FUTO Student Wins South-East CODET Competition, Places Third Nationally

A 300-level student of Mechatronics Engineering at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), Miss Ejibe Nmachukwu Genevieve, has emerged South-East champion, and placed third nationally in the individual category of the Committee of Deans of Engineering and Technology (CODET) Competition.

Genevieve emerged first in the South-East regional competition with her project, “Design and Development of a Real-Time Environment Monitoring System for Detecting Life-Threatening Gas Emissions in the Air,” earning her a place at the national competition in Abuja, where she finished as second runner-up.

Her innovation is a portable environmental monitoring system designed to detect potentially dangerous gas emissions, and monitor air quality in real time. It uses sensors to collect data and transmit it to a web-based dashboard, enabling users to monitor air-quality conditions remotely and receive alerts when gas levels exceed predefined safety thresholds.

The system also features a piezo buzzer fail-safe mechanism that provides an audible warning when dangerous gas levels are detected, allowing the device to remain useful even when internet connectivity is unavailable.

The project brings together Mechatronics Engineering, embedded systems, software development and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to address an environmental and public-safety challenge.

Genevieve attributed her participation and success at the national competition partly to the support she received from the University. She expressed appreciation to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Prof. Remy Uche, for facilitating her participation.

She also acknowledged her Co-ordinator, Engr. Daniel Ekpechi, for supporting and encouraging students to participate in engineering challenges and innovation competitions.

Through the CODET competition, Genevieve has taken an idea beyond the classroom, demonstrating how multidisciplinary engineering and technology skills can be applied to develop solutions with potential environmental and public-safety benefits.