Honeywell’s annual student competition, designed to inspire innovation in the process industries, is now open to students pursuing degrees in technical fields at accredited colleges and universities in North and South America. The Honeywell Users Group (HUG) student competition — which was originally launched in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region — challenges students to design automation solutions to common problems facing process manufacturers.

This year, students can choose to design a plan that solves critical plant issues using either wireless technology or simulation software. Selected students will present their winning entries to leading manufacturing companies and potential employers at the annual Americas Honeywell Users Group Symposium customer conference, held each June in Phoenix, Ariz.

“The HUG student competition is part of Honeywell’s overall initiative to help nurture the talent that will drive the future of our manufacturing industries,” said Norm Gilsdorf, president, Honeywell Process Solutions. “Our customers operate some of the most critical facilities in the world, and the goal of this program is to give students a taste of some of those real-world problems that require critical thinking and cutting-edge technology.”

Honeywell launched the HUG student competition in 2008 at the 20th annual EMEA Honeywell Users’ Group Conference in Berlin. In addition to uncovering tomorrow’s process industry leaders from diverse countries and academic institutions, the competition seeks to align higher education with the realities and challenges of the industry.

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/notes/honeywell-student-engineers/student-challenges/147593608615382.