IN FOCUS: Student Grand Challenge Inspires Problem Solving

By Joanne Van Voorhis

The IEEE GRSS Student Grand Challenges (SGC) were developed by IEEE GRSS to actively involve students and young professionals in hands-on, interdisciplinary projects that solve real-world problems using remote sensing and geoscience technologies. These global competitions seek to inspire participant teams to develop solutions to complex engineering problems — ones that can make a real difference to the global community.

“We really wanted to help address real global challenges and at the same time create a strong team experience that would positively impact students around the world and help them to grow professionally,” explains Prof. Adriano Camps, Chair of the Student Grand Challenge and GRSS Past President. “We have been really pleased with the participation and results over the years. We have found that the different Challenges we have proposed support GRSS goals in education and innovation, while at the same time has boosted the number of Student Chapters,” Prof. Camps adds.

Global Perspective and Collaboration

The Student Grand Challenge serves as a vital link between real-world application and academic learning, by introducing the student teams to present their work at IGARSS and write a journal paper. Teams typically consist of 5–10 students, guided by a faculty advisor, and the effort encompasses proposal development, design reviews, and final presentations. Through their participation, students gain practical experience, sharpen their problem-solving abilities, and work collaboratively to develop innovative solutions to real global issues. The program also promotes international collaboration, creating opportunities for students to engage with peers and professionals from around the world. This year, we have increase the maximum budget per team up to USD $10,000, a travel grant of up to USD $2,000 is provided to one person per winning team to present their results at a special session at IGARSS 2025 in Brisbane, Australia, where they will be able to network with global industry experts and present their work on an international scale. Additionally, teams are encouraged to submit their work to the IGARSS Special Issue at JSTARS, and -if accepted after the peer review process- publication fees will also be covered by GRSS. Students from past editions have told us that after this experience there was a before and after in their careers.

Recent and Past Challenges

The current (Fifth) competition challenges student teams to develop an end-to-end remote sensing application based on unmanned vehicles such as drones, remote-controlled planes or helicopters, underwater vehicles, rovers, or stratospheric balloons. Prior problems have included topics from remote sensing based on drones or remotely piloted aircraft systems, nanosatellites payloads, and marine plastic litter monitoring.

The Fourth SGC centered on creating image processing and classification techniques to detect and track whales using satellite imagery. Five teams from China, Colombia, India, and Indonesia were selected as the winners in 2024. The Third SGC challenged teams to detect marine plastic litter through various remote sensing techniques, including GNSS-R and hyperspectral imaging.

The Second SGC required teams to develop Earth Observation payloads for nanosatellites, with teams designing instruments such as an L-band microwave radiometer and a hyperspectral camera. The final design integrated the work of three selected teams, including one which was AI software-focused to help eliminate poor images prior to downloading to Earth. The 3-unit CubeSat (see Image 1) and the 3 payloads developed were presented at IGARSS 2023 in Pasadena, USA. The Al Ain Sat-1 CubeSat was successfully launched in Space X Transporter-12 Mission on January 14th, 2025. Image 2 shows the ExoPod deployer from where Al Ain Sat-1 was launched.

The inaugural Competition inspired teams to develop drone-based systems for applications such as forest fire detection, precision agriculture, and glacier monitoring. Details and winners of all prior challenges are available online.

Mentorship and Professional Development

“The SGC is more than a student contest—it’s a pipeline for future innovation,” says Prof. Camps. “It’s also very much a team effort, where students and faculty advisors all contribute to success – the opportunity for strong mentorship and professional development is embedded in the competition.” Selected teams in a global challenge such as the SGC have often benefited from the support and experience of faculty advisors, the steering committee members, and others. “Strong mentorship helps guide teams through proposal development, system design, and final presentations, and is a key part of the process,” Prof. Camps adds.

Participation and Application

To participate, student teams must submit a short, but detailed proposal outlining their mission concept, team composition, scientific rationale, development plan, and budget. Participants are required to be members, and usually represent a GRSS Student Chapter, but if not, they may also apply if they start the process of developing a new chapter by the end of the competition year. All proposals are evaluated in detail by a volunteer steering committee comprising experts from academia and industry. Selected teams proceed through various project phases, including design reviews and then present their efforts at IGARSS, the GRSS flagship annual conference.

For more information on the Student Grand Challenge and how your team can participate next year, visit the IEEE GRSS Student Grand Challenge page.