April 7, 2004

Boise State Mechanical Engineers Win Awards At Conference

At a regional engineering conference at Idaho State University April 2-3, Boise State University mechanical engineering students took home nine awards, including first place in the high profile Ingersoll-Rand Competition recognizing the overall work of their chapter. The Boise State Mechanical Engineering Society also brought home $900 in prize money. The annual American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Region VIII Student Conference was attended by colleges and universities from around the Pacific Northwest. Region VIII is the largest ASME region and includes chapters from Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Alaska, British Columbia and Alberta. In only its fifth year, the Boise State chapter placed in each event it entered. In the Micro-Baja Car Competition, student engineers designed and built a remote-controlled electric car for four events — a drag race, slalom course, baja course and oral presentation. The Boise State car, designed by Zach Bailey, Brad Bitz and Mike Myers, earned second place overall. The Ingersoll-Rand Competition is a chapter award that recognizes students’ development as engineering professionals by their participation in technical events that expand on their academic pursuits, by building character and demonstrating good citizenship and by learning more about real world engineering. Points are awarded for a range of activities, including volunteering at science and engineering fairs, hosting tours and meetings, performing community service and presenting professional speakers at meetings. This year was the second year the Boise State students competed in this event, winning first place both years. Among the individual competitions at the conference, the Old Guard Poster and Oral Competitions emphasize the importance of communication skills for engineers. Topics for these contests are related to technical, economic or environmental aspects of engineering. Sarah Scherrer won the poster event, and Seth Kuhlman earned third place honors. Scherrer also received the award for Most Technical Poster. In the oral presentation, Jen Cole received third place. In Web Poster Competition, Judy Wayne won first place and also was awarded Most Technical Web Poster. The Boise State chapter also received an award for having the most students, 12, attend the conference. -30- Contact James Ferguson Mechanical Engineering 208 426-3679 jferguson@boisestate.edu Media contact Pat Pyke communications and marketing 208 426-1987 ppyke@boisestate.edu