SIUE School of Engineering Graduate Student Amy Sunderlin talks with fifth graders from Columbus Elementary School.
More than 120 fifth-graders from Columbus Elementary School in Edwardsville enjoyed a visit today from the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Engineering solar car and members of the award-winning SIUE Solar Car Team.
Vince Schlueter, the principal at Columbus, said Edwardsville School District 7 promotes a strong STEM-oriented curriculum for its classes. Columbus School has worked with other leaders in the district to create solar powered Barbie jeeps and with SIUE to host a highly popular weather balloon launch.
Today’s visit by SIUE students and graduates took these fifth-graders to the next level by introducing them to engineering and solar power as it comes into play in higher education, he said.
“This is a great visual representation of how solar can be used to move objects and to charge batteries,” said Matt Maddox, a fifth grade teacher at Columbus who helped set up the event. “It’s also a wonderful opportunity for these students to see engineering in action.
“We’ve worked on STEM projects on a small level.”
The solar car uses a lithium ion battery pack that produces up to 96.2 volts of electricity. It can reach up to 45 miles per hour. The car has been driven in competitions, including the Formula Sun Grand Prix in Austin, Texas in June. SIUE’s solar car team won the Spirit Award at the event.
Team members are looking forward to another race, the American Solar Challenge, in July, 2014. This race, too, will be held at the Circuit of the Americas Formula race track in Austin.
The SIUE students and alumni who presented the car and gave an overview of its capabilities were:
• Amy Sunderlin, of Rockford, a graduate student in electrical and computer engineering. Sunderlin has worked with the solar car for four years and recently served as the SIUE Solar Car Team captain.
• Alex Wolff, an alumnus from Ferguson, Mo.
• Louis Neumeyer, a junior engineering major from Millstadt.
The SIUE students talked about the importance of team work in engineering projects.
The fifth-graders passed around solar panels, as well as pieces of carbon fiber that are used to support the solar panels on the vehicle. The children were asked to break the carbon fiber. They couldn’t. The pieces of solar panel are attached to carbon fiber and hooks are used to hold them in place.
Sunderlin enjoys speaking with grade school children about engineering and opportunities in the field. “I have a passion for it,” she said about engineering. “There’s nothing like the feeling of working on something, and it’s not working the way you want it to, and then it just comes together. I’m doing what I love.”
After she earns her master’s degree, Sunderlin said she hopes to become an automation engineer.
Steve Muren, faculty advisor for the SIUE Solar Car Team, took part in the visit. He hopes visits like this will encourage more young people to pursue STEM degrees and careers in the future.
At the end of the presentation, Schlueter asked the students, “Are you guys ready to see it move?” To which students cheered and shouted.
Following the honk of its horn, the vehicle was started and a clicking sound of its electric motor could be heard as it was maneuvered in the Columbus Elementary School parking lot, straightened out and led back into its trailer.