In the year 2047—or at least in the world imagined by the IEEE SoutheastCon 2025 Hardware Challenge—teams of student engineers faced off in a high-stakes scramble for rare minerals in outer space. Their mission: program a fully autonomous robot to navigate the rocky terrain of a distant asteroid, collect geodinium and nebulite, and transport it to a teleportation pad before time ran out. The scene, dubbed “Mining Mayhem,” pushed competitors to blend precision engineering with futuristic vision, and WCU’s IEEE student team enjoyed working on the challenge throughout the year.
This was one of several challenges WCU’s chapter of IEEE tackled as members connected and collaborated throughout the year. IEEE student branches seek to give students a community of peers and a connection to faculty and industry professionals who drive innovation in technical fields, and students in WCU’s IEEE student club say they enjoy being part of it, especially participating in events such as the IEEE SoutheastCon conference.
“I love getting to see our ideas come together and work beautifully,” said Haley Glenn, WCU IEEE president for 2025-26 and a mechanical engineering student with a minor in math from Boiling Springs. “The connections you make (with IEEE), the different disciplines involved, and the hands-on experience—it’s something I wouldn’t trade. I did FIRST Robotics in middle school, so when I found out Western had a robotics team (with IEEE), I couldn’t wait to join. It has been a wonderful learning experience, from sharpening CAD skills to learning things from the electrical majors, to getting to connect with lots of interesting people.”
At IEEE SoutheastCon 2025, WCU’s IEEE student teams competed in competitions related to robotics, promotional design, website design, ethics, professional networking, hardware design, and software design (game design). They claimed second place in the Ethics competition and placed seventh out of 41 teams in the “Mining Mayhem” challenge.
“IEEE SoutheastCon is an incredible event where you get to compete in many engineering challenges, and being a part of it has been an amazing experience,” said Ethan Magnante, an electrical engineering student from Winston-Salem who served as lead software and electronics designer for the team.
“Over the past two semesters, I’ve put in over 50-plus hours into total work time on the robot. The most fun thing that I worked on was actually getting to work on microcontroller logic and implementation for the robot’s ‘brain.’”
Student coders, designers, and builders spent the academic year preparing—starting with brainstorming and 3D prints in the fall and picking up steam with late-night testing sessions in the spring. The WCU robot relied on motor encoders and a gyroscope for autonomous navigation, with a custom mechanical system using an Archimedes screw to transport collected materials. At times, the robot used a computer vision system, though the team didn’t rely on it for the competition, said Dr. Adam Harris, assistant professor and the team’s faculty mentor. Dr. Bob Adams also supported the WCU student team.
“The biggest roadblock we faced this semester was settling on a final design,” said Jordan Fox, an electrical and computer engineering technology student from Cullowhee. “Many great ideas were tested and attempted to be implemented, but its process slowed our final refinement process down. However, that is a part of the fun!”
“The connections you make with your teammates and the involved learning process that takes place fosters a unique learning environment that does not compare to your classes,” said Fox. “It gets my seal of approval, and you will catch me being involved again next year without a doubt.”
Glenn conceded, IEEE can be a very involved club with meetings, creating CAD models, printing iterations, and more.
“However, as challenging and time-consuming as it can be, I wouldn’t give it up,” Glenn said. “I love the new hardware challenges. I love getting to bounce ideas around with different-minded people to create something amazing. I love getting to see those ideas come together and work beautifully. I love getting to help out and be a part of something this big.”
Learn more about engineering programs at WCU and how to get involved with IEEE at WCU.