Collegiate Design Series teams from the Mid-Michigan section of SAE International presented their competition vehicles and revealed plans and goals for the upcoming season on February 25, 2016 to celebrate Engineers Week.
Doug Patton, Executive Vice President of Engineering for DENSO International America, and David Bakos, Executive Director of Global Aftersales Engineering from the General Motors Corporation, were both speakers before the student presentations. They stressed that companies are looking for graduates who have the ability to lead, the ability to manage a project, and the skills to deal with failure on the fly. Gaining skills and experience in systems engineering and the problem solving process through the collegiate design series is very valuable to students entering the workforce and looking for an advantage over other candidates.
Formula SAE teams from Kettering University, Saginaw Valley State University, and Central Michigan University showed their cars and talked about goals for the 2016 season and their May competition at the Michigan International Speedway. Baja teams from Central Michigan University and Kettering University discussed the upcoming season and previous performances. Kettering University also fielded a highly successful Clean Snowmobile team and an Aero Design team. The University of Michigan Flint’s Baja team also attended the banquet.
Presentations were judged by Patton, Bakos, and MidMichigan SAE Member Mark Pope. Technical Content, Previous Season Performance, Challenges for Next Year, Ability to Answer Questions, and Presentation Skills were measured to see who would win the section’s Collegiate Cup. This year Saginaw Valley’s Formula SAE team was awarded the cup for their presentation and season recap.
The Collegiate Design Series remains a great way for students to get incredible and intense experience different than what they gain from classroom, co-op or internship learning. Student presentations highlighted time management, system design, the differences in design and physically manufactured components, and competing design constraints.
(Images courtesy Chippewa Racing, Kettering Clean Snowmobile, and SAE Mid-Michigan Chapter.)