UNIVERSITY OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
UPEI Engineering students win big at 2025 Atlantic Engineering Competition

UPEI Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering (FSDE) teams, composed of a total of 48 students, competed at the 2025 Atlantic Engineering Competition (AEC), hosted at Université de Moncton in New Brunswick from January 24-26, 2025.

UPEI Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering students competed at the 2025 Atlantic Engineering Competition held at Université de Moncton, New Brunswick.

Hosted by the Atlantic Council of Engineering Students, the regional competition saw record attendance and participation from the UPEI FSDE. Thirty-six of those students placed in the top three in their category (nine teams), and 30 of them have qualified for the Canadian Engineering Competition (CEC) in Halifax, Nova Scotia, later this term.

"The strength of our design program and the skills our students build in communication and collaboration are evident from this astonishing outcome," said Dr. Suzanne Kresta, dean of the FSDE. "The students' passion for what they do, the dedication of our instructors, and the hours of mentoring provided by our staff are all hallmarks of the excellent education we provide at UPEI's FSDE."

Of the eight categories in the competition, UPEI FSDE teams took first place in three: Communications, Consulting, and Senior Design.

Another noteworthy achievement for the students of UPEI FSDE, Atlantic Canada's smallest engineering faculty, is that five second-place teams have qualified to represent UPEI at CEC in Programming, Consulting, Innovative Design, Junior Design, and Reengineering. In addition to this, UPEI FSDE has earned half of the 16 qualifying spots for CEC from Atlantic Canada in 2025.

The UPEI teams placed as follows in their respective categories:

Programming

• 2nd: Colby White, Matt Hutchinson, Lauren Daigle, and Liam MacLennan

Communications

• 1st: Maddy Cronin and Spencer Blacquiere

Consulting

• 1st: Clara Grant, Deanna Malone, Khiym MacEwen, and Emma Ledgerwood

• 2nd: Mohammed Mahmood, Mahmoud Mohammed, Syed Imran Ali, and Syed Daniyel Ali

 Innovative Design

• 2nd: Luke Jennings, Elijah Dodd, Hillary Dobbin, Nathan Belanger, RJ Hetherington, and Morgan McLean

• 3rd: Mikkayla Ellsworth-Reid, Jimmy Hulton, Ethan Arsenault-Saunders, Abby Chapman, Amara Cepeda, and Ellen Fraser

Senior Design

• 1st: Riley Fitzpatrick, Brian MacDonald, Sophie Hayes, and Elliot Fraser

Junior Design

• 2nd: Philip Kiss, Michael MacKenzie, Faith Brown, and Kaitlyn Campbell

Re-engineering

• 2nd: Berry Genge and Zackery Pendleton

Jimmy Hulton, a third-year FSDE student and vice-president external of the UPEI Engineering Society, played an important role in organizing the large team of engineering students to prepare for and compete at the event.

"UPEI once again had an extraordinary showing at the Atlantic Engineering Competition," said Hulton. "I'm incredibly proud of every single student that represented UPEI at this competition. They all worked very hard both leading up to and during the competition, and this was evident in their results. I can only imagine this success will continue at CEC in March!"

The AEC is an annual student-run initiative that began in 1983 and has since grown to become one of the largest and highly anticipated engineering competitions in Canada. AEC 2024 brought together over 150 of the brightest engineering students from nine universities across Atlantic Canada.

The three-day event provides a setting for students to develop meaningful relationships with their peers while demonstrating their engineering skills in a competitive environment. Students in teams of one to four compete in a series of eight competitions designed to test their innovative, problem-solving, and leadership skills key qualities of a successful and well-rounded engineer.

The UPEI teams were supported financially by the UPEI Alumni Association as well as the UPEI Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering, allowing students to participate in the valuable experiences and networking opportunities that the event offered.

Congratulations to all!