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My name is Eric Specking. I'm the associate director for recruitment for the College of
Engineering and I'm the director of summer programs for the college.
Solar boat program is one of our many summer programs for rising sixth to twelfth grade
students. The program is mechanical/electrical engineering focused projects that is modelled
after the collegiate Solar Splash competition. So the uniqueness of the program is we're
giving rising tenth, eleventh and twelfth grade students the opportunity to learn some
collegiate engineering information as well as show them what application of math and
science looks like so they're actually building something. It is a mirror to the collegiate
Solar Splash competition, but on a smaller scale. So the students in mechanical engineering,
they start with the big foam block
at the beginning of this week we got a 40 inch by 16 inch wide and 8 inch high 2 pound
foam block and we basically, if we had an idea we just made it, as long as we did calculations
to make sure it floated on water.
Music
They design and of course we teach them content like buoyancy, weight distribution, give it
a hull design, so they get to pick their hull design, design it out and draw it out on the
foam block and then actually cut it down into the shape of the hull that they desire.So
while they're working on that, the electrical engineering students are learning things like
V equals IR, which is volts equals current times resistance, as well as how to sauter,
design the solar panel itself and make the panel.
Laughing. It works.
That's it, squeeze it, hold it for a second, let go, hit it. there's a bad connection,
after all that, there's a bad connection under 18 feet of electrical tape.
So then the two sides have to come together to form their team to put the products together.And
that's when they have to talk with each other throughout the whole process to make sure
whatever panel they design will fit on top of the hull and how the weight's distributed
so the boat's going to be able to run effectively.
We as a team had a partner and we built a solar panel
It's a really great experience, getting to work with a college team, and they've done
this on a big scale, so it's really great to learn from, you know, the pros.
When we cut the boat, we don't know what's going to happen, and it was very very meticulous,
and it's a really long process.
Basically, if we don't get eveyrthing connected, then it won't work.
Are you guys on the same team?
No, not on the same team
We work beside each other at work stations.
I believe that we have the best boat out there, and our panel is very, very beautiful.
This was just a splendid opportunity. I can't believe we got first.