A team from 'Iolani School is returning to Hawaii as the winners of a national engineering competition held last night in Washington, D.C.

Amy Ko, Adeline Li, Anya Liao, Celia Ou, Jessica Lynn Saylors, Julia Zhang and coach Carey Inouye competed against two other schools in the finals held at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.

The Real World Design Challenge asked the student teams to solve real-life energy and engineering problems—in this case redesigning an aircraft to maximize fuel efficiency and still meet performance expectations.

The 'Iolani team won a contribution of $3,000 to the school's science/technology department, a Real World Design Challenge Trophy and a model of the Cessna Citation X aircraft. Each team member also received an iPod Shuffle.

Ten states sent teams to compete in the challenge.

» www.scied.science.doe.gov/RWDC/index.html