Miami Tech Works Celebrates Record Participation in EPIC Challenge Program & Standout Student + Employer Projects 

Miami Tech Works, along with the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation and Riipen, hosted its summer EPIC Challenge Showcase, featuring five companies and their student teams presenting the outputs and learnings from their six-week work-based learning projects.  

This most recent EPIC Challenge cohort was the largest to date, with 13 participating employers and 53 students from Miami Dade College and Florida International University. These students, from across technology and business programs at both schools, gained hands-on experience on real-world projects and built valuable skills to support their career journey.  

Across three EPIC cohorts to date, 25 South Florida companies and 101 students have participated, with many projects deployed and students hired for continuing internship or full-time opportunities.  

A Duty to Bridge the Gap Between Education and Employers 

Miami Dade College Vice President of Innovation & Technology Partnerships, Antonio Delgado, said the college goes the extra mile for students by providing the right curriculum and skills for their chosen field, with direct input from local employers. He said the college then makes valuable connections to these companies for work-based learning opportunities and, ultimately, a chance at full-time work. He called it MDC’s “duty” to help bridge the gap between education and future job opportunities, and said internships and programs like the EPIC Challenge are critical to that end. He also noted that “it takes a village” to bring meaningful workforce impacts, pointing to the work of Miami Tech Works, the Tech Talent Coalition, and other training providers, educational institutions, and partner organizations.  

Miami Tech Works’ Grant Program Manager Jonathan Adell, who oversees the EPIC Challenge program, agreed, noting that these structured internships bridge the gap between academics and application in the workplace. He added that these are real opportunities on real projects, and that the best results come from employers who embed participants into their organization and take an active role in overseeing the project. The employers and students also provide valuable insight into how to improve the program and help raise awareness with more employers in the region.  

Diverse Group of Companies & Industries 

The companies represented a range of industries, demonstrating how technology skills are used in the real world to improve processes, increase engagement, develop new products, and deliver services. From public service, recruiting, and telecom to travel and hospitality, marine education, aerospace, aviation, and apparel, it’s not just technology companies that are looking for students and talent with computer science, AI, data analytics, and other related and emerging skills.  

Participating companies in the latest EPIC Challenge cohort included: 

• Aloyd, LLC 

• Archangel Education + Technology  

• City of Miami  

• DataRemote, Inc. 

• Dreamaker.ai 

• FEAM Aero 

• MDM Hotel Group  

• Patterned 

• Sneaker Impact 

• TriMerge Consulting Group, PA 

• Wahoo Bay & Shipwreck Park 

• YOTEL 

Impactful Projects & Real Problem Solving 

EPIC employer projects ranged from helping build education digital infrastructure and platforms to creating AI-powered public service chatbots, vacation booking tools, and job search and hosting platforms. Projects also included a neural engine to classify alarms in the telecom industry, a 3D building configurator, an AI imaging and inventory station for sneaker customization, a global Nimbus AI search engine for the aerospace industry, and a maintenance planning and scheduling platform for the aviation industry powered by AI. 

Each 6-week project began with a challenge or series of challenges, where students worked with their employer partners to build a plan, assign roles, and track progress and outcomes. In some cases, the projects were built upon initiatives or products already underway, while in others, the teams built new workflows, products, and capabilities from scratch. In both cases, teams achieved meaningful outcomes that have already been implemented by the companies or are currently in testing for future deployment. 

Employer FEAM Aero shared that they are keeping their 4-student team together by offering summer-long internships to see the project through customer testing and, ultimately, deployment. Wahoo Bay added that its students will continue to be engaged in the work as its education and community engagement initiative moves forward.  

Many Entry Points for Students 

For the students, these opportunities matched a wide range of majors and disciplines with specific roles on their employer teams, with support from MDC Works and FIU Breakthrough Tech. The experience gives students a chance to apply classroom skills to real-world projects, learn new skills, and work as part of a team. It can also be added to their resume and may inspire them to pursue additional opportunities in their preferred field—or to try something different to expand their skill set and profile. 

The roles among the student teams were as diverse as the students’ backgrounds and experience, with AI and machine learning touching nearly every role — a sign of how quickly job roles and employer needs are changing and how AI is impacting every part of a company’s business.  

A breakdown of the roles from this EPIC Challenge student cohort included:

• 25 students worked in AI/ML-related engineering roles 

• 18 of these AI/ML engineering roles specialized in robotics (11) and 3D (7)  

• 5 students had AI prompt engineering roles  

• 2 students had AI documentation roles, and 3 held data analytics roles 

• 7 students held software development roles  

• Developer roles spanned frontend (2), backend (3), and full-stack (2) 

• 5 students worked in UX/UI designer roles 

• 2 students held digital marketing roles  

• 1 student did QA project management and testing 

• 1 student worked as a Data DevOps engineer 

Having an EPIC Impact  

EPIC stands for Employer-Provided Innovation Challenges, a program created by the U.S. Chamber Foundation to connect college and high school students with local employers to solve real-world business challenges. EPIC’s mission is to bridge the gap between classroom learning and practical application — a goal Miami Tech Works has championed since its inception in early 2023. Miami is one of six cities across the US participating in the EPIC Challenge Program.