BSEE Technology Challenge

Mar 3, 2017

1 min read

Two teams from the Petroleum Academy at Southwest High School participated in the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) Technology Challenge. Teams competed for prize money ranging from $1000 to $4000. Weeks before the competition, the students had a training over breadboards, diodes, resistance, ohms and other electricity subjects.

The students were welcomed to the competition by the host, Ocean Energy Safety Institute (OESI). Afterward, the teams began circuit building, attempting to build the circuit as accurately as possible from memory. Each round of building was timed. Simultaneously, each team was required to create a poster regarding the future of piezoelectric applications, which is electricity generated by mechanical actions such as pressing. Furthermore, there were 10 quiz sessions in which a question about electricity would appear on the main screen, and each team would have to use their knowledge in order to answer and earn points. Each activity generated points, and the four teams with the most points at the end of the competition won checks for the team and their school.

After the completion of circuit building, each team had the chance to use the circuits to charge helicopters. After successfully charging, they would fly helicopters across the University of Houston (UH) football field as efficiently as possible in 10 minutes. Though we did not place in the competition, we had a lot of fun and a great time being able to apply our skills in STEM.