Special Awards and Mentor Panel

Special Awards

Special Awards are an optional benefit registered teams can take advantage of! Essays, models, and answers to special award-specific questions will be virtually judged by the sponsor to determine the winner of the Special Award! Check out the current list of Special Awards and their criteria to take into consideration when designing your city!

Best Green Future City

Best Green Future City

American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)

In recognition of a student team that demonstrates dynamic use of engineering concepts that promote sustainability through community, conservation, and circular economy.

NCEES Professional Licensure Award

NCEES Professional Licensure Award

National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES)

The design that employs the best engineering practices, taking into consideration the high standards used by professional engineers to help protect the public’s safety and welfare. 

Outstanding Future City Project Plan

Outstanding Future City Project Plan

Project Management Institute Educational Foundation (PMIEF)

Teams should be able to explain how they followed the project cycle when designing their Future City. They should be able to clearly communicate their activities in each stage of the project cycle, including how they created their project schedule, assigned responsibilities, and monitored and controlled their work.

Meet Your 2024/25 Mentor Panel

The 2024-25 Mentor Panel are dedicated to supporting all Future City High School teams on their journey through the competition.

How will they do that? Through a series of scheduled Mentor calls, students can engage with our Mentors to ask questions, gain technical guidance on critical theme topics, receive feedback on their designs as they navigate the Engineering Design Process to build their cities of the future and gain valuable insights on engineering careers.

Can’t attend the mentor sessions or have additional questions for our mentors? Official Future City High School team members can submit their questions to Maddy@DiscoverE.org throughout the season to be addressed by the Mentors.

Sara Schonour

Sara Schonour

Entrepreneur, Owner of Luxsi

Education in Architechural Engineering and Lighting Design

Previous Future City High School Finals Judge.

Uchenna Ezibe

Uchenna Ezibe

Senior Manager of STEM K-12 programs at the American Nuclear Society

Former science teacher for middle and high school students.

Previous Future City High School Finals Judge.

Viveka Devadas

Viveka Devadas

Designated Specialist for building design products at Autodesk.