Semifinal qualification: The 10 teams with the highest total scores on the pre-work (up to 40 points), Round 1 (up to 100 points), and Round 2 (up to 100 points) will advance to the Semifinals.  The maximum semifinal qualifying score is 240 points. 

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Semifinalists will compete in five head-to-head, single elimination competitions. The top-scoring team from each semifinal matchup will advance to the Finals.
 

Finals qualification: The five teams that win the Semifinals will compete in the Finals. Teams will be scores and ranked from one (highest final presentation score) to five (lowest presentation score.

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Presentations

Student teams will create a 10-minute, 6-slide presentation with their objective, design thinking process, specific problem, and original solution. 

Slide 1: Title and team members
Slide 2: Your objective and the specific problem
Slide 3: Process used
Slides 4, 5, and 6: Your solution
Slide 7: Your sources and AI disclosure if applicable. This reference slide will not be presented but will be available to the judges. It may be omitted if no other sources were used.

Presentations can be prepared using any application but must be submitted as PowerPoint (.PPTX) format files.

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Physical prototypes may be prepared but are not required.

 

Any sources used must be cited following APA 7th Edition. Any use of AI for writing or research must be disclosed as a method including the AI application and a description of how AI was used.

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Awards

First place: $3,000, distributed equally among team members.

Second place: $1,000, distributed equally among team members.

Other finalists - third to fifth place: $500 per team, distributed equally among team members.

Additional prizes and awards may be made by the competition organizers.

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Additional Rules

Teams must not receive any outside assistance during the competition.

Judges' decisions are final.