A UH undergraduate team placed first among US teams and second overall in the regional Chem-E Car Competition, advancing to the national competition.
The competition took place the last weekend of March at Texas A&M University. The UH Cullen College of Engineering team came in second to Mexico’s Tech de Monterey who took first place honors.
The team is now preparing for nationals at the 2011 American Institute for Chemical Engineers National Student Conference, Oct. 14, in Minneapolis.
“This is a top honor for UH, students and the engineering program”, said Daniel Alavi, an engineering and finance double major. “UH can now take pride in becoming part of the elite engineering schools across the nation.”
Previous winners of the Chem-E Car Competition include Cornell University, Northeastern University and the University of Michigan.
To receive top honors at nationals, each team must design and construct a chemically powered vehicle that meets specific size criteria and is able to carry a specified cargo.
The teams will be told at the time of the competition the distance the car must travel and the specified cargo that the vehicle will carry.
Entries deemed unsafe by the judges were disqualified.
A combined score based on distance traveled and creativity determined the winner.
For the Southwest Regional Competition at Texas A&M, the distance a team’s car had to travel was between 50 and 100 feet, and it had to carry a weight between zero and 500 milliliters of water over that distance.
The UH Chem-E Car team designed a vehicle that was powered by a zinc-oxygen battery and employed a stopping mechanism triggered by breaking a circuit.
“This would not only be a great honor for the UH Engineering Department, it would also be great for them to win the prize money to add to their creation next year”, Alavi said.
According to AIChE’s website, first, second and third prizes at nationals will be $2,000, $1,000 and $500 respectively.
The Chem-E Car Competition team captain is Walter Barta and team members include William Payne, Tanya Rogers, Ed McDowell and K.C. Schuette.
Additional contributors included UH AICHE officers, Abel Morales, Jorge Cubas and Allen Lo.
Micky Fleischer, adjunct professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, served as faculty adviser
For additional information on UH Engineering News visit, www.erg.uh.edu.
For up-to-date news on the Chem-E Car National Competition, visit www.aiche.org.
