For the fourth time in five years, a team of Penn State Great Valley students will compete in the final round of the Nittany AI Challenge, held on Sept. 7 at the AI for Good Expo.

The challenge offers Penn State students the opportunity to try to solve real-world issues through AI and machine learning. For Master of Professional Studies in Data Analytics program students Gayatri Bangar and Jason Durrance and Master of Science in Data Analytics program student Ranojoy Deb, deciding on just one topic to tackle for the challenge was difficult.

The three met in a fall 2023 Deep Learning course taught by Professor of Data Analytics Youakim Badr, who has been mentoring Great Valley’s Nittany AI teams for the past five years.

While consulting with the team, Badr made a suggestion that stuck with everyone: predicting the potability of water.

With a firm idea in mind, the team decided to call the project “Trinity” since it comprised three people with different backgrounds working at the intersection of water, AI and the Internet of Things (IoT).

The Trinity team’s MVP is an AI-powered device that interfaces with a custom web and smartphone application the team developed. While many other devices test one or two factors of water quality, Trinity dives deeper and captures a wide range of elements from bacterial presence to chemical parameters.

Each team member focused on a specific aspect in the months leading up to the submission deadline for the challenge’s final phase.

The Trinity team, said they all feel something special happening with the project, and not just from the technical side.

Beyond the perfect mix of backgrounds and expertise, there’s also a palpable team spirit, something they hope will drive them to first place in the Nittany AI Challenge and beyond.

Read more about how these students are using AI for good on Penn State Great Valley’s website.

More about the Nittany AI challenge.