L.A. Mission College makes the Top 10 in the NSF Innovation Challenge

Congratulations to Bio-Link member Los Angeles Mission College for being named a top-ten finalist in the National Science Foundation’s fourth annual Community College Innovation Challenge! The college’s team presented their proposal for using wastewater to generate electricity throughout Los Angeles. Biotechnology students Thibault Angouillant, Karla Martinez Hurtado, Mary Abrams, Juan Sosa Matute, as well as faculty mentor, Stephen Brown, PhD., are team members. Their project uses bacteria in a microbial fuel cell configuration to both treat wastewater and produce energy. 

The Community College Innovation Challenge (CCIC) is a prestigious, two-stage competition where community college teams use science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to innovate solutions to real-world problems, compete for cash awards, and earn full travel support (students and faculty) to attend an Innovation Boot Camp in Washington, D.C.

Other members of Bio-Link have seen success at the Challenge in past years. Students from the Bio-Link program at Del Mar College, Corpus Christi, TX, took first place last year for their work on antibiotic resistance, and students from the Bio-Link program at Ivy Tech Community College in South Bend, IN, took second place in 2015.