UAH HERC team hosts Dominican Republic team, bonding through outreach, friendship in NASA rover competition

May 30, 2025 -HUNTSVILLE, AL – The Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC) team at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) recently hosted the Instituto Tecnologico de Santo Domingo (INTEC) from the Dominican Republic (DR) during NASA's 2025 Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC). The two student squads had bonded during a UAH team visit to the DR in 2024, an outreach opportunity that helped power INTEC Team Apolo 27 to a second-place finish in this year's human-powered competition, as well as first place in the remote control event, while UAH's Team ATHENA overcame serious mechanical setbacks to place third overall in the university division.

The rover challenge is one of NASA's eight Artemis Student Challenges aimed to support the goals of the Artemis campaign, an initiative targeted with returning Americans to the Moon in preparation for missions to Mars. First established in 1994, the 2025 event featured 75 teams from 16 nations with squads representing 35 colleges and universities, 38 high schools and two middle schools.

The UAH squad invited the DR students and advisors to a banquet on the UAH campus to celebrate the achievements of the two groups, followed by a tour of the mechanical and aerospace engineering shop at Olin B. King Technology Hall to see the UAH rover shop facilities and assembly room.

"Our relationship with INTEC started last year when we witnessed their encouragement and spirit at the NASA HERC event," says David Fikes, a senior lecturer of mechanical and aerospace engineering and team advisor at UAH, a part of The University of Alabama System. "Their advisor, Ezequiel Diaz, and I instantly felt a connection and continued to communicate as the year went along. Our banquet served as a conference between UAH and INTEC, highlighting HERC STEM outreach and collaboration."

Taylor Simmons, a mechanical engineering student and UAH HERC team lead, agrees. "The banquet was an amazing success. Not only was it an opportunity for the teams to celebrate our accomplishments, it also served as a chance to connect school faculty and officials, allowing them to collaborate on more opportunities for students in the future."

Dr. Shankar Mahalingam, dean of the UAH College of Engineering and Dr. Jennifer English, associate dean of Undergraduate Affairs, met with Dr. Arturo del Villar, INTEC's vice president and dean of the INTEC College of Engineering, and other faculty during the festivities to discuss the partnership between the two universities.

Bond grows through adversity

"We came into the competition hopeful of a great chance to win just like the past two years," explains UAH team member Ethan Jankens. "The first day, ATHENA succumbed to a catastrophic failure. With the team devastated and frustrations rising, our friends from the DR waited at the finish line to cheer us on and lift our spirits, giving us hope we could stay in the fight."

"After the failure at Transverse Incline, the Dominican Republic was waiting at the finish line, chanting 'UAH,'" adds UAH HERC team student Emily Jolly. "They continued to provide us support, hope and comfort for the rest of the day."

When the suspension on the UAH rover failed on the first day's excursion, the bond between UAH and INTEC only grew as Team Apolo 27 students rallied to aid their Alabama friends with practical support as well.

"INTEC's team drove their truck around Aviation Challenge the entire weekend helping teams from all over the world with their rovers if there was a breakdown," Simmons notes.

"Our week-long experience with INTEC from the Dominican Republic was a life-changing experience for my students," Fikes says. "They were such a kind and encouraging team, helping other teams when they broke down and cheering them on. As a result, they have won the NASA HERC 'Spirit Award,' voted on by the HERC teams, for three years in a row. The INTEC Rover Team is a quality outfit with lots of spirit and compassion. We are establishing a relationship with them that will potentially carry over into university to university partnerships."

"There will continue to be collaboration between UAH and INTEC the future," UAH team lead Simmons concludes. "Our friendship with them is strong and growing. I look forward to seeing how this develops to provide opportunities for our students and faculty at both schools and both HERC teams."

"Our visit helped them with their HERC team getting consideration for a senior design course so their students could earn college course credit for all their hard work, similar to the way UAH does it," Simmons explains. "Thousands of young students are being exposed to STEM in a meaningful way as a result of HERC team outreach."

In fact, Dr. Ezekiel and his team in the Dominican Republic just received approval from their university to have their rover team become a senior design glass.