The Reimagine Our Future sustainability competition, co-founded and coordinated by Professor Leon Liebenberg of the Department of Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering (NPRE), celebrated its fifth year with more than 300 students from 12 universities worldwide participating.
Co-created by Liebenberg in 2020, the competition challenges undergraduates to think systemically about sustainability, explore the interconnected nature of global challenges, and propose innovative solutions that could be scaled in real-world settings. Over eight weeks, students develop concise fact sheets that communicate their ideas to a broad audience.
This year’s overall winning team came from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, recognized for creating a low-cost handheld water-quality sensor that uses engineered bacteriophages to rapidly detect contamination. Two runner-up teams—from the National Autonomous University of Mexico and UIUC—were honored for projects focused on water-pollution mitigation in Xochimilco and sustainable data-center cooling. In total, $8,500 in awards was distributed to 10 outstanding teams.
Liebenberg emphasized that the competition’s purpose is to empower students to imagine bold possibilities and to equip them with the mindset needed for interdisciplinary problem-solving. “Sustainability challenges are systems challenges,” he said. “Students must learn not only to innovate, but also to envision how their ideas might take shape in communities and at scale.”
Additional awards recognized excellence in health, education, transportation, climate solutions, and multidisciplinary innovation. Winning project summaries and fact sheets appear on the competition website.
Since its inception, Reimagine Our Future has grown into a multinational platform that reflects Liebenberg’s commitment to active, creative, student-centered learning and his belief that engineers play a vital role in shaping a sustainable future.