Announcing the 2011 UDM Ford Innovation Contest

Opportunity for Engineering Students

I have just received information about an exciting opportunity for our Engineering students, so I am "forwarding" it here.

Engineering Students: The University of Detroit Mercy (UDM) and Ford will be sponsoring their third innovation contest this fall. Registration will officially open in mid-August. UDM/Ford hope to bring together up to 20 teams. The contest involves identifying current opportunities with existing vehicles as well as possibilities that arise from emerging technologies to develop proposed innovations to the automobile. Teams only need to develop the concept—not do the detailed engineering. There is no cost to enter and travel to UDM is not required! Each team—comprised of 3-5 full-time undergraduate students from any major—must ultimately develop a 3 minute digital video communicating the opportunity identified and the team's solution. There will also be several required process gates with intermediate deliverables; teams must pass these gates to remain active in the contest. Interdisciplinary teams are encouraged. Prizes: $2500 for the winning team, $1500 for 2nd place, and $1000 for 3rd place. A few key dates are as follows: • Registration deadline: 5 pm EDT Monday, September 19 • Kickoff presentation (can be 'attended' via internet) Tuesday, September 20, 6 - 9 pm EDT • Videos must be submitted by 5 pm EST Tuesday, November 1, 2011 Winners will be announced at UDM's Ford Innovation Symposium on Thursday, November 3, 5 - 7 pm EST, Fountain Lounge, McNichols Campus, UDM. Alan Mulally, CEO, Ford Motor Company, will be the keynote speaker at the symposium. All teams are welcome at the symposium but need not be present to win. The symposium will be broadcast over Wimba for those who cannot attend in person. Visit here for more information on the contest and to register a team (registration will become available in mid-August). Download the contest flyer with some additional information.

upcomming events

Here are a couple of events for the next two weeks happening at MDC’s School of Computer & Engineering Technologies:

1) Kendall CIS Orientation Day - Friday, February 11, 2011, 9:00am - 1:00pm, Kendall Room K413Click here to register

2) Technology Careers in the FBI. Hear from special agents in this amazing field. Weds Feb 16, 10-11 AM, Wolfson Room 7128 (ETCOTA Auditorium). For more updates, follow us on Twitter à MiamiTech

Water tower Competition

I(Theo), Oriana, and Gabe went to a water tower competition; it was last minute and we had a hard time finding the place; but once found we made some new friends from the Cuban-American something(view the FES dinner review the get exact name).

We mostly helped with crowd control; water towers were judge on weight, material, the time to charge and discharge water, and aesthetics. the winner received $300.

The management of the competition said that last weekend was good for their second run; but hope to expand; we exchanged contact information and look forward to working together in the future.

pictures

FES Holiday Dinner Review

This is a brief review of the FES dinner that was held last Friday evening.


I was able to get tickets to the event and that included seven students – all of them attended. I made sure the students made contacts with the other attendees. Overall to say they were glad they attended would be an understatement. We met several engineering company owners and project managers. Although they were all civil engineers, the overlapping of the engineering branches was reinforced. Our EE, IE, Chem E, Biomed students all benefited by making new contacts, having industry needs explained, and considerations for the future. Imagine our biomed students thrilled to speak with civil engineers!

Miller Legg: I met the project manager for Miller Legg. He is the one who will be coordinating the new building at the Kendall campus. This starts in January. I asked if we can get our students involved, at least seeing the project. He was in complete agreement and is eager to meet our students. We talked about having a meeting to show the design layout and then take a site visit. And then follow this up with visits to see the progress of the project. He also has a presentation for Technical Writing and he really wants to show this to us. This would be great to also invite the other MDC student clubs and societies.

Marlin Engineering: The owner and public relations manager would like to speak at an FES meeting. They want to do this in January. We were also invited to the Feb 5 Cuban American Gala, they already want to get a table for us. I think it’s a great idea and told her I would give her numbers later because we have more students. For me and MDC this is the first contact with Marlin and we made a very good impression.

C3TS: Next year’s FES Dade President is Tom Ruiz, our former student and MDC FES president. He wants to help us fund the solar project.

Rod Rodriguez offered to speak to our group about current civil engineering, incorporating other engineering into today’s projects, and how things have changed. Dave Clarke is the FES treasurer. We briefly discussed getting our student chapter funds for upcoming project ideas.

I know I’m leaving out what the students gained individually, but I know they benefitted. It was a well attended event and our students made good impressions that should benefit all of us. I’ll get some of the photos out later.

FES Miami/ASCE Holiday Party Dec 3rd 2010

Solar Engine

Last Thursday the BOTcommittee practiced its circuit building skills by creating a solar engine.  the event was a success in getting more students evolved in circuit building. the below circuit:
uses a solar panel to charge a capacitor bank; the Transistors then activate once a certain voltage level is achieved; that powered the motor.  The flashing LED controls the amount of voltage that is let though to the transistors.

This may seem complicated to some of you well that is okay and is nothing to be ashamed of.  All that the BOTcommittee would like to do is to demonstrate that we do not need our bachelors in order to tinker.  Theory is not required to tinker.  In fact the more tinkering you do now the easier it will be to learn the theory in class.  the above image is the Solar Engine circuit built in a brad board for prototyping.