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Excelling as the only liberal arts school in a field dominated by large technical institutions, Lafayette finished second among 20 entries in the East Coast/Midwest American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ (ASME) Human Powered Vehicle Challenge May 7-9 in Gainesville, Fla.
The team of six mechanical engineering seniors finished first in the endurance contest, third in design, and fourth in sprint events en route to outclassing schools such as Virginia Tech, Case Western, and the Naval Academy. The students’ design approach enabled the team to be the only entry to complete the entire 65 km distance in the endurance contest without a mechanical breakdown.
“The 2003-04 HPV team demonstrated outstanding motivation, self-direction, managerial and organizational skills, as well as technical capability,” says adviser Len Van Gulick, Matthew Baird Professor of Mechanical Engineering. “They instigated the project, designed and constructed it largely through their own efforts, and made effective use of group members’ varied aptitudes and abilities in the effort. All group members contributed effectively to the project and all are directly responsible for its success.”
The seniors are Trustee Scholarship recipient Emily Green of Central Valley, N.Y., Marquis Scholar Jess Henning (Lancaster, Pa.), Ben Kuipers (Wanaque, N.J.), George Lyons (Bayside, N.Y.), Marc Hopkins (North Hampton, N.H.), and Michael Lestingi (Centerville, Ohio), a Marquis Scholar pursuing a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering and a bachelor of arts with majors in international studies and Russian & East European Studies. (Lestingi has received a Fulbright grant to conduct research in Russia on the privatization of the country’s rail system.)
“Our basic goals were to maximize speed and meet the ASME standards for safety by completing research in such areas as fluids, aerodynamics, design analysis, strengths of materials, etc,” Green explains. “Our end product is a chromoly steel-framed recumbent bicycle with a polycarbonate-Coroplast (corrugated plastic) front fairing for aerodynamic purposes.”
The students’ preparation included completing a 30-page report and training at Kirby Sports Center. They found that their vehicle could reach reported speeds logged in past ASME competitions, and that a roll-cage installed to protect the drivers worked well in minor crashes.
Kuipers, who along with Lyons did most of the welding, says being mechanically inclined is one of his greatest strengths, and he enjoyed the fabrication portion of the project.
“I didn’t know how to weld before this year, and it was satisfying and fun to see myself improve as the year progressed,” he says. “After the HPV was constructed, I enjoyed the part of tweaking it so that it would function as well as possible.”
“The HPV competition was a great learning experience, not so much for what was built, but for working with other people in a group for a yearlong project,” adds Kuipers, who has accepted a job offer at Picatinny Arsenal in Dover, N.J. “The most important thing I learned was to compromise and take advantage of our group members’ strengths. I feel that this group worked very well together and was able to gain knowledge from each other as well as the professors.”
Green found that for her, the most interesting part of the project was “the research we completed at Kirby Sports Center to find our individual maximum power output, which we compared with our target maximum speed. We used the data to obtain the drag coefficient of our fairing shape that would optimize our design. On our test runs, it was satisfying to see that we could meet and exceed our goal speed.”
For Lyons, the project served as a great learning and team-building course.
“After going to the competition and inspecting other schools vehicles, I discovered we were the only school that let the students weld their entire vehicle,” he says. “This was a fun part of the project, and really helped me understand how strong welds actually are.
“We found out that solid teamwork and proper planning allowed us to not only be competitive, but also win the endurance race. Overall, this two-semester project was the most fun I’ve had at Lafayette. We used our engineering knowledge to implement a brand new design and our machine shop to build the entire vehicle. Then in the end we had a product that was fun to test; the HPV is surprisingly comfortable. This project was a great finish to my college career.”
The many hours required for the course made group dynamics very important, notes Hopkins, and as they learned to work together effectively, the teammates developed friendships and greater appreciation for one another.
“Each member of the group assumed an essential role on the team, and we complemented each other nicely,” he explains. “I learned more about my individual skills and talents, as well as the areas in which I am not as strong. As we learned about our abilities and those of the others on the team, we quickly became a cohesive, productive, and efficient group. Dr. Van Gulick told us on a number of occasions that he could not recall a senior project team that was easier to work with and advise than ours.”
Green believes that the group work provided indispensable, practical knowledge.
“The project has been invaluable in giving us hands-on experience in areas that we studied in the classroom, including machining, material selection, and design analysis,” she says.
“The opportunity to apply to an extensive project all of the skills and knowledge that I have developed at Lafayette was a helpful tool in readying myself for what awaits me after an undergraduate education,” says Hopkins, who will pursue an M.S. in mechanical engineering at University of California-Davis. “Specific knowledge gained from formal course work and textbooks was widely used throughout the progression of the project, especially during the design stages. An equally important contributor to the completion and success of the project was a general real-world sense, or feel, for engineering and design that I developed in college. Working on the project forced me to draw from all aspects of my education, and because of this I was able to see for myself just how much I have learned and grown both as a student and as an engineer.”
“The entire experience of working on this project was a rewarding and fulfilling one,” he adds. “Simply completing the HPV brought with it a sense of accomplishment, and then the success we enjoyed at the competition was icing on the cake. Competing as a group against other schools brought the team together even closer than we had been before.”
Throughout the year, the team received aid from a number of sources.
“Lafayette has a great technician staff in the mechanical engineering lab,” says Green. “They have been very helpful and made themselves available to us whenever we had to ask their advice on something or whenever we needed help using machinery. We have all taken advantage of the opportunity to become better at certain trades. For example, the frame required us to learn how to weld better, so the school brought in a professional welder to give us lessons.”
The team also received valuable guidance from Van Gulick, meeting with him weekly to discuss progress and gain advice.
“He helped us by pointing us in a good direction, but not holding our hand as we went,” says Green. “That way we really learned to understand the reasons for the design choices we made.”
Outside the classroom, Green played string bass in the chamber orchestra and in the College Theater production of The Cherry Orchard, and participated in several community service programs through Lafayette’s Landis Community Outreach Center. A former varsity volleyball player, she is a member of the Delta Gamma sorority.
Lyons worked as a field engineer in construction the past two summers, inspecting sub-contractors’ work and signing off on properly installed material. An economics minor, he plans to become a financial analyst. Many financial firms in his home state hire engineers for their problem-solving skills and analytical abilities, he notes.
He served as treasurer for the student chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, shadowed professionals at their work places through three externships coordinated by Lafayette’s Career Services, participated in a five-student Technology Clinic team that developed a self-guided audio tour and other enhancements at the Bachmann Publick House in downtown Easton, and helped run the Zoo Crew, a student group supporting Lafayette athletics.
Kuipers participated in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers chapter, Sports Marketing Club, Zoo Crew, Crew Club, and Lafayette Activities Forum.
A member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Hopkins worked last summer with AMSEC LLC, a private company that provides engineering services to the U.S. Navy. He worked in the company’s Philadelphia area office through the internship, which he discovered through Lafayette’s Career Services. He spent a semester in Lafayette’s study abroad program in Brussels, Belgium, and studied culture and sustainable development issues in Kenya and Tanzania through a Lafayette January interim session course.
Chosen from among Lafayette’s most promising applicants, Marquis Scholars receive special financial aid and distinctive educational experience and benefits, including a three-week, Lafayette-funded study-abroad course during January’s interim session between regular semesters. Marquis Scholars also participate in cultural activities in major cities and on campus, and mentoring programs with Lafayette faculty.
Trustee Scholars have distinguished themselves through exceptional academic achievement in high school. They receive from Lafayette an annual minimum scholarship of $7,500 (totaling $30,000 over four years) or a grant in the full amount of their demonstrated need if the need is more than $7,500.