For most people, answering tough questions from judges live on stage wouldn’t be cited as their favorite part of an international student competition, but it was for Cal Poly environmental engineering student Julia Loew.
Loew, who along with teammates Indigo Banjo, Christian Campos, Santina Gatti, Sada Hitzemann, Emma Giordano, Matthew Watts and Corinne Watson won the 2023 Environmental Challenge International (ECi) in Orlando, Florida, in early June, said the poster judging portion was clearly her top highlight.
“Each of the judges played a different stakeholder role and asked specific questions about their unique concerns,” said Loew, the Cal Poly team lead. “They were judging whether we had considered every perspective, and this really put our solution to the test — and forced us to think on our feet to respond thoroughly and concisely.”
The Cal Poly’s team’s winning responses were to the 2023 ECi climate change-related prompt which had the students developing a comprehensive decarbonization plan to help two companies selected from the energy, entertainment, waste or technology sectors to reach a target of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.
Loew said success at the ECi competition, which is held annually at the Air & Waste Management Association convention and gives student teams experience in proposing effective, real-world solutions to simulated environmental problems, was a matter of proper focus.
“The biggest challenge was definitely narrowing the scope of the problem,” she said. “They gave us this very broad prompt which we could interpret however we pleased. Consequently, we needed to make sure we pursued a path that is detailed enough to impress the judges but not so detailed that we became overwhelmed and delivered an incomplete product.”
Gatti, a freshman environmental engineering student, admitted to being overwhelmed by the project at first.
“The competition really pushed me out of my comfort zone, especially when it came to diving headfirst into researching and crafting a report,” Gatti said. “It was a whole new world for me, reading those scientific reports and trying to make sense of all the data. However, as the weeks passed, I slowly started understanding the project better and feeling more confident with the team.”
Gatti, who praised Loew’s leadership — “She trusted in the potential of our ideas and encouraged us to pursue them” — said the overall process was educational and fun.
“I learned so much over those 10 weeks that with or without the win, I would have still highly enjoyed the experience,” she said. “Though winning was awesome.”
It was the second-consecutive awesome showing for Cal Poly at ECi. Advised by Professor Tracy Thatcher, Cal Poly students won in 2022 for their proposed regulatory plan to reduce air and water pollution emissions from vessels in San Francisco Bay.
Loew, who was also the team lead in 2022, downplayed her role in the back-to-back Cal Poly wins, instead citing her “talented and dedicated” teammates.
“They entirely change the prompt between years, so last year’s win wasn’t particularly integral to the work itself,” she said. “However, it helped to have a person who knew what to expect going into the competition. I was able to field most of the team’s questions and concerns much easier this year compared to last year when not one team member knew what to expect.”
So, does Loew expect this is the start of a Cal Poly dynasty in ECi?
“Definitely,” Loew said. “Though I won’t be there next year, I feel confident the team will continue to succeed.”
By Dennis Steers
