Four Cal Poly students were awarded $5,000 for their innovative proposal at the fifth annual Change the World: The Systems Thinking Challenge. 

The interdisciplinary competition is a transformative student design challenge that teaches students the critical, industry-desired skill of systems thinking by asking them to address the world’s most pressing contemporary problems.  

Bill Swanson, a 1973 industrial engineering alumnus and retired Raytheon chairman and CEO, started Change the World: The Systems Thinking Challenge to give students a creative way to learn systems thinking. 

This year’s winners, Ashley Aring (Computer Science and Software Engineering), Gabriel Ribeiro (Chemistry & Biochemistry), Hannah Benson (Kinesiology and Public Health) and Monish Shanmugham Suresh (Computer Science and Software Engineering) presented their product, VitaLines, to a panel of judges and placed first among four finalist teams. VitaLines is an affordable at-home test kit used to detect vitamin deficiencies. 

VisiTox Sensors placed second and ThermaFlow placed third, earning $3,000 and $1,500 respectively. XYLEM Flow received honorable mention. 

In addition to the top four finalist teams pitching their products to the judges, this year’s Change the World: The Systems Thinking Challenge included a poster presentation in which all qualifying project posters were on display. The projects included AgHero, Algal Blooms, HAMM, SeaSense and VoltScan. A total of 33 students across disciplines qualified for the May 8 presentation and judging event. 

This year’s judges included Lee Ann Pearce, senior commercial agricultural loan officer; David Pelling, strategic finance professional; Sara Ford, senior developer relations engineer; Roger Benham, CEO of Leak Control Services Inc.; and Bo Lycke, finance, private equity and venture capital professional. 

Change the World: The Systems Thinking Challenge participants worked closely with faculty mentors who guided the students throughout the process. This year’s mentors were Erik Sapper (chemistry and biochemistry), Priya Verma (natural resources management and environmental sciences), Miranda Yin (marketing), Christina Firpo (history) and Lanny Griffin (biomedical engineering). The challenge is directed by industrial and manufacturing engineering Assistant Professor Jill Speece.