Student Design Teams
UA's award-winning student design teams allow students at all levels to apply classroom theory to a major design project. Our design teams consistently rank highly in national and international competitions and are open to ALL students in any major. No applications are needed.
Akronauts Rocket Design Team
The team gives students the opportunity to work on cutting-edge aerospace projects. Students oversee every component that is a part of the launch vehicle, including the airframe, motor and propellant, and the avionics, payload, and parachutes. The goal is to design and build a rocket to win the annual Spaceport America Cup.
Contact: uakronauts@gmail.com
WKYC Channel 3: Akron Akronauts rocket team gets closer to a space shot
ASCE-Concrete Canoe Design Team
The team participates in national competitions to build and race canoes made out of concrete. Through the engineering process, the team gains the aspects of the construction experience, including management skills, concrete mix design, artistic ability, canoe padding, graphic design and technical writing.
Contact: akronconcretecanoe@gmail.com
ASCE-Steel Bridge Design Team
The team participates in national competitions to design, fabricate and construction a conceptual scaled steel bridge. Categories of the completion are display, construction speed, lightness, stiffness, construction economy, and structural efficiency.
Contact: UA.SteelBridge@uakron.edu
Chem-E Car Design Team
The team provides students with the opportunity to apply their engineering and chemistry knowledge to a challenging and exciting project. Throughout the school year, the team constructs a small car that must be powered and stopped completely by chemicals. In the spring, the team competes in the regional competition with the goal to qualify for nationals.
Contact: uakronchemecar@gmail.com
Geo-Challenge Design Team
The team designs a miniature mechanically stabilized earth wall to use in a national Geo-Wall competition against top engineering schools around the country. Other competitions include Geo-Prediction, Geo-Poster, Geo-Video and Geo-Shirt. This team gives students the opportunity to attend the largest geotechnical engineering conference in the nation.
Contact: ua.geochallenge@gmail.com
Medical Device Design Team
The team is an organization dedicated to engineering innovative solutions and devices to meet unmet clinical needs in the medical industry. Members will learn the ins and outs of the medical device design process while gaining real-world experience in the medical field.
Contact: medicaldevicedesignteam@outlook.com
NASA Mining Robotics Team
The award-winning team constructs a reliable robot capable of participating in the NASA Robotic Mining Competition annually. The challenge will provide NASA valuable information for the design of robots and innovative construction techniques for Lunar and Martian environments.
Phalanx Robotics Design Team
Phalanx Robotics is a VEX U robotics team. Every year, students work together to construct robots to compete in intense two versus two elimination brackets all over the country, all while learning about the engineering design process, coding, communication, manufacturing, teamwork and more.
Contact: phalanxroboticsua@uakron.edu
Zips Aero Design Team
The team designs and builds airplanes from scratch to test and compete in international competitions. Each year, members participate in the entire engineering process – from design to budgeting finances and construction.
Contact: zipsaerodesign@uakron.edu
Zips Baja Design Team
The team designs, fabricates, and tests mini off-road Baja vehicles to compete against other colleges across the country. Their goal is to build a Baja car that can survive the toughest of road terrain.
Contact: zipsbaja@uakron.edu
Zips Drone Design Team
The Zips Drone Design Team specializes in the design, assembly and testing of RC and autonomous drones. Their goal is to develop (through the engineering process) an autonomous and payload deliverable drone to win the annual VFS Design-Build-Vertical Flight Competition. Each member has the opportunity to contribute regardless of their chosen discipline; all majors (engineering or not) are welcome! This team allows students to work collaboratively with others towards a common goal. By participating, students gain hands-on experience, enhance their technical skills and prepare for real-world challenges in the exciting realm of vertical flight!
Zips Racing Design Team
Zips Racing designs and manufactures a formula race car from scratch every year to compete against other teams around the world. The team allows students to take the knowledge gained from classes and utilize it in a fast-paced environment like what would be seen in the automotive industry. Zips Racing frequently places within the top 10 at competitions.
Contact: ZipsRacingFSAE@uakron.edu