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Fifteen engineering students at the University of Maine spent last semester preparing for the 2002 Energy Challenge in Atlanta, Ga. on April 6, hoping to bring a first place finish back to Orono.
The Energy Challenge, a yearly competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Institute of Paper Science and Technology, was originally started as an offshoot of a partnership made between the two sponsoring groups to address the issue of the amount of waste produced nationally by the forest products industry each year in the United States.
The challenge began in 1998 with the UMaine students taking home the top honors that year. In 2001, the UMaine team placed second. This year teams were challenged to construct a board for a sailboard, using paper materials, such as corrugated paperboard or liner-board, in hopes of once again claiming a first place title.
Preparations began with recruitment and planning last semester. Professor John Hwalek, the faculty advisor, posted messages on FirstClass in hopes of recruiting interested students. Once a team was formed, the actual planning began. The winner of the competition is based on not only the final outcome, but a mid-term report as well, so the planning period was very important, he said. Students worked on coming up with one common plan and creating some form of product to construct the sailboard with and a plan to actually construct.
“It was interesting working with so many people with so many varied ideas but one common goal,” senior Angie Dinsmore said. “It’s amazing how everyone can find one common opinion that they agreed on and worked.”
Next came months of construction and hard work. Competing in the competition counted for credit as CHE 497, and those who participated said the credits were hard-earned.
“The project has certainly been challenging,” senior Adam Killip said.
After the sailboard was finally finished, the team packed up their bags and headed down to Atlanta April 5. The next day they took a one-hour bus ride to Lake Lanier and set sail for the competition.
Seven teams competed in this year’s competition. They were UMaine, Miami University of Ohio, University of Central Florida, Georgia Tech, Mississippi State University and two teams from North Carolina State University. This year, Georgia Tech won the $15,000 first-place prize, Miami won the $10,000 second-place prize and UMaine won the $5,000 third-place prize. Although UMaine didn’t win the first place prize they were hoping for, the team members seemed satisfied.
“It’s exciting just to place, a little bit discouraging to not place higher, but I’m still unbelievably proud,” senior Amie Hoffman said.
Funding for this trip came from various sources. The College of Engineering and Student Government both provided some money, but a large amount came from outside donors, such as GP and Cianbro.
The team consisted of 14 chemical engineering students and one mechanical engineering student. The mechanical engineer, Kevin Ouellette, was the one who actually rode the boat.
According to Hoffman, last semester the team posted an advertisement on FirstClass stating that they were looking for someone who could windsurf. Ouellette responded and agreed to participate, even though he did not receive any credit hours.
One problem that the team did run into was a hole in their board. Once in Atlanta, the team found the hole in the side of their board, caused when the boat was shipped to Atlanta. The other teams, however, all jumped at the chance to help out.
“All the other schools were so willing to help,” Hoffman said. “All the different schools lent us different materials and we were able to fix the hole in about 20 minutes.”
The total experience and outcome was said to be successful by those who participated, and UMaine plans on sending teams to the competition in the future.
“[I would] encourage others to do something like this,” Dinsmore said. “It’s not just sitting in class, but actually applying the engineering skills that we’ve learned to something sort-of practical.”
The students who participated were Seniors Erin Paine, Jonida Basha, Dinsmore, Travis Flagg, Lacie Halfacre, Scott Higgins, Hoffman, Shawn Kelley, Killip, Matthew Lacasse, Jason Michaud, Son Nguyen, Susannah Quintal, Matthew Simoneau and Ouelette.
Bangor Daily News