ATSSA & TRB announce 2025 TCD Student Challenge winners

ATSSA & TRB announce 2025 TCD Student Challenge winners

Florida International University student places first

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. (Jan. 7, 2025) – The American Traffic Safety Services Association (ATSSA), in partnership with the National Academy of Sciences Transportation Research Board (TRB), announces winners of the 2025 Traffic Control Device (TCD) Student Challenge.

Ten teams, made up primarily of engineering students from universities across the U.S., competed in the TCD Student Challenge, which was titled, “Innovative Traffic Control Device Solutions to Improve Roadway Worker Safety.”

Hellen Shita of Florida International University (pictured below) won the contest, receiving first place for the project entitled, “Use of Rectangular Rapid-Flashing Beacons (RRFBs) in Improving Worker Safety.”

Seth Wilder of North Carolina State University placed second with his project entitled, “DrumSense: An Intelligent Platform to Enhance Work Zone Safety and Data Collection.”

A team from the University of Connecticut placed third with its project entitled, “Multi-Tiered Traffic Control and Safety System for Construction Zones Using Temporary Asphalt Text, Lidar, and Work Zone Intrusion Monitoring.” The team consists of, from left, Sepehr Golrokh Amin, Prakash Ranjan, Quinn Packer, Haimanti Bala and Manmohan Joshi.

“This contest, now in its eighth year, offers students the opportunity to put their years of academic study into practice in a real-world scenario,” said ATSSA Manager of Innovation & Technical Services Nagham El-Zine. “These student challenges are designed to help achieve the industry’s goal of eliminating deaths on the nation’s roadways and enable students to make a difference.”

The TCD Student Challenge is open to high school, junior college, college and university students or teams of students who have an interest in transportation and an understanding of traffic control devices. Students in relevant fields such as transportation, human factors and technology-related curricula are particularly encouraged to participate.

Entries are judged on the ability of the idea to address the problem, applicability of the idea and its transferability to various environments and roadways, and feasibility of implementation.

“We congratulate Hellen Shita of Florida International University on winning this year’s challenge and thank each of the winning teams for taking the time to research the issue and develop their solutions. Each team offered interesting ideas,” El-Zine said.

The three winning teams were chosen during the TRB Annual Meeting that started Sunday and runs through Thursday in Washington, D.C. Each winning team receives a cash prize ($1,500 for first place, $1,000 for second place and $500 for third place) and the opportunity to present its submissions to members of the roadway safety infrastructure industry at ATSSA’s 55th Annual Convention & Traffic Expo in Orlando, Fla., Feb. 28-March 4.

The following seven teams also competed in the 2025 challenge.

Auburn University – Ernest Nsong Asiedu, Tonghui Li, Md Roknuzzaman and Li Quan, “Smart Wrist Band and LED Helmet Integrated to Speed Detector LED Screen.”

Michigan State University – Gagan Gupta, Sagar Keshari and Sakar Pahari, “Improving Roadway Worker Safety Using Temporary Rumble Strips and Barrel Cover.”

Oregon State University – Alexa Baruela, Emily Dahbura, Eamon Haverty and Charles Tuckfield, “Conditional Automated Traffic Flagger.”

Oregon State University – Emilio Ronaldo Calderon, Aiden Gray and Keith Kobayoshi, “Camera-Assisted AFADs.”

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign – Dewan Tanvir Ahammed, “Temporary Smart Speed Bumps and Wearable Haptic Feedback Devices for Work Zone Safety.”

University of Missouri – Neema Jakisa Owor and Linlin Zhang, “Automated Audible TMA Alert System.”

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University – Jean Paul Talledo Vilela and Marc Issa, “Safeguarding Roadside Workers: Innovating Work Zone Safety.”