Syed Sarwar Wins Engineer Award

MANASSAS,VA–Syed M. Sarwar, a student at Northern Virginia Community College, recently won a competition sponsored by the District of Columbia Council of Engineering and Architectural Societies. Sarwar was recognized during an awards banquet Feb. 23 in Silver Spring, Md., where he also received the $500 first-place prize.

Called the Competition for Outstanding Young Engineer and Architect Research Papers, the contest evaluated research papers written by undergraduate and graduate students. The rigorous criteria required entries to be formatted according to standard guidelines for publication in a professional journal and to include an abstract, discussion, method of study, results and significance of the project.

Sarwar’s submission, “Utilization of Landfill Biogas to Decrease Campus CO2 Emissions through Construction of CHHP System,” won in the undergraduate category. The paper illustrates how a hydrogen energy system constructed on a college campus can make use of local resources such as municipal landfills. The hydrogen energy system described in the paper would use landfill gas to fuel itself and to supply thermal and electrical energy needs for the campus and surrounding community. In return, the system would reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

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