Norwich, Connecticut (The Day, May 17, 2019) —A team from Three River Community College that included five local students tied for first place in the annual NASA-sponsored Community College Quadcopter Challenge April 26 at Quinebaug Valley Community College in Danielson.

The Thames River Community College drone team, from left, Daniel Docker of New London, Adam Rugh of Old Mystic, Kevin Peterson of New London, Jonathan Bermudez of Norwich and Nate Reigles of Oakdale, along with advisor Yevhen Rutovytskyy. (Photo submitted)

Students were Adam Rugh of Old Mystic, Nate Reigles of Oakdale, Kevin Peterson and Daniel Docker of New London and Jonathan Bermudez of Norwich. The final two students were military veterans.

The team, led by Electric Boat engineer and adjunct professor Yevhen Rutovytskyy, tied QVCC, which had won the three previous drone challenges.

Each team member put in between 80 and 100 hours of work into into the drone, and each student will receive a $1,000 stipend.

The project is intended to increase the number of science, technology, engineering and math graduates, raise awareness of NASA education initiatives, enhance STEM diversity and provide experience with computer-aided drafting software.

“As a senior engineer at a defense contractor, my goal is to help students transcend their ‘comfort zone’ and learn skills that are not ordinarily offered as part of the engineering curriculum in community colleges,” Rutovytskyy, a Colchester resident, said in an email.

Part of the challenge included fabricating a multi-positional camera mount to allow the drone operator to manually switch camera views and acquire in-flight pictures of various targets of interest.

The original article can be found here: ‘Three Rivers quadcopter team takes first place’