We were excited to see a Solar Decathlon story today on CNN.Com here until some character from Team California (Preet Anand, a senior at Santa Clara University*) told CNN about the build-up to the event and said:
"Our team is the only undergraduate-led team in the entire competition."
We'd like to call out Mr. Anand and have him check his facts. S&T has had an undergraduate-led solar house team in 2002, 2005, 2007 AND 2009, and will probably do the same in 2011. California seems to be a little late to this party, don't you think?
AND, S&T is one of the few teams who have done almost all of the construction work themselves ('02 through '09) instead of contracting out all the work.
Major firms have told us they love to hire S&T design team grads because "they don't mind getting their hands dirty" (or is dirt a known carcinogen in California?), and "they think on their feet" (hopefully before shooting their mouths off).
The Miners have also had undergraduate-led design teams that have accomplished the following:
National Champions in international solar car racing in 1999 and 2003.
National Champions in Human Powered Vehicle Racing in 2007. No Ahnold-led team has ever done THAT!
Formula SAE racing team ranked as high as 6th in the world just this past summer.
Student-led teams that serve poverty-stricken communities in South and Central America (Engineers Without Borders), and with almost 100% undergrads.
Undergraduate-led Mine Rescue Teams that compete against and defeat professional industry rescue teams,
.........and the list goes on and on. No brag, just fact.
We'll sum up by using the Missouri team's slogan: Don't tell me, SHOW ME!!
End of rant, for now.
*What is Santa Clara known for? Well, there is a pretty good DCI Drum Corps based out there.
I now live and work with these Californians, and they just don't seem to grasp that they aren't the best at everything. It just takes being beaten by "those dumb old country folks" from UMR for them to learn who the real engineers are. Keep it up, Solar House. I'll make sure to clear up the confusion next time I run into a Santa Clara grad at the office ;)