Category: Electrical and Computer Engineering

Tech Baja Enterprise Team Takes First Place Twice

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UPDATE:
Baja Team Sweeps in Wisconsin

This past Saturday, October 17th, Michigan Tech’s baja racing team participated in the Backwoods Baja race held by UW-Stout. The race was held at the Arkansaw Cycle park just outside of Menomonie, Wis. Michigan Tech Blizzard Baja swept the field taking first, second and third place, as well as the fastest lap. The race was a four-hour enduro, split in half by an hour intermission.

This has been an impressive semester for the baja team with wins at Midnight Mayhem and Backwoods Baja. They’re looking forward to a great set of national competitions in Tennessee, California and potentially New York this coming spring.

Michigan Tech Baja Team Sweeps in Wisconsin
Michigan Tech Baja Team Sweeps in Wisconsin

Baja Enterprise Team took first place in a regional competition

The Michigan Tech Baja Enterprise Team took first place in a regional competition over the weekend in Bedford Kentucky at the Nickota Motorsports Track. The competition involved 104 Baja cars from university teams throughout the country.

Tech’s winning vehicle was the 2014-15 competition car, “Bristol.” The race was very muddy and the track crew needed to stop the race part way through to maintain the track. Over the course of the four-hour endurance race only about two hours of wheel-to-wheel racing was conducted because of all the stuck cars, accidents and track maintenance.

Tech Baja alumnus Kyle Cooper says, “I’ve seen a lot of Baja races, but I’ve never seen a Baja mud bog.”

Nearly all the cars struggled with the mud, however Tech was able to power through for the first-place finish. Watch a video for more coverage of the race.

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See more pictures of Blizzard Baja Team

baja235See onboard video on YouTube of Michigan Tech Blizzard Baja Car 99

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Winter Baja at Michigan Tech Results Saturday Feb. 21st

IMG_5650640The 2015 Winter Baja was held Saturday, Feb. 21, near the Student Development Complex at Michigan Technological University.

The University of Iowa car #48 came in first place, followed by Northern Michigan University car #40 at 2nd Place and Ferris State University car #76 at 3rd Place. Other standings are listed below showing the place and laps completed. In the dynamic event University of Michigan Car #1 came in first followed by University of Iowa Car # 68 at 2nd and University of Michigan Car #161 at 3rd.

Design Expo 2014 Awards

The Design Expo highlights hands-on, discovery-based learning at Michigan Tech. More than 600 students in Enterprise and Senior Design teams showcase their work and compete for awards. A panel of judges, made up of corporate representatives and Michigan Tech staff and faculty members, critique the projects.  

Space Solar Power Workshop a Success

Michigan Technological University, in collaboration with professionals from NASA, the Naval Research Laboratory, and the Space Solar Power Institute, hosted a Space Solar Power (SSP) workshop to clarify the challenges facing SSP implementation. The workshop was held in conjunction with the IEEE International Conference on Wireless for Space and Extreme Environments at Baltimore, MD, November 7 – 9, 2013. Researchers from Industry and Academia of many countries including India, Japan, UK and USA participated in this event.

General Motors Presents Grant to Michigan Tech

The General Motors Foundation has given Michigan Tech a $100,000 grant through its University Partner Program. The gift will support a variety of student activities, including the Advanced Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) and Advanced Motorsports Enterprises, environmental engineering senior design projects, student groups and diversity programs.

Research Experience for Undergraduates Summer 2013

Students in the Research Experience for Undergraduates REU summer 2013 programpresented posters on research projects they have worked on over the summer. The project topics include: measurement of diesel emission particulate matter, experimental hybrid vehicle fuel system, lithium ion battery characterization and SOC measurement, hybrid vehicle dynamometer test stand development, heavy duty truck driving simulation, and measuring temperature variations in combustion vessels.

New Immersive Visualization Studio

Demonstrations of the new Immersive Visualization Studio in EERC 510 were held on Feb 1. The new facility is part of the of the Paul & Susan Williams Center for Computer Systems Research directed by Professor Saeid Nooshabadi (ECE/CS). Displays of two current research projects were shown. The social event was cosponsored by the Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science at Michigan Technological University. The facility can be used to analyze tremendous amount of data, study the fluid dynamics of Lake Superior, simulate volcanic eruptions, and look at weather patterns. One student opportunity: developing applications within the Husky Games Enterprise. Professor Saeid Nooshabadi directs this computing center. He envisions interdisciplinary teams addressing new problems, sharing camaraderie and a purpose, and engaging in a “cross-pollination” of ideas. His focus: “make it practical and useful.”

Students Named to National, Regional SWE Posts

Tech Today Article by Travis Gendron, student writer

Two members of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) section at Michigan Tech, Kaitlyn Bunker and Alicia Walby, have been elected to regional and national positions within the organization.

Bunker, an electrical engineering PhD student, is the new collegiate director of SWE and sits on its national board of directors. The collegiate director is the only student who sits on the board, and Bunker is responsible for giving the collegiate members a voice. “I’ll be the first graduate student in the position in quite a while. I also come from a smaller, but really active section, so I can bring a new perspective,” she said.

Women in STEM: Ada Lovelace Celebration

Michigan Tech held its inaugural celebration of Ada Lovelace Day, an annual event held to recognize the accomplishments and contributions of women to the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics and to encourage young women to pursue careers in STEM fields.

Tech’s celebration involved a two-day series of events beginning on Tuesday, Oct. 16, in Fisher 139 as Professor Martha Sloan (ECE) and guest speakers Mary Long and Michelle Eggart discuss their experiences as women working in STEM fields.

On Wednesday, Oct. 17, from 8 to 10 p.m., in Fisher 135 there was  a film screening of “The Gender Chip Project” followed by a panel discussion featuring female faculty and graduate students from departments across campus, including Sarah Green, Nina Mahmoudian, Laura Brown, Patty Sotirin and Kaitlyn Bunker, who  discussed their experiences as women in STEM disciplines of academia.

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