PVAMU Architecture Students, who designed an energy-efficient model home for Race to Net Zero Competition, were honored with the Design Excellence Award by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for their project.

Each year, DOE sponsors the Race to Zero Student Design Competition as a means to engage undergraduate students, graduate students, and university faculty to become part of a new leadership movement to achieve truly sustainable homes.

According to the DOE, the goal of the competition is to provide the next generation of architects, engineers, construction managers, and entrepreneurs with the skills and experience that they will need to start careers in clean energy and generate creative solutions to real-world problems.

“Our project was very well received by both the jurors and by the audience in general. We took on a very challenging problem -well above and beyond the competition requirements- and it did not go unnoticed. Nichole [Thomas] and Jonathan [Ortega] did a great job presenting.  The entire team did an amazing job in all of the work that went into it,” explained Assistant Visiting Professor and Faculty Lead for the project, Dr. Shelly Pottorf.

PVAMU Race to Zero Team Members included students: Nichole Thomas – Team Leader; Jonathan Ortega; Christopher Brown; Ismael Kabre; and Tzivan Vasquez.

For more information about the competition, visit the DOE website.