A Silver Lining
ISU car has best finish ever in Sunrayce 99

A rowboat might have been more appropriate than a solar car for this year’s Sunrayce from Washington, D.C., to Orlando, Florida. Daily thunderstorms slowed the pace of the race and few of the 29 competing cars could collect enough solar power to complete each day’s route.

There is a bright side, however! Iowa State’s PrISUm Phoenix finished in fifth place—the highest finish ever for an ISU car—and the car experienced no electrical or mechanical break-downs during the entire nine-day, 1,424-mile race. Best of all, the team and their car were recognized by Sunrayce sponsor EDS with the Renaissance Engineering Award for best use of technology.

Besides having a well-engineered car, Team PrISUm’s strategy and teamwork kept them on track. “PrISUm Phoenix was designed and constructed from a systems viewpoint. This allowed us to finish the car months before the race, so we could do extensive testing and team training,” said Project Director Allen Ihlefeld, IMSE 4. “During the race it was evident which schools had strong teams and had proven their designs before the race—and Team PrISUm was definitely one of them!”

The team’s successful rainy-day strategy focused on minimizing trailering penalties by driving as far as possible, however slowly. They completed the route in 65 hours, 28 minutes, at an average speed of 21.75 mph (a disappointment to the students who had designed and built an aerodynamically fast car that cruises comfortably at 55 mph and tops out at 65 mph). The University of Missouri-Rolla placed first, followed by Queen’s University, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, and the University of Minnesota.


CCE students make an impression at national bridge competition

For the first time, Iowa State’s student team advanced to the National Student Steel Bridge Competition in Alaska where they won fans and admirers for their distinctive design.

Although the CCE students were disappointed in their 21st-place finish in the field of 40 teams, they impressed all involved, said CCE Professor Kenneth Brewer, advisor to the team. “During the first day of the aesthetic judging, a number of engineers from the area commented favorably on the ISU students’ bridge,” he said. “Even other teams were rooting for our students because of their distinctive design.”

Instead of the common bridge design having two parallel trusses, the team’s bridge was triangular shaped and had a chrome finish. The bridge took second place in a regional competition among seven other universities.

In the national competition, all teams were provided with the same challenging specifications and conditions for building a scale model of a bridge. Bridges were judged on sturdiness, lightness, construction speed, aesthetics, load capacity, efficiency, safety, and cost. The event, which was sponsored by the American Institute of Steel Construction and the American Society of Civil Engineers, was hosted by the University of Alaska Anchorage’s ASCE student chapter.


SWE chapter sweeps national awards

If there was ever any doubt that ISU engineering students are among the best in the nation, Iowa State’s SWE chapter has just swept that doubt away. At the Society of Women Engineers’ 1999 National Convention and Student Conference, the ISU students won top honors in five awards.

• First place in the Boeing Team Tech Competition for a design project with Pella Windows, Pella, Iowa, to develop innova-tive techniques for changing the trans-parency of windows—a research project that Pella plans to pursue.

• First place in the Student Corning Incentive Grant for the best student outreach program in the nation. The chapter hosts an annual overnight camp for high school seniors, showcasing ISU engineering.

• Exxon Education Foundation Student Audio/Visual Award for a presentation geared toward precollege students that uses the processes involved in making a can of pop to explain engineering disciplines.

• Membership Program Award for recruiting and retaining members.

• Outstanding Outreach Program Certificate of Achievement


AIAA students' wind tunnel takes flight!

From the nation’s capital to a national television audience, the AEEM flight demonstration wind tunnel has become a traveling road show with rave reviews.

The wind tunnel has drawn crowds at grade schools and NASA facilities, and in October appeared in the first installment of the 1999-2000 NASA CONNECT series on public television. More than 17,000 teachers have signed up to show the series to four million students.

Under the leadership of Brian Lund, BSAeroE’98, and Dean Hawkinson, AeroE 4, and under the guidance of AEEM Associate Professor Alison Flatau, the student chapter of AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics) built the wind tunnel in 1998. It simulates flight by counterbalancing a radio-controlled airplane inside a 36x40-inch test section. One hundred 4-inch cooling fans generate an air-speed of 15 mph. The “pilot” flies the plane using a yoke and rudder.

Tim Beberniss, AeroE 4, joined Hawkinson and Lund for the filming of the wind tunnel as it was demon-strated to children at an inner-city school in Washington, D.C. “The students were very positive about the wind tunnel and about aerospace study,” he said. “I’ve never done any-thing like that. It was very exciting.”