Clarkson University Students Earn Second Place in Prestigious Walt Disney Imagineering Imaginations Design Competition
A team of four Clarkson University mechanical engineering students has achieved an extraordinary feat by placing second in the prestigious Walt Disney Imagineering Imaginations Design Competition.
The team, consisting of Salwa Omar, Juan Pablo Sola-Thomas, Jayda Lundy, and Grace Ameis, represented Clarkson University on a national stage in a competition renowned for fostering creativity, technical excellence, and innovation.
More than 85 teams, with over 300 students from universities across the country, qualified for the first round. The Clarkson team was among five finalist teams selected to present their projects at Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) headquarters in Glendale, California.
During the competition, the finalists had the opportunity to showcase their imaginative and technically sophisticated designs to an esteemed panel of over 50 Disney executives and hiring managers. The Clarkson University team’s performance earned them the second-place prize, an achievement made even more remarkable given that this was the first time a team from Clarkson had participated in the competition.
This year’s competition prompt required students to design a hypothetical Disney-style mode of transportation within a major city that is accessible, sustainable, and fun. For their submission, the Clarkson team imagined a new tourist train experience that gives visitors a personalized tour through Boston’s iconic sites and landmarks. Alongside this train, they developed improvements for the current commuter train and a system where the trains can coexist. Their submission featured story elements and illustrations of the train, stations, and tickets, throughput data and calculations, and technical details about the electric engine, seat sensors, RFID systems, animatronics, and more.
Beyond the competition itself, participation in the Imaginations program provided the Clarkson students with valuable industry exposure. The program serves as a crucial talent pipeline, connecting top engineering and design students with internship and full-time career opportunities at Disney. As a result of this experience, all four Clarkson University students were offered, and accepted, internships with Walt Disney Imagineering.
The Walt Disney Imagineering Imaginations competition challenges students to create immersive experiences that push the boundaries of technology and storytelling. By excelling in this competition, the Clarkson University team has demonstrated the power of engineering ingenuity and creative problem-solving on an internationally recognized platform.
