Student teams from the School of Engineering have tested their engineering mettle in a variety of milieus over the past months. A sampling of some results:
Wharton Business Plan Competition
Do these engineers know their business, or what?
Cortical Concepts, one of three master’s teams from the biomedical engineering department’s Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design (CBID), won the Michelson Grand Prize in the prestigious Wharton Business Plan Competition. Team leader Stephanie Huan ’10, now a student at Wharton, and CBID team members Jason Hsu, Christopher Komanski, Evan Luxon, and Nicolas Martinez (all MS students from CBID’s inaugural Class of ’10) developed a device to improve the fixation of screws in patients with osteoporosis. The prize: $20,000 cash. Plus, they were tapped to ring the NASDAQ stock market closing bell.
Concrete Canoe
The JHU Student Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers participated in the 2010 National Concrete Canoe Competition. The goal: to manipulate reinforced concrete to build a vessel that floats and carries four passengers. Results: The team placed third in the Mid-Atlantic Regional Competition. A major factor in the stellar performance: It didn’t sink!
ChemBe Electric Car
The 2010 Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) took place at Homewood last April. The highlight: the ChemBe Electric Car competition. Hopkins team members used 25 customized, hand-made batteries to send their vehicle just over 33 feet. Results: 7th place, out of 15 cars. Not bad.
Kinetic Sculpture Race
In this zany contest sponsored by Baltimore’s American Visionary Art Museum, contestants each year propel human-driven art over a 15-mile course, rigged with sand, mud, and water traps. The race’s coveted prize: “Most Mediocre,” which means finishing in the middle of the heap. JHU’s Twitter Jay & the Recyclists, entered for the second year, couldn’t tame its blue-and-white wings. The team finished second for speed. For this race that’s, well, mediocre.
Hopkins Baja SAE
The Hopkins Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Baja group built an off-road, dune buggy style vehicle to compete in collegiate challenges run by the Society of Automotive Engineers. The team had a triumphant finish in Greenville, SC, placing 28th out of 100 competitors—the best JHU finish ever. Competition in Rochester, NY, didn’t go as well. The car held its own in hill climb and acceleration, but struggled in endurance—going through three sprocket failures.