The University of Rhode Island’s Promoting Electric Propulsion (PEP) workforce proudly earned first place within the Budget Warriors class at the 2025–2026 PEP competitors held on Wednesday, April 15. The competitors is co-sponsored by the American Society of Naval Engineers (ASNE) and the Office of Naval Research (ONR). The workforce acquired help from the URI Navy STEM Program ANCHOR contract and numerous trade sponsors.
The seven-member workforce of engineering undergraduates spent two semesters designing, constructing, and refining a high-performing craft for underneath $1,500. Traveling to Portsmouth, Virginia, the workforce’s competitors efforts resulted in a rating of 86 out of 100 throughout each technical documentation and on-water efficiency, outpacing competing faculties and masking the best distance of their division.
Students on the successful workforce had been:
Samual Miller
Julie DesAutels
Shubham Chomal
Leo Tourgee
Nicolas Lyons
Jacob Dickstein
Roman Taylor