Three MSOE faculty members, Drs. Jeffrey Blessing, Michael Carriere and Jeong Woo, were listed among the 80 round 1 winners of the Smart Cities—Smart Futures competition.

Launched by Foxconn in conjunction with UW System, the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (of which MSOE is a member) and the Wisconsin Technical College System, the Smart Cities—Smart Futures competition incentivizes the development of new technologies aimed at developing smart and connected cities. More than 300 submissions from students, faculty and staff were considered.

Blessing, a Rader School of Business professor; Carriere, associate professor in the Humanities, Social Science and Communication Department and University Scholars honors program director; and Jeong Woo, professor and program director of construction management, were each awarded $500 to develop their proposals for possible implementation.

Agriculture is the focus of Carriere’s proposal, which is a joint effort between MSOE and the Civic Leadership Center and seeks to turn a portion of Milwaukee County House of Correction facility into a “green” campus, implementing greenhouse and raised beds for growing. Solar power and rainwater harvesting would be integrated into its design.

Blessing’s proposal is for Cyber Secure Smart Cities (CSSC), which focuses on an IoT (Internet of Things) device to enhance cybersecurity.

“Basically, it’s a device you could plug into a network to improve security,” Blessing said. “It could also be incorporated into the design of switches and routers to make them more security smart.”

Woo’s proposal focuses on developing a virtual reality application for EMS training. Woo and students from the Civil and Architectural Engineering and Construction Management Department will work with the Fire and EMS Training Center at Waukesha County Technical College and Mortenson to create the app.

All round-one winners had the opportunity to expand upon their innovative ideas and solutions regarding smart city innovations through an essay and two-minute video pitch. These submissions will be evaluated during the month of February. Winners will receive $1,500. The final round will begin in March and go until mid-April. Up to 16 winners will be awarded the $5,000 “President’s Award.”