Hello everybody, welcome to our blog.

I would like for this page to be a window into the team’s many individual perspectives of our process, with updates from all sides of our team.

Over the past few months we have been diligently working on the tremendous task of designing the next-generation solar vehicle. Our student team members are putting in astonishing hours and flying through coffee pots like their lives depended on it, but progress is steadily coming along. As far as we can tell we are still on track with our aggressive design/build schedule.

Now that we are settled into our new home in the Office of Sustainability, we have a central location to meet on campus, which has been a huge help for planning and design meetings. If you’re looking for a quiet place to do some reading, I would look elsewhere. If it’s not for the whirring fans of the powerful computers running lengthy simulations, the 3-D printer will always be sure to remind you it’s working harder and longer hours than you.

We are nearing the time where we will have to decide on a name for the new car, so we will be sure to update you all on the nomenclature as it progresses.

As the race dates get closer and closer, I can’t help but find myself distracted by the upcoming race trip as a whole. This past summer was a blast, but the ASC (American Solar Challenge) is a whole different beast. This past summer we spent about 2 weeks in total away from home, including travel time, “scrutineering” which is inspections, and 3 days of racing. This time we are looking at a much larger commitment of almost 2 whole months. All I know is I will be purchasing backup batteries for everything and bringing lots of road entertainment.

Having welcomed a few new members to the team recently I’d like to take the end of this post to remind everybody we do recruiting at the beginning of every semester, so if you’re interested in helping out, stay posted and come find us in the fall!