Aggies Take Top Honors at IEEE SoutheastCon 2025

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (April 29, 2025) — Electrical engineering students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University earned top honors at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) SoutheastCon 2025, showcasing their innovation, technical expertise and team spirit.

Two student teams from N.C. A&T’S College of Engineering (COE) claimed first-place finishes in the Circuit Design and Ethics competitions, standing out among peer institutions from across the Southeast. These awards highlight the students’ technical excellence and their understanding of professional ethics and responsibilities.

“I’m incredibly proud of our IEEE team and all they accomplished,” said Yazmin Wilson, IEEE A&T student branch outgoing president. “With our two first place wins, A&T was the winningest university at the conference and that’s something to celebrate. But it’s not just about the wins. Many of our teams spent months, some nearly a year, preparing for these competitions. Even those who didn’t place showed incredible dedication, teamwork, and passion. Everyone who competed made A&T proud and I can’t wait to see what’s next for our IEEE team.”

More than a dozen students from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and the Department of Computer Science represented A&T at the annual regional conference held March 27-30 in Charlotte, North Carolina. SoutheastCon combines student competitions with professional networking and learning. Students were accompanied by Christopher Horne, Ph.D., COE’s IEEE student branch advisor; Corey Graves, Ph.D., hardware competition team advisor; and Shenell Summers, ECE student services specialist.

The Circuit Design team included Raekwon Jenkins, Adric Crawford and Jesse Osborne. The Ethics Competition Team included Jessica Dawes, Mireille Madison, Aaron Davis Jr. and Kalen Hanshaw. by tackling a real-world case study using the IEEE Code of Ethics, morality and professionalism.

A&T teams participated in all eight student competitions, including the Hardware Competition — often considered the conference’s marquee event. The hardware team placed 11th out of 42 teams, a strong finish for a group made up mostly of first-time competitors. The contest challenged students to design and build a miniature autonomous vehicle capable of collecting objects and avoiding obstacles, applying advanced concepts in embedded systems, control theory, sensor integration and software development.

“These students demonstrated not only academic excellence, but also ingenuity and teamwork under pressure,” Horne said. “Their performance reflects the strength of our programs and the talent of our future engineers.”

Competitions like those at IEEE SoutheastCon give students the chance to apply classroom knowledge to real-world problems, strengthening their technical and professional skills. IEEE’s SoutheastCon is hosted by IEEE Region 3, which includes the states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, areas of Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and the country of Jamaica.