Campbell engineering wins first overall in NASA’s rover challenge

April 14, 2025

Campbell University engineering students took home the top prize - first place overall in the Collegiate Division - in the NASA Human Rover Exploration Challenge held April 11-12 at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

In what was by far its best showing since first competing in the event in 2019, Campbell University took home five awards in all - first overall, the Featherweight Award for the lightest rover, the Project Review Award for best documentation, second overall in the remote control rover competition in the event's first year and the "Most Improved" award for best score increase between first and second runs.

School of Engineering Founding Dean Dr. Jenna Carpenter called the group's performance a "tremendous accomplishment" and a proud moment for both the engineering school and the university.

"Our students have literally spent hundreds of hours designing and building the rovers, as well as completing the required documentation, oral presentation, STEM outreach activities and social media campaigns," Carpenter said. "The technical and professional skills and expertise they've gained is immeasurable."

[Link]

Carpenter specifically thanked the team's faculty advisors, Dr. Lee Rynearson, Dr. Mohsen Manesh, Dr. Allison Lee and grad student Cody Brown, all of whom she said provided "wise guidance to our students." She also thanked the group's supporters who made the experience possible.

More than 500 students from 75 colleges and high schools participated in this year's NASA HERC event, now in its 31st year. Participating teams represented 35 colleges and universities, 38 high schools and two middle schools from 20 states, Puerto Rico and 16 other countries.

Teams were awarded points based on navigating a half-mile obstacle course, conducting mission-specific task challenges and completing multiple safety and design reviews with NASA engineers. NASA expanded the competition this year to include a remote-control division and invited middle school students to participate.

The rover challenge is one of NASA's eight Artemis Student Challengesreflecting the goals of the Artemis campaign, which will land Americans on the Moon while establishing a long-term presence for science and exploration, preparing for future human missions to Mars. NASA uses such challenges to encourage students to pursue degrees and careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

[Link]

The complete list of 2025 award winners:

Human-Powered High School Division

• First Place: Parish Episcopal School, Dallas, Texas
• Second Place: Ecambia High School, Pensacola, Florida
• Third Place: Centro Boliviano Americano - Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Human-Powered College/University Division

• First Place: Campbell University, Buies Creek, North Carolina
• Second Place: Instituto Tecnologico de Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
• Third Place: University of Alabama in Huntsville

Remote-Control Middle School/High School Division

• First Place: Bright Foundation, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
• Second Place: Assumption College, Brangrak, Bangkok, Thailand
• Third Place: Erie High School, Erie, Colorado

Remote-Control College/University Division

• First Place: Instituto Tecnologico de Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
• Second Place: Campbell University, Buies Creek, North Carolina
• Third Place: Tecnologico de Monterey - Campus Cuernvaca, Xochitepec, Morelos, Mexico

Ingenuity Award

• Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Phoenix Award

• Human-Powered
  • High School Division: International Hope School of Bangladesh, Uttara, Dhaka, Bangladesh
  • College/University Division: Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama
• Remote-Control
  • Middle School/High School Division: Bright Foundation, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
  • College/University Division: Southwest Oklahoma State University, Weatherford, Oklahoma

Task Challenge Award

• Remote-Control
  • Middle School/High School Division: Assumption College, Bangrak, Bangkok, Thailand
  • College/University Division: Instituto Tecnologico de Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Project Review Award (Human-Powered)

• High School Division: Parish Episcopal School, Dallas, Texas
• College/University Division: Campbell University, Buies Creek, North Carolina

Project Review Award (Remote Control)

• Middle School/High School Division: Bright Foundation, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
• College/University Division: Instituto Tecnologico de Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Featherweight Award

• Campbell University, Buies Creek, North Carolina

Safety Award

• High School Division: Parish Episcopal School, Dallas, Texas
• College/University Division: University of Alabama in Huntsville

Crash and Burn Award

• Universidad de Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico (Human-Powered Division)

Team Spirit Award

• Instituto Tecnologico de Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (Human-Powered Division)

STEM Engagement Award

• Human-Powered
  • High School Division: Albertville Innovation School, Albertville, Alabama
  • College/University Division: Instituto Tecnologico de Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
• Remote-Control
  • Middle School/High School Division: Instituto Salesiano Don Bosco, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
  • College/University Division: Tecnologico de Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico

Social Media Award

• Human-Powered
  • High School Division: International Hope School of Bagladesh, Uttara, Dhaka, Bangladesh
  • College/University Division: Universidad Catolica Boliviana "San Pablo" La Paz, Bolivia
• Remote-Control
  • Middle School/High School Division: ATLAS SkillTech University, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
  • College/University Division: Instituto Salesiano Don Bosco, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Most Improved Performance Award (Human-Powered)

• High School Division: Space Education Institute, Leipzig, Germany
• College/University Division: Purdue University Northwest, Hammond, Indiana

Most Improved (Remote-Control)

• Middle School/High School Division: Erie High School, Erie, Colorado
• College/University Division: Campbell University, Buies Creek, North Carolina

Pit Crew Award

• Human-Powered
  • High School Division: Academy of Arts, Career, and Technology, Reno, Nevada
  • College/University Division: Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Artemis Educator Award

• Fabion Diaz Palacious from Universidad Catolica Boliviana "San Pablo" La Paz, Bolivia

Rookie of the Year

• Deira International School, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Academics & OutcomesEngineering