A design for a hydrogen-powered community in California by students from Missouri University of Science and Technology captured the grand prize in the national Hydrogen Student Design Contest sponsored by the Hydrogen Education Foundation.

Missouri S&T was announced as the grand prize winner today (Tuesday, May 4) at the National Hydrogen Association‘s Hydrogen Conference and Expo in Long Beach, Calif.
This marks the second time in three years that a Missouri S&T team has won the student design contest.

For this year’s competition, the Missouri S&T team designed a scalable hydrogen fueling station for the community of Santa Monica, Calif., and identified renewable hydrogen sources in the community as well as customers for early-market hydrogen applications.

The team’s eight students designed a station capable of dispensing at least 200 kilograms of hydrogen per day. As an outreach to inform the public about the benefits of hydrogen power, team members also designed a public education facility to be constructed from a recycled shipping container.

Their work was based on criteria outlined in the California Fuel Cell Partnership’s Action Plan 1, a 2009 strategy for developing early hydrogen communities in that state over the next eight years.

The Hydrogen Design Contest is an annual event that challenges teams of university-level students from around the world to develop and design hydrogen applications for real-world use. Established in 2004 by the Hydrogen Education Foundation, the contest showcases the talents of students in many disciplines, including engineering, architecture, marketing and entrepreneurship. Students from colleges, universities and vocational schools worldwide are eligible to participate. More than 30 teams from all over the world signed up for the competition.

As the grand prize winner, the S&T team was invited to present its design at the Hydrogen Conference and Expo and at the World Hydrogen Energy Conference to be held May 16-19 in Essen, Germany.

In 2008, a Missouri S&T team won the grand prize by designing systems to address air and water quality, noise pollution, energy efficiency, and safety and security issues at the Columbia Metropolitan Airport in Columbia, S.C.

Members of this year’s team are as follows:

• Mathew Thomas of Rolla, Mo., a Ph.D. student in engineering management and the team leader.
• Stephen Schrock of Omaha, Neb., a senior in architectural engineering.
• James Haworth of Kansas City, Mo., a senior in architectural engineering.
• Amber Gomaz of Rolla, a senior in architectural engineering.
• Matthew Rankins of Eureka, Mo., a senior in architectural engineering.
• Aanchal Shah of Rolla, Mo., a graduate student in mechanical engineering.
• Vijay Mohan of Malleswaram, Bangalore, India, a graduate student in mechanical engineering.
• Yaqin Lin of Rolla, Mo., a graduate student in engineering management.

Team advisers include Dr. Paul D Hirtz, interim director of Missouri S&T’s Student Design Center; Dr. Stuart W. Baur, assistant professor of civil, architectural and environmental engineering; Heath Pickerill, lecturer of civil, architectural and environmental engineering and director of the Missouri Local Transportation Assistance Program; Scott E. Grasman, associate professor of engineering management and systems engineering; Kevin B. Martin, assistant research professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering; Angela Rolufs, director of the Missouri Transportation Institute and the S&T Center for Environmental Excellence; Dr. John Sheffield, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and Timothy Montgomery, owner and principal architect of TMA Architects of St. Louis and a 1971 mechanical engineering graduate of Missouri S&T (then known as the University of Missouri-Rolla).