PA – Southwestern


Table of Contents

Event Location
Seneca Valley High School
128 Seneca School Road
Harmony, PA 16037

PDR Due Date
PDR due date for 2025 is TBD.
Please submit PDRs in Word or .pdf format to Sea Air Land Group.

Challenge Day Date
The Challenge is on!  Challenge Day is Thursday, May 1st, 2025.

Time – Challenge Day Event Schedule (2024 shown)
8:45 – 9:15  –     Arrival / Setup
8:45- 9:15  –      Judges orientation
9:15 – 9:30  –    Introduction
9:30 – 10:45  –   AM Challenges
10:45- 11:15 –   Lunch
11:20 – 12:30  – PM Challenges
12:40 – 1 pm –  Scoring/Clean-Up
1:00 – 1:15 –     Awards
1:15 – 1:30  –    Dismissal (all busses off campus 1:35)

Regional Coordinator
Joe Logsdon
Seneca Valley High School
128 Seneca School Road
Harmony, PA 16037
Joe Logsdon

Central Coordinator
The Pennsylvania State University
Applied Research Laboratory
222 Northpointe Boulevard
Freeport, PA 16229
Sea Air Land Group

Facility Rules
Conduct detrimental to the public interest or abuse of the building and grounds under any circumstances is expressly prohibited. The building, grounds, equipment and restrooms shall be left in a clean, orderly condition. Failure to do so may result in fees (as determined by the Owners) being assessed. No smoking is allowed in any building and no alcoholic beverages are permitted on the grounds.

Weather Considerations
The highest emphasis of safety will be placed on participants and staff. When there is lightning in the area, all outside activity will be suspended until the threatening weather leaves the area.  Thank you for your understanding of our efforts to put safety first.

Challenges:

Sea – A container ship full of cargo was anchored outside of port in 30 meters of water, awaiting their scheduled time to unload at the dock in port, when it was hit by a rogue wave.  As the crew had already loosened some of the straps in preparation for unloading, many of the containers were knocked into the water.  Some of these containers included radioactive materials.  These containers need to be retrieved as soon as possible.  Due to the portside activity in the aftermath of the rogue wave, the safest and most efficient means of recovery will be to send a submersible to gather the containers.

Sea Guidelines 2024-2025

Air – A freight train has derailed in a very sparsely populated area.  Cars from the train are scattered widely.  Some of these train cars were carrying irradiated materials and radioactive samples headed to a laboratory for an experiment.   While emergency crews prepare to travel to the wreck site, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) with radiation detection capabilities is being sent to the scene to survey the site. The UAV will be used to locate the cars which were carrying the materials and samples, and which may now have damaged packaging.  With cameras, sensors and automated image processing, the UAV will fly over the wreckage and determine if any radiative matter is uncontained.  A live relay of this information will be sent to the first responders, allowing them to remain protected at a safe distance until the best method of response is determined.  In addition, the UAV will be able to drop markers on “hot spots” to indicate a radiation danger zone and serve as a warning to these emergency ground crews.

Air Guidelines 2024-2025

Land – A wildfire moving through a game preserve has scattered the animals and destroyed some of their habitat.  As the high winds continually shift the wildfires, the danger of the situation would be increased if manned rescue teams were dispersed to locate and gather the animals.  Therefore, your team, with an unmanned land rover, is being sent for the animals in order to bring them in for safety and evaluation.  The animals will be placed in temporary housing until the fire is extinguished, repairs to the habitats can be made and the area is safe.

Land Guidelines 2024-2025

Land – A fully autonomous land Challenge will also be held. More information available.

Judges:
Past Judges:
Josh Binder, Principal Engineer, MSA
Paige Borkey, Systems Engineer, Aerotech
Dave Borneman, Principal Engineer, Arcadis
Jeremy Dwyer, Architect, Cannon Design
Anissa Fellabaum, Penn State Applied Research Laboratory, Freeport, PA
Steve Fortunato, Applied Engineering and Technology Educator, Seneca Valley HS
Sarah Holton, Architect and Associate VP, Cannon Design, Pittsburgh, PA
Brooke Howard, Butler Technologies, Butler, PA
Sean Krupa, R&D Engineer, Penn State Applied Research Laboratory, Freeport, PA
Joe Kujawski, Engineer, retired, Curtiss-Wright
Tyler McGrady, Structural Engineer, Barber and Hoffman, Inc.
Don Orlowski, Science education specialist, retired, Freeport Area SD
Dr. Joseph Randi, Penn State Applied Research Laboratory, Freeport, PA
Cody Reinstadtler, Mechanical Engineer, Lake Superior Consulting
Barry Shenck, Engineer, G&G Technical, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA
Ray Smith, Manufacturing Engineer, retired, Curtiss-Wright
Josh Smochek, Engineer, MSA Safety, PA
Amy Van Newkirk, Asst. Research Professor, Penn State Applied Research Laboratory, Freeport, PA
Andrew Voigt, Bechtel Marine Propulsion Co, (Bettis Lab), West Mifflin, PA
Eric Voigt, Bloom Engineering Co., Pittsburgh, PA
Norman Voigt, Civil Engineer, retired
Mike Wagner, CIO Butler Technologies, Butler, PA
Thomas Wirbicki, Civil Engineer, Lake Superior Consulting
Steve Wolfe, Applied Engineering and Technology Educator, Seneca Valley HS
James Zingaro, Electrical Engineer/Financial Advisor, KAZ Financial, Sarver, PA

Past Participating Schools at Seneca Valley HS
Armstrong
Apollo-Ridge
Burrell
Freeport
Lenape Technical
North Allegheny
Quaker Valley
Seneca Valley
Slippery Rock HS
St. Paul Academy, MN

Participating Schools at Freeport HS (2017 and 2018)
Armstrong
Apollo-Ridge
Buckeye Local
Burrell
Butler
Freeport
Kiski
Lenape Technical
Seneca Valley
Springdale

2015 and 2016 Participating Schools
Seneca Valley
Butler
Lenape Technical
Springdale
Greensburg Salem
Kiski
Freeport
Quaker Valley
Ohio Valley Energy Tech
Buckeye Local
Belle Vernon

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