Civil engineering doctoral student Tianyu Ren was awarded third place at the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering (AACE) 3+1 Elevator Pitch Competition. This prestigious competition challenges graduate students to present their research in only four minutes: three minutes to explain their work and one to discuss its industry impact. Students then field questions from the panel of academic and industry judges in response to their presentations. Learn more>>
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Doctoral student Tianyu Ren as he delivers his elevator pitch presentation.
Civil engineering doctoral student Tianyu Ren was awarded third place at the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering (AACE) 3+1 Elevator Pitch Competition. This prestigious competition challenges graduate students to present their research in only four minutes: three minutes to explain their work and one to discuss its industry impact. Students then field questions from the panel of academic and industry judges in response to their presentations.
This year’s competition was held at Concordia University in Montreal on July 28, 2025 in accordance with the 42nd International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction. The event was also supported by the AACE Montreal Section.
Ren’s award winning presentation, “Autonomous Drone Systems for Attic Inspection & Insulation in Hazardous Spaces,” introduced a compact, multirotor, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platform designed to traverse cluttered, difficult to access attic environments. Through Ren’s work, the UAV system already has demonstrated strong performance in mapping, insulation classification, navigation through tight attic spaces, and safe operation around human workers—pointing to safer, more consistent attic retrofits and meaningful residential energy savings.