Engineering Students Dominate Design Competitions

Akron, Ohio, July 1, 1999 — In less than two months, University of Akron students have won three Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) international collegiate design competitions. Akron engineering students now have won more SAE design competitions in the 1990s than teams from all other Ohio universities and colleges combined.

Officials for SAE — a professional engineering society with 75,000 members in 97 countries — hailed Akron's success as unprecedented in the organization's 94-year history.

“Akron is a benchmark group. They have a winning attitude and they go into these competitions to be the best,” says Bob Sechler, manager of the SAE's Educational Relations Division. “We're really proud of them. It's astounding what they've done.”

Akron teams set two world records and won more than a dozen regional and international design championships. They have competed against teams from colleges and universities in Canada, Great Britain, Brazil, Poland, Mexico as well as the United States.

The latest additions to the College of Engineering's trophy case were won at the following events:

• SAE Aero Design West Competition, Seattle, June 11-13: Teams from 18 universities and colleges flew radio-controlled aircraft designed and built to carry a maximum cargo load. Akron's plane, the 5.7-pound “Banshee,” won the competition by lifting 26 pounds.

• SAE Midwest Mini-Baja Competition, Tipp City, June 4-6: More than 76 teams competed in off-road vehicles similar to those used on the Baja racing circuit. Vehicles were judged on originality, safety, mass production potential and design report, in addition to dynamic tests of acceleration, maneuverability, braking and a four-hour endurance race.

• SAE Formula Car Competition, Pontiac, Mich., May 21-23: This year's competition saw a field of 100 precision-engineered, scaled-down versions of Formula One race cars. Participants were evaluated on design, team presentations, and economics, as well as vehicle performance. Akron's team also received its second consecutive invitation to participate in a similar competition in Birmingham, England, in July.

In addition to designing, building and racing their vehicles, students also make presentations, work with budgets and solicit suppliers for materials and services.

“This competition teaches students a lot about project management,” explains Sechler. Winning an SAE competition “tells potential employers that the young people on that particular team have real world experience and have the communication and leadership skills to be team leaders,” he says.

Akron's 10-year-old SAE chapter boasts alumni in nearly every level of the automotive industry, including parts suppliers, consulting companies to Detroit's Big Three automakers, and even professional racing circuits. Sechler says such rapid growth and consistency “tells us they're doing something right in Akron. They have a good, solid faculty advisor and good support from their school administration.”

Dr. Richard Gross, associate professor of mechanical engineering, heads a group of faculty advisors and technicians who assist Akron's SAE teams, which are comprised of about 12 members each.

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