Final Challenge: D.C
HCC innovation team advances national finals
A student team from Holyoke Community College has advanced to the finals of a nationwide innovation contest for their plan to build a closed-loop, sustainable cooling system for large, AI-driven computer processing centers.
Jacob Bissonnette, a business administration major from Holyoke, Anjou Edwards, a business administration major from Westhampton, and Nora Goncalves, an engineering major from Williamsburg, will travel to Washington, D.C., next month for the final round of the annual Community College Innovation Challenge sponsored by the American Association of Community Colleges in partnership with the National Science Foundation.
Their project, “Green Computer Processing – Reducing Data Energy Consumption,” was one of 12 selected for the final round of this year’s nationwide competition, and one of only two from a Massachusetts school. (The other is Middlesex Community College.)
From June 9-12, Bissonnette, Edwards, and Goncalves will join their community college colleagues from New Jersey, California, Texas, Iowa, Michigan, Virginia, Oklahoma, and Georgia for an “Innovation Boot Camp,” where they will interact with entrepreneurs and experts in business planning, stakeholder engagement, strategic communication, and marketplace dynamics. The boot camp culminates in a student innovation poster session on Capitol Hill with STEM leaders and congressional stakeholders and a pitch presentation to determine the first, second, and third-place winning teams and a chance to win up to $3,000 each.
“It’s an amazing feeling, because it wasn’t just the culmination of all our efforts, but the efforts of everyone who’s been supporting us this far – the faculty, our coaches, the whole school helping to put us up,” said Bissonnette.
“I’m so proud we get to go to the national competition and show off how great HCC is,” said Edwards.
Now in its ninth year, the competition seeks to strengthen entrepreneurial thinking among community college students by challenging them to develop STEM-based solutions to real-world problems. It also enables students to discover and demonstrate their capacity to use STEM to make a difference in the world and translate that knowledge into action. Teams consist of two to four students and a faculty or administrator team mentor.
“Congratulations to the 2025 CCIC finalists,” said Walter G. Bumphus, president and CEO of AACC. “The finalist projects showcase the incredible talent and creativity of the nation’s community college students. I am proud to stand with our partners at the National Science Foundation to provide this forum to advance these student leaders as they become our future scientists, entrepreneurs, and engineers addressing real-world issues and positively impacting our daily lives.”
Green Computer Processing is meant to address the real-world problem of increased energy consumption due to demand from AI-powered data centers. The team’s design seeks to create a closed-loop cooling system that recaptures lost energy, reduces waste, and cuts costs while setting a new standard for sustainable data processing.
“The national Community College Innovation Challenge 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,” said Michele Cabral, HCC professor of accounting and the team’s campus adviser. “Jacob, Anjou, and Nora will be the first group of students ever representing HCC on this national stage."
Bissonnette and Anjou were named the “Ultimate Achievers” for Green Computer Processing during HCC’s first-ever campus Innovation Challenge held last fall. Goncalves joined their team this spring as they prepared their materials and pitch for the national competition.
HCC team members will earn $3,000 apiece for a first-place finish in the national competition ($2,000 for second, or $1,000 for third), plus get connected with patent experts to help them move to the next step.
“Even if we don’t make it to the top three, we still get to have this amazing experience and add that to our resumes,” said Bissonnette. “It’s incredible for our professional development.”
“We’ll get to network with experts in the field, politicians, and people who know how to get patents,” said Edwards. “So, if want to make this business into something more serious, which is our goal, this is the perfect first step.”
Among the other ideas teams presented this year are solutions for addressing food insecurity, burn care, aviation safety, nicotine addiction, fire prevention and safety, neonatal health, and autonomous and assistive technologies.
PHOTO: Team members Nora Goncalves (Williamsburg), left, Anjou Edwards (Westhampton), front, and Jacob Bissonnette (Holyoke), right, with their faculty adviser Michele Cabral.
