The 9th AMIE Design Challenge will be held at the 40th BEYA STEM Conference on Friday, February 13th in Baltimore, Maryland at the Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor Hotel.  This AMIE signature program demonstrates the value of the AMIE collaborative partnership.   It is also a great way to showcase the innovation and technical expertise of our students.  We are excited to announce that we will have all (15) HBCU Schools of Engineering and over 100 students participating this year. 

The objective of the AMIE Design Challenge is to

  • Engage students in industry challenges through collaboration with corporate business, government agencies and technical leaders
  • Introduce students to new and emerging technologies and how they are used to solve real life problems
  •  Provide the opportunity for innovative, out of the box thinking, skills development and solution presentations

Students are introduced to “Design Thinking Methodology”, “Mural for Virtual Collaboration”, “Business Model Canvas” and “Communicating for Solution Impact - Preparing for Entrepreneurial Presentations” to enable them to focus on user outcomes in problem solving and the development of user centric solutions.  

This year’s Design Challenge Problem Statement is “How might we design innovative, human-centered solutions that leverage emerging technologies such as AI, cybersecurity, data science, VR, autonomous systems, advanced energy systems, and sustainability practices to address complex societal and environmental challenges, overcome barriers to industry and government progress, OR create new opportunities by disrupting existing markets?”

One student from each team participated in the AbbVie IP Academy held at the Southern University Law Center which enabled students to learn how to protect their Intellectual Property through Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights.  AMIE in partnership with E4 Power Consulting and GM submitted Provisional Patents for nine (9) HBCU Schools of Engineering teams before the 2026 AMIE Design Challenge to protect their Innovative Solutions.

Participating team members and Universities will receive a monetary award.  The first, second and third place winners will be invited to attend and present at our 2026 AMIE Annual Conference hosted by Howard University in Washington, DC in September 2026.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE

2026 AMIE DESIGN CHALLENGE WINNERS

1st Place - Tuskegee University

2nd Place - Jackson State University

3rd Place - NC A&T State University and Norfolk State University

About Us:

AMIE is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose purpose is to expand corporate and government alliances with the ABET accredited Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Schools of Engineering to implement and support programs to attract, educate, graduate and place students in engineering and computer science careers to close the engineering workforce gap.