Dos Pueblos High School students Jake Moghtader, Nikhil Shinday and Kelvin Noronha, under the team name EDV Technologies, entered DASH+, a national high school student contest that challenged students to design a dashboard of the future.

According to the contest organizers, hundreds of students from across the country created dashboards to provide eco-feedback to the driver and promote more fuel-efficient behavior. The submissions were judged and scored by an independent, expert panel of judges representing the fields of automotive design, engineering, education and energy combined with votes from online public voting.

On Wednesday, June 16, in a surprise announcement at a breakfast held at Fess Parker’s DoubleTree Resort, the students, who will be high school juniors this fall, learned that EDV Technologies won the DASH+ contest. Moghtader and Noronha were in attendance; Shinday was unable to attend.

As the DASH+ grand prize winners, the team will travel to Detroit for a VIP experience, where they will pitch their concepts to representatives from the automotive industry and receive feedback, see the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE vehicles and meet the competing teams, see environmental professionals in action and learn more about college programs and career possibilities.

Mitch Aiken, director of education, Progressive automotive X PRIZE, XPRIZE Foundation said, “[The contest will] help shine a spotlight on the innovative ways science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) can help drive change and how students can be involved today.”

Click here to view the students’ winning design and technical plan.

DASH+ is part of the U.S. Department of Energy-funded educational program for the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE — the competition to inspire a new generation of viable, super-efficient vehicles. The educational program focuses on STEM activities and tools for all ages in and out of the classroom.

— Barbara Keyani is coordinator of administrative services and communications for the Santa Barbara School District.