Contact

Progam Contact

M. Ginger Scarbrough, PhD

Director, WERC Environmental Design Contest

 WERC Email | 575-646-8171

Contribute to Workforce Development!

Register to Judge at: wercteams.nmsu.edu

Contest: April 6-9, 2025

All events at the NM Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum
4100 Dripping Springs Rd., Las Cruces, NM

Help students transition from theory to practice!

Our undergraduate teams need your perspective–your judging team may be the first set of practicing engineers that have worked closely with these students.

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Teams follow the process of the Engineer's RFP

Teams will:

  • select a task
  • conduct background research
  • develop a solution
  • build and demonstrate a working bench-scale apparatus
  • develop a business plan for full-scale implementation
  • address government regulations, potential waste streams, and public relations
  • submit: technical report, oral & poster presentations, and bench-scale demo.

Submit a Task Idea:
Have an idea for a real-world task that students can solve? Let's work on it for next year. Contact us!

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Judging Timeline

Judge registration opens late October 2024.

Review 30% Project Review Papers: 
March 8-15, 2024

Score Technical Reports: 
March 31-April 6, 2025

Onsite Contest: 
April 6-9, 2025
NM Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum
4100 Dripping Springs Rd., Las Cruces, NM

April 6: Dinner, Judges' Orientation
April 7: Breakfast, Oral Presentations, Lunch, Poster Presentations
April 8: Breakfast, Bench-scale Demos, Lunch
April 9: Award Decisions, Lunch, Dinner, Awards Banquet

 

See Judging FAQs below

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Judge Resources:

2025 Task Problem Statements: Find out what teams are working on for the 2025 contest.

Register to be a judge - Go to wercteams.nmsu.edu

Judge Scoring Handbook

Study the Judges' Handbook prior to scoring the Technical Report.

The handbook contains:

  • judging guidelines
  • general schedules
  • scoring rubrics
  • instructions for navigating the judging portal (access team reports and upload scores)

2024 Judge Manual▸

Judging FAQs

Q: Where can I find scoring rubrics? (Posted 12/22/22)
A: They are in the Judge Handbook and also on the teams site as you score teams

Q: Am I supposed to score the 30% Project Review? (Posted 12/22/22)
A: No. Your goal is only to give teams feedback to improve their final report. If a team submits a project report that is not up to your standards, respond to let them know that you cannot give feedback due to insufficient report information.

Q: When reviewing the 30% Project Review, I needed to tell teams to refer to the scoring rubric. Do they have access to it? (Posted 2/28/22)
A: Yes. Tell them to refer to the rubric in their Team Manual.

Q: Should I email comments to the teams? (Posted 4/1/21)
A: Yes. Please do this, but only for the 30% Project Review. You may email through the yellow "Email to members" button. Be sure to treat all teams the same. Either email them all or none of them (even if the email simply states that their review did not contain sufficient information for review). 

Q: Should I email comments to the teams for the technical report? (Posted 4/1/21)
A: No. Enter your comments for the tech report directly into the online scoring rubric. The teams will see your comments after the contest.

Q: When will the teams see the scores and comments that I enter online? (Posted 3/20/21)
A: After the contest. If you make in-line comments in the report, send it to the teams through the "Email to Members" button.