About a dozen MO S&T students presented their projects at the auto show yesterday, and when the doors closed at 10 o'clock last night they were pretty whipped puppies. When the dome doors opened the automotive Miners were hit with a FLOOD of people that didn't let up until early in the evening. We counted 30-50 people at a time viewing our projects and talking to our crew, and about every 10-15 minutes a whole new group would sweep in. That's about 150-200 people per hour for the bulk of the 12-hour show!
It was a virtual tie between people who wanted to learn about the projects, and folks who wanted to know more about the exciting new S&T moniker! A bonus was that parents who came to see the new family sedans could let their kids burn off some energy squeezing into StreaMiner, or get rocked back and forth in the Baja car, compliments of Wes Thomas, Mike Warren and Brandon Leslie.
Stay tuned for an even bigger headcount tonight!

Posted at 09:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bob just checked in from the St. Louis Auto Show.

Members of the S&T's fabulous automotive-related design teams, from Baja to Formula SAE, Robot to AAVG's amazing rocket, and the 60-mph StreaMiner bicycle are drawing large crowds of car enthusiasts to see what the Miners build. And we dare not forget our two national champions, good ol' Solar Miner IV ('03) and Fly-By ('07) the Human Powered Vehicle. Both are big attractions because people can actually get in them and drive them around (well, just a little).

The St Louis Auto Dealers Association has been fantastic to our teams, They gave them free display space, set up big signs to make sure the public can find these amazing students, and provided a great dinner buffet. That has become an issue with some of our gear-heads, though. Some of them go into vapor lock when faced with a tough choice: free food, or sit in a new Corvette; free food, Corvette, free food.........anyway, you get the idea.

Missouri S&T and its new name is a hit at the show. It has been a great PR event which will solidify S&T's new name in many people's minds. As we said before, it is a St Louis coming-out party for the new name.
Nearly twenty alums (that we know of) have stopped by to chat so far, and even bigger crowds are expected over the weekend. The Missouri S&T stuff is located in Corner B of the dome, and the show continues through Sunday. And there is lots of other cool stuff to see as well, so come on down!

P.S. It's reportedly a lot warmer in the dome than it is outside. That's good for an auto show. But domes still stink for football.

Last but not least, here is a photo of Ben Kettler, master Human Powered Vehicle rider, who opted to go hungry and instead found his post-graduation gift to himself, even in the right color.

Mind the insurance costs, Ben, mind the insurance costs..........

Posted at 01:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Approximately 40 state legislators from Jefferson City toured Missouri S&T's campus to learn about critical research taking place on the Miners' home turf, and they topped it off by meeting with Missouri S&T's highly-regarded student design teams.

The representatives, many of whom are on education and transportation appropriations committees, learned about work involving hydrogen as a transportation fuel, the transportation infrastructure itself, medical research into bone and tissue regeneration, and aerospace manufacturing technology. All of these are quality-of-life or economic issues which impact the lives of their constituents. On a national level they even learned of Missouri S&T's efforts to neutralize Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). After all, who better to do this than the folks who find more efficient and practical ways to blow things up? That's what Miners do, right?

Well, back to the design team members.........

One campus administrator told us that our representatives were suitably impressed by the research but were really anxious to meet the students who bring so much attention to the university's reputation by their success in international competitions and service learning projects. Kinda like the icing on the cake, you could say. The SDELC teams were joined by Miners in Space (zero-gravity welding), Mr. SAT (satellite prototypes), and the mens' and womens' Mucking (old-time mining techniques) teams, all of whom made a wonderful impression on the people who should know how important Missouri S&T is to the economic health of the state and the nation. Great job, all!

Posted at 01:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Maybe you've noticed, but many of the Missouri S&T design teams are all about speed. From rocket power to leg power, solar power to lawn mower engines, SDELC teams are all about converting power sources into forward (hopefully) motion. In recognition of our students' future contributions to industry, organizers of the St Louis Auto Show have offered S&T teams prime display space in the upcoming show, which runs January 23rd-27th at the America's Center and the Edwards Jones Dome (actually, we look at it as a coming-out party for the new Missouri S&T brand in the St Louis area). The exhibit will look something like this, where the projects were on recent display at the Havener Center.

Each S&T automotive-related team (Formula SAE, Baja, Solar Car, Human Powered Vehicle, Speed Challenge, AAVG's rocket, and Robotics) incorporates technologies that have market applications, from collision-avoidance sensors (Robotics) to composite body panels (Human Powered Vehicle), aerodynamic design (Speed Challenge) to off-road performance (Baja), and let's not forget regenerative braking and solar charging systems for various hybrid and electric charging systems on the horizon. The Formula SAE car is CRAZY fast, and if you can't figure out what rockets have to do with automobiles then you have obviously forgotten a certain Aston-Martin with missiles mounted in the grill (don't we wish)!
Anyway, Missouri S&T students will be on hand all through the show to talk about their projects and to get as many future gear-heads excited about the educational opportunities that abound right down I-44.

Did we mention that some of our our rather stationary teams such as steel bridge and concrete canoe help provide the roads necessary for our vehicles to go fast? They take what the learn in the classroom and apply it to solving future infrastructure challenges, 'cause we speed freaks really like safe and smooth roads.

Posted at 08:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

People don't normally associate solar power with large electric utility companies, but we'd be sadly remiss if we didn't point out that St Louis-based AmerenUE made the largest single cash donation to the 2007 solar house project. The firm's gift of $22,600 was made without much fanfare, which to our way of thinking means they support the integration of renewable energy sources within their market. As a matter of fact some folks at AmerenUE approached then-team leader Chris Wright (more on him later) at an ASME meeting, expressed interest in knowing more about the project and invited the team to make a full presentation to the firm. No big photo ops for the check, no big announcement, just unqualified support for the project.

It is particularly significant that the team earmarked the gift (with Ameren's blessing) towards the purchase of the solar panels shown above during the D.C. construction phase (DC in D.C., get it?) and the entire power generation system. Kinda puts the students and AmerenUE in the same business, providing power for all of us, doesn't it? After all, as solar systems proliferate, more and more of them will be grid-tied, and AmerenUE knows it will need to stay ahead of the crowd.

Posted at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)