CU Engineering Students Step Up to Environmental Challenges

The Halliburton Foundation handed out nearly $38,000 in awards in the college’s first annual Environmental Footprint Reduction Challenge this spring. Students were asked to develop technologies for reducing the environmental footprint of oil and gas activities on the Western Slope. Awards went to:

1) First-place Team, $20,000 – EVEN students Ben Chittick, Kelly Colwell, Julie Korak, and Robert Parker for “Air Pollution Control for Natural Gas Processing”

2) Second-place Team, $10,000 -- CHEN students Kevin Hoth, Vien Nguyen, David Robertson, and David Tzou for “Semi-mobile Operation for Transforming Well-head Water”

3) Third-place Team, $5,000 -- CHEN students Thomas Randle, Kevin Reinberger, Jamie St. Pierre, and Ashlyn Tung for “Mobile Operation for Transforming Well-head Water”

4) Honorable Mention, $700 to each team member – CVEN and EVEN students Christina Barstow, Jonathan Peterson, Sarah Rosenbloom, and Dania Zinner for “Beneficial Use of Coal Bed Methane Produced Water”

The Rocky Mountain Water Environment Federation and American Water Works Association also sponsored a design competition this spring, which challenged students to complete an alternatives assessment and preliminary design of an upgrade to the Metro Wastewater Treatment Facility. Six environmental engineering students, completed the project as part of their capstone design course taught by Angela Bielefeldt, and won the regional design competition, beating out students from CSU, CSM and the University of Wyoming. Congratulations to team members Rishabh Lyer, John Craven Leanne Miller, Brad Short, Jayson Ellis, and Sean Aronson, who will go on to compete in the national competition in Orland, Fla., in October.

Buff Racing Team Competes on New Platform

The Buff Racing team finished 38^th out of a field of 98 cars entered in the 2009 Formula SAE competition at Michigan International Speedway May 13-16, matching its 2008 performance but with a new Honda CBR 600RR engine.

The CU team, comprised mostly of mechanical engineering seniors, did particularly well in skid pad (6th overall) and design (tied for 12th), but was not able to complete the final endurance event after the car’s engine stalled on Lap 9 and the team could not restart it. Faculty advisor Derek Reamon said the students believe an improperly charged battery was at fault.

 The Technical University of Graz (Austria) won the overall event, with an operating budget of about $400,000. While CU’s budget was only $30,000, approximately 50 teams that have competed in the past dropped out altogether due to the poor economy and troubles in the auto industry. >>More info

Maymester: Alternative Energy Electric Vehicles      

CU Engineering students got a close look at the world’s fastest electric motorcycle, the KillaCycle, when creators Bill Dubé and Eva Hakansson visited the Maymester course, Alternative Energy Electric Vehicles, taught by Professor Jean Koster.

Koster said students were thrilled to see and learn about the competition motorcycle, which can accelerate from zero to 60 mph in less than a second. The drag bike weighs 653 pounds, including 200 pounds of battery weight, but is virtually silent.

Students in the Maymester course made plans to build an electric car, and Koster hopes to start a major project to build electric vehicles at CU in the next few years. >>More info

Honors & Awards

Congratulations to the following individuals on their outstanding achievements:

Faculty

Edie Zagona of CADSWES and Balaji Rajagopalan of civil, environmental, and architectural engineering were among those recognized with a U.S. Department of the Interior Partners in Conservation Award presented by Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar on May 7 in Washington D.C. The award recognizes their contributions to the adoption of new operational guidelines in 2007 for managing the Colorado River.