Student Design Competition

The WEF Student Design Competition promotes real-world design experience for students interested in pursuing education and careers in water and wastewater engineering and science. As a program of WEF’s Students & Young Professionals Committee (SYPC), the competition tasks individuals or teams of students to prepare and present a design that helps solve a water quality issue.

The competition begins at the Member Association (MA) level. Each MA is encouraged to develop their own Student Design Competition based on a chosen design problem or allow student teams to bring problems they are currently working on. The competition concludes each year at WEFTEC.

About the Competition

The competition hosts three different categories at WEFTEC:

Wastewater Design: The Wastewater Design Competition is intended to include design projects that traditionally address a challenge within a water resource recovery facility, e.g. hydraulic capacity design, upgrades to existing treatment systems, biosolids handling, etc.
Water Environment Design: The Environmental Design Competition is intended to include design projects that address challenges within the broader water environment, e.g. water reuse, stormwater management, wetland construction, etc.
Circular Water Economy: The Circular Water Economy Design Competition is intended to include design projects that focuses on reducing waste, recovering nutrients and energy, and regenerating nature within the water cycle.

Both the Wastewater and Water Environment Design Competitions follow the same guidelines and scoring system.

There are many benefits to participating in the WEF Student Design Competition. At the competition, participants will have the opportunity to:

Network with students and industry leaders from across the world.
Gain professional experience and exposure.
Highlight their skills and enthusiasm for the water environment.
Participate in WEFTEC activities tailored to students and young professionals.

Questions about the Student Design Competition?

Seoyeong Lee
Design Competition Subcommittee Co-Chair
LeeS@bv.com

Megan Woodall
Design Competition Subcommittee Co-Chair
meganwoodall1219@yahoo.com

Alison Hayden
Coordinator, Workforce Development
ahayden@wef.org

2024 WEFTEC Student Design Competition Sponsors

SDC 2024 Sponsors.png

WEF Student Design Competition Resources

Whether you are looking to start a Student Design Competition or have been invited to attend the National Student Design Competition at WEFTEC, the resources on this page will help answer many of your questions about the competition.

Design Competition Guidelines (as of July 2025)
Competition Historical Information (team and sponsor participation)
Toolkit for Starting a Student Design Competition

2024 First Place Papers

Past Winners

Congratulations to past winners of the WEF Student Design Competition!

Year	Wastewater Design	Environmental Design
2024	North Carolina State University	University of Florida
2023	Texas Tech University	Georgia Institute of Technology
2022	The University of Texas, Austin	University of Waterloo
2021	Clemson University	California State Polytechnic University
2020	Colorado School of Mines	University of Guelph
2019	University of Colorado, Boulder	University of British Columbia
2018	University of Colorado, Boulder	University of British Columbia
2017	University of Colorado, Boulder	University of Guelph
2016	Southern Methodist University	University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
2015	Southern Methodist University	North Dakota State University
2014	University of South Florida	University of British Columbia
2013	University of South Florida	University of British Columbia
2012	University of Colorado, Boulder	University of South Florida
2011	University of Wyoming	University of Florida
2010	Southern Methodist University	University of Florida
2009	University of Colorado, Boulder	University of Florida