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Last April, a team of 12 mechanical engineering majors went up against teams from 43 colleges and universities from all over the world in the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) annual Aero Design East competition in Marietta, Ga.
When everything was said and done the team placed eighth overall and third in the oral design presentation category. The students outperformed teams from schools such as Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Massachusetts, and Rutgers University.
“We certainly reached our goals,” says Louis Hayden, visiting part-time instructor of mechanical engineering, who serves as the team’s adviser. “Anytime you go to an international competition and finish in the top third, you have done well, and a top five finish in a specific category is outstanding.
“There were pretty heavyweight schools there and our kids showed class and poise. They gave a great impression of Lafayette to the public and showed the quality of engineering here at Lafayette.”
Members of the team, named Acopian Aviation, handled every aspect of their plane’s design including propulsion, fuselage construction, payload, and aerodynamics.
For the nine seniors on the team, the project was part of their senior mechanical engineering design “capstone” course and according to Hayden, its purpose is for students to take the engineering skills they’ve learned through their first three years and apply them to a real-life engineering problem.
Members of last year’s team were seniors David Clements, Adam Bozick, Brian Forsberg, Rachel Jacobs, Mike Lefante, Andrew Morley, Joseph Nimphius, Jill Saporetti, and Marquis Scholar Jennifer Gibson, as well as juniors Bryan Shive (Bethlehem, Pa.), Mike Leff (Bedford, N.Y.), and Aaron Hilber (Appleton, Wis.).
This year’s 11 member team is already getting to work preparing for the upcoming competition in Fort Worth, Texas, May 4-5.
“The three juniors returning this year bring construction and building experience back to the team,” says Hayden. “Everyone is eager to get together and start working.”
Besides Shive, Leff, and Hilber, members of this year’s team include Alex Chatfield (Lebanon, N.J.), Marquis Scholar Tim Creelman (Philadelphia, Pa.), Mateen Poonawala (Karachi, Pakistan), who is also a mathematics-economics major, Andrew Zarenski (Rocky Hill, Conn.), Daniel Sharp (Monroe, N.Y.), Steve Music (San Jose, Costa Rica), Jill Blisplinghoff, and Tito Anyanwu (Brooklyn, N.Y.).
The team is looking for donations to help support the trip to Texas. Anyone interested in helping out should contact Hayden.