Welcome to the Griffiss Institute

Merging Business and Technology in the Mohawk Valley

AFRL Challenge Competition

The Challenge Competition is an annual competitive STEM initiative for local High School students. It is held during a week when students are on a school break and it's intent is to provide a more realistic view into the types of high tech problems our nation is facing and how engineers and researchers go about disecting and solving these problems.  Participating in this competititon gives students a new perspective on the field of engineering help them learn a little more about what some of the companies here on the Griffiss Business and Technology Park do.  

 

 

We are pleased to announce the 2012 AFRL Challenge Competition to be held April 9-13, 2012.

Please advise us of your interest in the 2012 competition by completing the form below.

2012 Challenge Competition Team Registration Form

Funding for this competition is provided solely by corporate sponsorships. 

To find out how to support this years competition please click here.

or click on the donate button below.

Information from our previous Challenge Competitions

2011 Challenge Competition - April 18-22, 2011

Click here for the newsletter

 

Problem: "Going Green" in the Cloud - Determine if your organization can "go Green" by computing in the cloud.

Participants:

Clinton High School

Teacher: Matthew Keeney -  Students: Rachael Mead & Michael Taft

 

Holland Patent High School

Teacher: Richard Zacek - Students: Nick Roberts & Michael Lynskey

Ilion High School

Teacher: Wes Laurion - Students: Lance Burdick & Tyler Esford

Hew Hartford High School

Teacher: Anthony Surace - Students: Joshua Wilson & Bryan Phipps

 

New York Mills High School

Teacher: Adam Lovecchio - Students: Gregory Liberty-Newport & Travis Crawford

VVS High School

Teachers: Michael Dunne - Students: Makenzie Carney & Andrew Urtz

 

West Canada Valley

Teacher: Dianne Kraszewski - Students: Charles Straney & Mike Zbytniewski

 

Westmoreland High School

Teacher: Nicholas Darrah - Students: Luke Taverne & Ian Miller

 

Winners:

1st place:  Westmoreland High School

2nd Place: New Hartford High School

3rd Place:  West Canada Valley High School

 

Sponsors of the 2011 Competition:

ITT,  CACI, Inc., AIS, Alion Science & Technology, Inc., CUBRC, MVEEC & Dr. Joseph Sharkey, FPM Group, MVCC, The Savoy Restaurant, MVEDGE, AmeriCU, Distributed Infinity, Delta Lake Inn, Capraro Technologies, Mohawk Valley GIS, Quanterion Solutions, Cyber Defense Institute, Everis Inc. 

Special thanks goes to our sponsors, without whom this competition would not be possbile.

2010 Challenge Competition   - February 15-19, 2010
 

Problem:

Determine how to provide trustworthy information in the public Internet

 

Participants:

 

Clinton High School

Teachers: Matthew Keeney & Brian McIntosh - Students: Katie Popyack & Devin Cornelius

Holland Patent High School

Teacher: Katelin Corbett - Students: Liesel Vosburgh and Augie Allen

Remsen High School

Teacher: John Hastwell IV - Students: Jacob Foster & Markus Sykes

Rome Free Academy

Teacher: Melissa Downs - Students: Zachary Oppito & Joseph Pasqualetti III

Thomas R. Proctor High School

Teacher: Lisa Mennig - Students: Dana Giannandrea & Thao Pham

VVS High School

Teachers: Michael Dunne - Students: Chris Brunscheen & Michael Eichenlaub

Westmoreland High School

Teacher: Nicholas Darrah - Students: Peter Donnelly Jr.

 

Winners:

1st place:  Proctor High School

2nd Place" Holland Patent high School

3rd Place: VVS High School

 

Sponsors of the 2010 Competition:

CUBRC, Inc., Working Solutions, Inc., AIS, Alion Science & Technology, Inc., BAE Systems, CACI, Inc., DART Communications, EVERIS, FPM Group, MVCC, Quanterion Solutions, The Savoy Restaurant, AmeriCU, Distributed Infinity,

Express Systems, Integration, Griffiss Utility Services Corp., Mohawk Valley EDGE, Mohawk Valley GIS

 

Special thanks goes to our sponsors, without whom this competition would not be possbile.

2009 Challenge Competition - April 13-17, 2009 

 

Problem:

How can the United States trust its information technology infrastructure,  given that we have little control over how it is

designed, developed, and manufactured?

 

Competing teams:

Clinton High School

Teacher: Matthew Keeney  - Students: Jennifer Willemsen, Gregory Jo and Julian Bass-Krueger, and Christian Firsching

Holland Patent High School

Teacher: Jeanne Owens - Students: Randy Mills and Jordan Roberts

Rome Free Academy

Teacher: Robert Wood and Melissa Downs - Students: Dona Occhipinti and David Gomez

VVS High School

Teachers: Michael Dunne, Micah Colbert, and Timothy McKenna - Students: Nicholas Macrina, Kevin Siegenthaler, Dylan Johnson, and Tyler Green

Westmoreland High School

Teacher: Nicholas Darrah - Students: Anthony Aiello and Trevor McGregor

 

Winners:

1st Place: Clinton High School

2nd Place: VVS High School

3rd Place: Holland Patent High School

 

We would like to entend our sincere thanks to all the companies who contributed as sponsors of the 2009 Challenge Competition : Working Solutions, Assured Information Security, CACI, Sovena USA, FPM Group, ALION, AmeriCU, Mohawk Valley EDGE, Distributed Infinity, L-3 Communications, Research Associates of Syracuse, The Savoy Restaurant, MVCC, Express Systems Integration, Hummels, RAM Spring Water, Booz Allen Hamilton and Mohawk Valley GIS and also to those contributors who asked to remain anonymous.  We could not have held this competition without your support.