e-Network Community Announces Winners of Global Women Makers and Engineers Competition

Newark, the global distributor of electronic components and development services, has announced the winners of a new Community Challenge from its online community, part of Avnet, to encourage female engineers to create electronic development project videos in the style of its Presents series of videos.

The grand prize winner of the competition was Surbhika Rastogi from Uttar Pradesh, India, who created a video on how to make an automatic soap/hand sanitizer dispenser. In the video, Rastogi described how to use Arduino UNO, infrared sensors, bottle cap pump heads, and motors removed from remote control cars to make this creative dispenser, which can achieve contactless cleaning and reduce the spread of germs during the epidemic.

Other winners ranged in experience, skills and location, from women with PhDs and master's degrees to self-taught designers. A fashion designer in western Missouri created a "bike shrug" light indicator that allows cyclists to send out light warnings at night to remind drivers to steer clear; a female college student in Sydney, Australia, presented a remote-controlled vacuum cleaner; and a master's student in northern Italy developed an electronic whiteboard alarm that can send out a warning signal when food is about to expire.

Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media at element14, said: “The women who competed in this competition come from all over the world and from all walks of life, but they all have one thing in common: the vast majority are young engineers. They represent the future of women in engineering. They want to change the world and use electronics to make it happen. We would like to extend our sincere congratulations to them and look forward to having them join the element14 community as video content producers.”

All contestants will be eligible to become paid content producers in the element14 community and share their work in the element14 Presents video column every Wednesday and Friday.

The competition, launched in March during Women's History Month to highlight the innovative work of female designers and engineers, will award $500 to the top 10 winners, with the grand prize winner receiving a premium video production digital camera kit valued at $1,800.

The element14 community is a resource of element14 (part of Avnet Group), a global multi-channel distributor of electronic components. It aims to help design engineers, maintenance and test engineers, makers, parents and educators develop the next generation of encoders and products in order to use technology to change the world and create a better future.