Grand Challenge Summit- Solar Cooker Challenge

The 2010 NAE Grand Challenges National Summit brought together leading scientists and engineers, educators, policy leaders, innovators and corporate executives to address the 14 Grand Challenges (link '14 Grand Challenges' to: http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/) articulated by the National Academy of Engineering.
The discussions were organized around the four thematic threads of the challenges, namely, sustainability, vulnerability, health and the joy of living, which represent key social issues of the 20th century.

AMF was invited to be part of the Grand Challenges National Summit, focusing on how a new generation of engineers can be inspired to move towards developing creative and effective solutions to the NAE Grand Challenges. Sunshine has long offered a tantalizing source of environmentally friendly power, bathing the Earth with more energy each hour than the planet's population consumes in a year. But capturing that power, converting it into useful forms, and especially storing it for a rainy day, poses provocative engineering challenges. AMF's Apron Project bridged the conceivable future of solar power generation and its role of sustainable empowerment in developing communities.

USC engineering students took on the Grand Challenge Summit- Solar Cooker Challenge. Students worked in teams to assemble solar cookers used in AMF's Apron Project and provide insight on how to improve the process. The challenge was presented with an unopened box containing a solar cooker and the following letter:

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