Students from the University of Missouri-Rolla finished in first and second place during an annual black box competition sponsored by the St. Louis Section of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers on Nov. 15.

In the competition, two-person student teams investigate an unknown circuit and determine its components and connections. As the 2002 winner, UMR hosted this year’s contest.

UMR had four teams competing. First place was awarded to UMR’s Hai Bui of St. Louis, a senior in electrical engineering, and Trung Dam of Springfield, Mo., a senior in computer engineering. Hiren Sampat of Blue Springs, Mo., a senior in electrical engineering at UMR, and Ashwin Shashindranath of Chennai, India, a junior in electrical engineering at UMR, received second place.

Other UMR student team members included Dawn Ehlers of Bridgeton, Mo., a senior in electrical engineering; Erik Timpson of Lee’s Summit, Mo., a senior in electrical engineering; Rich Milburn of Bridgetown, Mo., a junior in electrical engineering; and Michael Thielker of Florissant, Mo., a senior in electrical engineering.