Community College Innovation Challenge (CCIC)

Advancing Student Innovation & Impact

The CCIC is led by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) in partnership with the National Science Foundation (NSF). It is a national competition where community college student teams, working with a faculty or administrator mentor, use science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to innovate solutions to real-world problems; participate in an Innovation Boot Camp; and compete for cash awards.

The Innovation Boot Camp will be held in Washington, D.C. on June 10-13, 2024. The Boot Camp provides professional development, mentoring, and coaching designed to build strategic communication and entrepreneurial skills to help students advance their innovations in both the private and public sectors.

The event culminates in a poster session and engagement opportunity with STEM leaders and Congressional stakeholders on Capitol Hill, and a pitch presentation in front of a panel of industry and entrepreneurial professionals to determine the first, second, and third place winning teams.

The national CCIC is designed to enable community college students to discover and demonstrate their capacity to use STEM to make a difference in the world and to translate that knowledge into action.

AACC is pleased to announce the 12 finalist teams selected for this year’s competition.

·        Coalinga College (California)  
Project: Got Calcium: The New Battery Innovation

·        Columbus State Community College (Ohio)
Project: Aquavive’s Ripple Effect: Transforming Water Protection

·        County College of Morris (New Jersey)
Project: Using Molecular Solar Thermal Systems as a Solar Alternative

·        Dallas College (Texas)
Project: Autonomous Monitoring for Blaze Emergency Response (AMBER)

·        Henry Ford College (Michigan)
Project: Stay Vigilant with Source Alert

·        Houston Community College (Texas)
Project: The MaxCap Supercapacitor

·        Hudson County Community College (New Jersey)
Project: S.E.E. (Sound Enabled Emplacement)

·        Itawamba Community College (Mississippi)
Project: ViruShield: Next-Generation Care for HIV Patients

·        Perimeter College at Georgia State University (Georgia)
Project: Georgina Care

·        Red Rocks Community College (Colorado)
Project: Bloom Buster

·        University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville (Arkansas)
Project: IntelliCline – Smart Ramp

·        Virginia Western Community College (Virginia)
Project: Plastic Up Cycling

To view the press release for the CCIC finalist teams, click here.