By Craig Smith

Published: Monday, February 6, 2012

An imaginary trip to the moon paid off for three Carnegie Mellon University graduates.

Ping Li, Franz Mendonsa and Michael Honeck placed second in the Walt Disney Imagineering's 21st ImagiNations Design competition last week with their concept of what life on the moon in 3011 would be like.

"We'll take it," said Honeck, the team's leader. The competition, won by a team from North Carolina State University, was close. "I think the judges said we were separated by fractions," Honeck said.

In addition to a cash prize, Li, 25, of Shanghai, China, landed a paid internship at Disney Imagineering in Glendale, Calif., and began work there Monday. Mendonsa, 24, of Mangalore, India, and Honeck, 26, of Akron, Ohio, hope to hear in the next few weeks whether they will join Li.

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