FUTURE CITY 2009: MORE SUCCESSFUL THAN EVER

Conserving Our Valuable Natural Resources

For the 12th consecutive year Polytechnic Institute of NYU served as host to the Metropolitan Regional Finals of the Future City Competition. The finals were held on Saturday, January 24, 2009, and were conducted under the guidance of NYU-Poly’s David Packard Center for Technology and Educational Alliances and the Metropolitan Section, American Society of Civil Engineers. A major sponsor of these Regional Finals was the Consolidated Edison Company.

Forty-three (43) teams of talented seventh and eighth grade students from twenty-one (21) schools in New York City, Westchester, Long Island and New Jersey gathered in Polytechnic’s gymnasium to exhibit models of futuristic communities which they had developed during five intensive months of research and planning.
This year, 40 regions, involving approximately 30,000 students in over a thousand schools, participated nationally.  Future Cities is sponsored in part by the National Engineers Week Foundation, a consortium of more than 100 professional and technical societies and major corporations. It is the largest and most successful education program of its kind.
Future City, now in its 17th year, requires middle school students to create a city-of-the-future, first on a computer and then as a three-dimensional tabletop model.  Working in three-member teams, supported by a teacher and a mentor-engineer, students create their cities using the SimCity 4 Deluxe software donated to all participating schools by Electronic Arts, Inc. of Redwood City, California.  Students also write a city abstract and an essay on using engineering to solve an important social need.  This year the essay centered on ways to improve water use by creating a home system that minimizes the use of municipal or externally supplied water for its daily requirements.
This year's theme asked students to explore what can be done to conserve and reuse our valuable resource of water as our cities grow and expand. Students used engineering principles to design and build cities of the future with a focus on self-sufficient water systems. The teams presented and defended their cities-of-the-future before judges, consisting of engineers and professors of engineering, at the event.
At the NYU-Poly event students competed for scholarship and prizes. Winning teams from qualifying regional competitions receive an all-expense-paid trip to the Future City National Finals in Washington, D.C., February 16-18, 2009 during Engineers Week.  The national grand prize is a trip to U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama. Polytechnic Institute of NYU provides each student on the FIRST PLACE team with an annual scholarship of $5000, pending his/her acceptance and enrollment at Poly.  Each member of the SECOND and THIRD PLACE teams receives an annual scholarship of $2000 and $1000 respectively, upon his/her enrollment at NYU-Poly. This year the first place prize went to Oakland New Jersey’s Valley Middle School’s team Xi Wang Zhi Cheng, The City of Hope.

The Winning Teams

FIRST PLACE & BEST ESSAY Team: Xi Wang Zhi Cheng (City of Hope), Valley Middle School Left to Right:  Lily Li; Jack Magire; Bobby Matts; Judith Vihonski (Teacher)

SECOND PLACE Team: SunSand City, Islip Middle School Left to Right: Olivia Carroll; Lauren Sparks; Anna Israelian; Phyllis White-Thorne (Con Ed); Julia Johnson (Teacher); Noel Kriftcher (NYU-Poly)

THIRD PLACE & PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD Team: Amala Saher (Pure City), Valley Middle School Left to Right: Noel Kriftcher (NYU-Poly);  Heetae An; Matthew Jang; Sean Reischel; Judith Vihonski (Teacher); Phyllis White-Thorne (Con Ed)

THIRD PLACE Team: Poseidon, M.S. 144 Michelangelo Left to Right:  Kareem Collins; Denton Cassells; Julia Johnson (Teacher);  Simon Darius; Helena Tam (Event Coordinator, HDR); Debra Hendry (Teacher);  Elijah Akinbamidele; Phyllis White-Thorne (Con Ed);

FOURTH PLACE Team: Leilano City, Myra S. Barnes - I.S. 24 Left to Right: Gary Lei; Jane Frangos (Mentor); Chris Pessolano; Raymond Cottrell (Teacher); Phyllis White-Thorne (Con Ed);  Noel Kriftcher (NYU-Poly)

Special Awards

MOST ENVIRONMENTALLY-FRIENDLY CITY Team: Disaster City, Mott Hall II Left to Right: Noel Kriftcher (NYU-Poly); Phyllis White-Thorne (Con Ed); Uriby Santana;  Susan Herzog (Teacher); Andrew Clarke (Mentor); Devante Thomas; Ivan Nuñez

MOST CREATIVE USE OF MATERIALS Team: Atlantopia, Adrien Block IS 25Q Left to Right: Thomas Pramberger (Teacher); Tom Tsami (Mentor); Vikas Peddu; Phyllis White-Thorne (Con Ed); Harrison Sulkis; Megan Connelly; Noel Kriftcher (NYU-Poly); Andy Lin

BEST INFRASTRUCTURE LAYOUT Team: Hydroville, West Hollow Middle School Left to Right: Elizabeth Grein; Judith Kunoff (Mentor); Alyson Givre; Phyllis White-Thorne (Con Ed); Ayelet Amiran; Noel Kriftcher (NYU-Poly)

BEST FUTURISTIC CITY Team: Mott Hall IV, Mott Hall IV Left to Right: Abram Alebiosu; Destiny Modeste; Leo Anguiano (Teacher);  Samuel Akorede;  Quinn Allen (Mentor); Phyllis White-Thorne (Con Ed); Noel Kriftcher (NYU-Poly)

BEST COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM Team: Galland City, Myra S. Barnes - I.S. 24 Left to Right: Noel Kriftcher (NYU-Poly); Jane Frangos (Mentor); Chris Colella; Phyllis White-Thorne (Con Ed); Michael Gallo; Raymond Cottrell (Teacher); William Brandt

MOST CREATIVE RESIDENTIAL AREA Team: New Magzello ,Myra S. Barnes - I.S. 24 Left to Right: Front row: Alyxandra Magnus; Lawrence Zeldin; Johnny Zangrillo; Back row: Raymond Cottrell (Teacher); Jane Frangos (Mentor); Noel Kriftcher (NYU-Poly); Phyllis White-Thorne (Con Ed);

MOST ADVANCED MANUFACTURING CONCEPT Team: Aquatech City, I.S. 77Q Left to Right: Sharar Rasha; Enid Berisha, Admir Berisha; Phyllis White-Thorne (Con Ed); Student; Chris Alexiou (Teacher); Noel Kriftcher (NYU-Poly); Enkela Mezini (Mentor)

BEST TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM Team: Honors City, M.S. 144 Michelangelo Left to Right: Noel Kriftcher (NYU-Poly); Phyllis White-Thorne (Con Ed); Eaton Burke; Joyce Tang; Chris Mojica (Mentor); Schamona Williams; Debra Hendry (Teacher); Mike Brinjak (Mentor); and Sara Olson (Mentor)

MOST INNOVATIVE POWER GENERATION SYSTEM Team: Sem Agua, I.S. 383 Philippa Schuyler Middle School Left to Right: David Salinas; Phyllis White-Thorne (Con Ed); Jonas Gonzalez; Helena Tam (Event Coordinator, HDR); Joel Corcino; Noel Kriftcher (NYU-Poly); Lindrick Outerbridge (Teacher)

BEST MANAGEMENT OF WATER RESOURCES Team: New Nerick, Myra S. Barnes - I.S. 24 Left to Right: Phyllis White-Thorne (Con Ed); Nicholas Carroll; Raymond Cottrell (Teacher); Eric Pettas; Jane Frangos (Mentor); Noel Kriftcher (NYU-Poly)

MOST SUSTAINABLE DESIGN Team: New Ayre City, Myra S. Barnes - I.S. 24 Left to Right: Olivia Nacionales; Phyllis White-Thorne (Con Ed); Nick Culotta; Raymond Cottrell (Teacher); Tyler Kruppa;  Jane Frangos (Mentor); Noel Kriftcher (NYU-Poly)

BEST WATER TREATMENT SYSTEM Team: Occasus Luna, Brooklyn Amity School Left to Right: Tyra Bateau; Merve Gecir; Noel Kriftcher (NYU-Poly); Phyllis White-Thorne (Con Ed); Mucahit  Polat (Mentor); Helena Tam (Event Coordinator, HDR); Dilek Gas; Leyla Dereyayla

BEST INDOOR ENVIRONMENT Team: Atheas "The Apple of the World", The Young Women's Leadership School, Queens Left to Right: Phyllis White-Thorne (Con Ed); Ramanjot Kaur; Noel Kriftcher (NYU-Poly); Joniel Edwards; Janu Easter (Teacher)

MOST CREATIVE PUBLIC TRANSIT Team: Hope, Mark Twain I.S. 239 Left to Right: Sasson Rafailov; Noel Kriftcher (NYU-Poly); Julia Stemmer; Tonio Rizzi (Teacher); Jonathan Greenspan; Phyllis White-Thorne (Con Ed)

SAFEST CITY Team: Pani-Dunia, I.S. 318 Left to Right: Russell Holstein (Teacher); Swaad Golam; Luke Mayorga; Nick Friend (Mentor); Konrad Konopko; Michael Szymeczek; Michael Kobajlo

BEST CONSERVATION OF FOSSIL FUELS Team: Gitchigami, Mott Hall II Left to Right: Keanu Lajara; Samuel Yampolsky; Noel Kriftcher (NYU-Poly); Phyllis White-Thorne (Con Ed); Susan Herzog (Teacher); Andrew Clarke (Mentor); Alexander Guzman; Jennifer (Asst. Mentor)

COMPETITION STEERING AND PLANNING COMMITTEE

COMPETITION SPONSORS

Founded in 1852, the American Society of Civil Engineers represents more than 123,000 members of the civil engineering profession worldwide, with over 8000 members in the greater New York City area. America’s oldest national engineering society, ASCE’s vision is to position engineers as global leaders building a better quality of life.

Polytechnic Institute of NYU, the nation's second oldest private engineering institution, was founded in 1854 in Brooklyn, New York. Known for many years as "Brooklyn Poly," the University is the New York metropolitan area's preeminent resource in science and technology education and research.

Today, Polytechnic maintains its strength in traditional science and engineering disciplines and also offers highly regarded programs in telecommunications, media studies, information science, technology management and bioengineering. Its research initiatives have been recognized by the U.S. National Security Agency, which designated Polytechnic as a Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education, as well as the American Chemical Society, Verizon Laboratories and the National Science Foundation.

In addition to its main campus at MetroTech Center in Brooklyn, Polytechnic offers programs at sites throughout the region, including Long Island, Manhattan and Westchester. The University also offers several programs in Israel and has developed student-exchange programs with universities around the globe.

Additionally, Polytechnic conducts outreach programs for area elementary, middle and high schools. Many students participate in its summer internship program, where they work alongside faculty members on research projects, and compete in national and regional scientific competitions, including the the National Future City Competition, the FIRST Robotics Competition and the International Science and Engineering Fair. NYU-Poly students serve as science instructional resource Fellows under an NSF-funded program and Poly's Packard Center is an important source for faculty training and curriculum development in area schools.

In 2005, the University celebrated its 150th anniversary. The sesquicentennial was marked by special events, historical exhibits and a distinguished lecture series.

Polytechnic’s mission statement says it all: “To produce and support the leaders of tomorrow, we will provide excellence in research and education in engineering, computing, science and related fields for the New York region and the world.”