At the University of Washington Bothell, students across disciplines learn to innovate and bring their unique perspectives and ideas into their chosen areas of study and future careers.
The university’s partnerships with industry and community organizations also play a key role in offering students real-world opportunities to gain hands-on experience using the latest technology and industry practices to solve the problems of today — and tomorrow.
In the inaugural 2024 Boeing Innovation Challenge @ UW, teams of students from across the tri-campus community had a chance to put their inventive minds to the test. They used open-source data to develop technology proposals and business cases that integrated artificial intelligence and machine learning with one of the six goals highlighted in the “2023 Boeing Sustainability Report, Innovation & Clean Tech.”
“The challenge was a fantastic opportunity for our innovative students to design, develop and present impactful sustainability solutions to help change the world for the better,” said John Naumann, UW Bothell director of corporate and foundation relations.
Tackling real-world challenges
The challenge kicked off with an information session in April, and teams had a month to register before the competition’s topic of sustainability was released on May 6. Then, each team had a week to submit its proposal and prepare for virtual Pitch Day presentations.
“The challenge was intended to provide students with a real-world challenge, an opportunity to innovate an idea that has the potential to become research at Boeing and a networking opportunity with Boeing mentors and judges,” said Scott Gunther, Boeing research director for the UW. “For Boeing, it gave us the chance to interact with and expose students in two key strategic areas for the company.”
While open to all students, the event was geared for students majoring in STEM and business. Each campus had its own competition, and 21 teams submitted proposals from UW Bothell. Five teams then advanced to the final round and presented to a panel of judges from both Boeing and UW Bothell.
“I was extremely surprised by the diversity of majors that made up the teams and the creativity of technology proposals that came because of that,” Gunther said.
The teams that advanced to the final round pitched a wide range of projects that were evaluated on many factors, including technical innovation, business proposition, effectiveness of the video and response to questions. The projects were also judged for how well they incorporated the two themes of machine learning and sustainability.
One team pitched the use of machine learning to reduce noise pollution and integrate noise cancellation into the outer casing of a jet engine. Several teams — including the winning team “Future Boeing Interns” — looked to fuel optimization and efficiency for sustainability solutions.
The challenge was a fantastic opportunity for our innovative students to design, develop and present impactful sustainability solutions to help change the world for the better.
John Naumann, director of corporate and foundation relations.
Packaging technology with business
In their project for a fuel efficiency AI assistant, Future Boeing Interns pitched a product that would gather open-source datasets to curate practices that assist airlines in optimizing factors such as arrival and departure interferences, taxi data and more.
“The UW Bothell team that won addressed a significant technical problem around fuel efficiency of commercial aircraft fleets,” Gunther said. “Not only did they propose a feasible AI/ML solution to address the numerous variables that impact fuel consumption, but they also developed a business model that made it a full package.”
The students on the winning team — juniors Foziya Reshid (Computer Science & Software Engineering), Mariam Mohammed (Business Administration) and Yamileth Camacho (CSSE) and sophomore Rimjhim Sudhesh (CSSE) — met each other in a previous class and worked together in the UW Bothell chapter of the Association of Computing Machinery Women.
When the challenge was announced, Dr. Afra Mashhadi, assistant professor in UW Bothell’s School of STEM, shared the information with them and encouraged the group to go for it.
“Dr. Mashhadi has been really supportive of us and facilitated our success, as well as our friendship,” Mohammed said. “My dad emphasizes that mentors are necessary to provide industry experience and give you a solid foundation for success, and she has been that for all of us.”
The challenge seemed the perfect fit for their group because of their interest in both computer science and business, Mohammed said, adding that during the Q & A portion of the presentation, they were well apportioned to handle all angles of their product. She provided an important business context, and her teammates spoke more about how the open-source data would be used for their product.
Collaborating for success
“It’s kind of the intersectionality between our personalities and our skill sets and our passions that created the product that we were able to be successful with,” Mohammed said. “We’re all interested in AI, and technology is integrated into every aspect of our lives now. We are always looking for how we can better our lives with technology, especially as computer science and business majors.”
The challenge gave them a close-up look at what a real-world experience in the industry looks like, she added, but their experience doesn’t end there. As the winning team, the Future Boeing Interns will receive VIP tours of Boeing factories, as well as interviews for internships and full-time positions.
“This experience showed me that these skills are valuable in this context,” Mohammed said, noting that Boeing staff have already showed the team some of the opportunities — such as full-time career paths — that may be possible for them as winners of this challenge.
The students all hope winning the competition marks the beginning of what will be a long-term relationship with Boeing.
“For me, it was really cool to see a project like this through from inception to actually proposing it to people who would want to implement it,” Reshid said. “There’s knowing what machine learning is, and then there’s trying to figure out how to fit it into an existing system like aviation. It was a pretty cool exercise to complete. I’m excited to continue that relationship with Boeing that we now have.”
Creating campus connections
While newfound connections at Boeing may lead to career prospects, the team is also eager to explore opportunities on campus that might lead to further opportunities for students to work together.
“Hopefully we can continue to work with Boeing and as a group to develop their connection with the UW Bothell campus,” Reshid said. “There are a lot of great minds out here, and it would be awesome for us to play a part in connecting them with Boeing.”
One of the ways they want to do this is through the ACM-W. The winning students have also begun considering how to bring the challenge on campus in person next year.
“We all have a significant amount of time left here at the university, and we’re looking forward to fostering an environment through the club where Boeing can bring opportunities to our campus,” Mohammed said. “We’re looking forward to that collaboration.”
