By Isabella Darcy
Managing Editor
A team of nine students from the College earned fourth place and an honorable mention in their division on Monday at this year’s United States Department of Energy Solar District Cup Collegiate Design Competition. The team was recognized for designing a clean energy system for SUNY Oneonta that is both financially and environmentally efficient.
“When we found out about the honorable mention, that was really cool,” the team’s captain and junior civil engineering major Terrell Osei-Kyei told The Signal.
Teams that competed in the Solar District Cup developed proposals for one of six higher education campuses that were acting as use cases. Use cases were campus or district energy systems for which student teams designed clean energy solutions for how renewable energy could be introduced to them. They also dictated how divisions were determined; each use case was a division.
The student team from the College worked for two semesters to create its design for the SUNY Oneonta use case, which included a field of solar panels, greenhouses and a community space. The design's potential to engage the community earned it the honorable mention.
“The jurors in their division specifically noted that their emphasis on such renewable energy systems could serve the immediate community and address food security in a disadvantaged community had set them apart,” one of the team's advisors, Paul Romano, who is also the College’s senior director of sustainability and energy management, told The Signal.
In its division, the student team competed against at least eight other teams that were also designing proposals for SUNY Oneonta. Over 70 student teams from 39 higher education institutions participated in the competition.
Each team was judged on its presentation of its project proposal, conceptual system design, financial analysis and development plan.
The first round of judging was by division. First-place winners of each division presented in the competition’s Project Pitch event on Tuesday, where a team from Drexel University won first place overall for its proposal.
Since originating in 2019, the Solar District Cup has now run six times. 2024-25 was the first time students from the College entered. The team was composed of students from the Schools of Business, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Engineering. In addition to a multidisciplinary makeup, the team had some multidisciplinary advisory help.
Being multidisciplinary empowers students to play to their strengths, according to Romano.
“The diverse backgrounds have allowed team members to work together to complete the project efficiently and effectively,” Romano said. “Their honorable mention is remarkable because not only were they able to produce a competitive proposal on their first try, but their innovative thinking which I attribute to the diverse representation on the team allowed them to distinguish themselves amongst teams.”
The students on the team were:
Coordinating
Terrell Osei-Kyei, junior civil engineering major
Dakota Kozuch, junior political science major
Development
Vincent Chang, junior English major
Emma Crowningshield, senior political science major
Conceptual Design
Cheyenne Torraca, junior electrical engineering major
Cole Huetz, junior mechanical engineering major
Emily Oberman, junior civil engineering major
Abigail Maroon, sophomore mechanical engineering major
Finance
Syed Mohsin, freshman accounting major
Advisors to the student team were:
Paul Romano, senior director of sustainability and energy management at the College
Wes Fermanich, senior project engineer at Nexamp
Trevor O’Grady, economics professor at the College
Anthony Deese, chair of the College’s department of electrical and computer engineering
Kathryn Foster, political science professor at the College
Huetz, whose main role was figuring out how the team's proposal would integrate into SUNY Oneonta’s campus, told The Signal the team dedicated “countless” hours to developing its proposal. Huetz said that the team is “proud of the work that we put in and happy with the final result.”
The College itself was also involved in the competition, but as a use case. Students from other institutions developed proposals for how the College can more efficiently utilize renewable energy. Romano judged proposals for the College’s use case. His role as a judge was not a conflict of interest, since the student team from the College participated in a separate division.
Wielding his knowledge of the College and his expertise as a licensed architect, Romano assessed whether proposed renewable energy systems were physically able to be implemented and if they could be located in the areas that teams suggested. The championship winning team from Drexel University advanced to the final after being named first place for its proposal for the College’s use case.
At the end of the competition, Romano congratulated the student team from the College on their work and recognition. He also emphasized the students’ achievement, and his wish for the coming years.
“My hope is that future teams will be able to stand on the shoulders of this pioneering team,” Romano said.
