Pre-engineering team named national Community College Innovation Challenge finalist
The American Association of Community Colleges, in partnership with the National Science Foundation, has again named HFC as one of the 12 national finalists in the 2026 Community College Innovation Challenge (CCIC). The College has been a CCIC finalist eight times in 12 years.
The CCIC seeks to strengthen entrepreneurial thinking among community college students by challenging them to develop innovative solutions to real-world problems. It also enables students to discover and demonstrate their capacity to use STEM to make a difference in the world and to translate their learning into action.
Each CCIC team consists of 2-4 students and a faculty mentor(s) who advises and guides them. This year’s HFC team includes pre-engineering students Hector Fugon-Garcia, Nicholas Krot, Ahmeyah Martin, and Jordan Williams. Their mentors are HFC Pre-Engineering Program Director Dr. Hassan Mohseni Nameghi and HFC pre-engineering instructor Dr. Ashfiqua Connie.
SuClara: Intelligent Water Tailored to You
The HFC CCIC team’s project is called “SuClara: Intelligent Water Tailored to You.” Access to clean, safe drinking water remains a critical issue across the world, even in the United States. More than 60 million people in the U.S. won’t drink tap water due to safety concerns. Water filtration methods are often generic and can fail to address location-specific contaminants. As a result, people turn to bottled water. There are detrimental effects of bottled water, such as the lack of fluoride and other nutrients, the higher cost, the exposure to microplastics, and the environmental impact of adding more than 50 billion plastic bottles to annual waste.
To address these issues, the HFC CCIC team came up with SuClara, a portable, all-in-one water-testing and adaptive filtration system. SuClara integrates AI-based image analysis to interpret contaminant levels in a location. The system incorporates sensors to provide real-time validation of the water quality. Analyzing the results in seconds, the unit configures its filtration to target location-specific contaminants. This eliminates the need for lab testing and costly home filtration systems. In the end, SuClara will reduce reliance on bottled water, reducing costs and negative environmental and health impacts, as well as adding consumer value and sustainable growth potential.
“I am proud of our students for thinking about their community and developing solutions to address ongoing tap water challenges,” said Nameghi. “Being named a CCIC top finalist for the eighth time reflects our commitment to success, something that doesn’t happen by chance, but through consistent, small actions every day.”
HFC has been a CCIC finalist 8 times in the last 12 years
In the past 12 years, HFC has been among the national finalists in the CCIC eight times. HFC is the only community college to have been among the top finalists eight times, including the past four years in a row. HFC is the only college in Michigan to participate in this year’s CCIC.
From June 8-11, the finalists will attend an Innovation Boot Camp in Washington, D.C., where they will interact with entrepreneurs and experts in business planning, stakeholder engagement, strategic communication, and marketplace dynamics. The AACC will provide full travel support.
The Boot Camp provides professional development, mentoring, and coaching designed to build strategic communication and entrepreneurial skills to help students advance their innovations in the private or public sectors. The Boot Camp culminates in a Student Innovation Poster Session on Capitol Hill with STEM leaders and congressional stakeholders, along with a pitch presentation in front of a panel of industry and entrepreneurial professionals to determine the first, second, and third place winning teams.
“I’m proud of our students’ hard work and dedication,” said Connie. “This reflects the strong leadership of Dr. Nameghi and the innovative spirit of our students’ work. Taking part in the competition also provides valuable exposure and experience for students.”