Michigan State University College of Engineering students Braden Baker and Kyle Foster Jr. recently experienced their own version of March Madness.
It just happened a few days early.
Baker and Foster Jr. competed Feb. 26-28 in a bracket-style tournament of more than 70 teams. They thrived, finishing in the Elite Eight.
The tournament, called the Lockheed Martin Ethics in Engineering Competition, was held at the company's headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, and involved more than 200 students and faculty from colleges and universities across the U.S.
Lockheed Martin is an aerospace, arms, defense, information security and technology corporation. Its competition required students to present solutions to a hypothetical business ethics case.
This year’s case highlighted the responsible use of Artificial Intelligence to assist NASA with accurately quantifying the risk of a collision between a detected asteroid and Earth.
Competitors were challenged to work together to find a solution to help determine if an asteroid detected by an existing ground-based telescope is a concern.
Baker (Mechanical Engineering) and Foster Jr. (Electrical Engineering) were joined on the trip by Rachel Mangiavellano, their faculty adviser. Mangiavellano is the College of Engineering's Early Career Development & Experimental Education associate director.
Networking opportunities
In addition to the MSU team of Baker and Foster Jr., the quarterfinals also featured students from Drexel University, Penn State University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Texas A&M University, and University of Southern Mississippi.
Rice University emerged victorious over runner-up The Citadel in the tournament's finals.
During this year’s tournament, students learned about Lockheed Martin’s mission, attended HR-sponsored workshops, participated in a paper airplane competition and went on off-site tours.
Students had opportunities to experience simulators and try out virtual reality stations. They also heard from Lockheed Martin executives and a panel of employees who are part of the company's Early Career Leadership Development Program.
Written by Eric Lacy, lacyeric@msu.edu. See more at the Engineering Media and Public Relations page.