TU's Chem-E-Car team headed to national contest

Monday, April 09, 2012

TU won the 2012 regional Chem-E-Car competition held at the Mid-America American Institute of Chemical Engineers Conference hosted by Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, in March 2012.

The name of the TU vehicle was the Golden Hurry Car. By winning the regional, the team earned a spot in the national competition in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, this fall.

Chem-E Car Regional Winners 2012

Pre-med/chemical engineering sophomore Weston Kightlinger won first place in the paper competition. The title of his research talk was "Effect of Algae Extract on the Growth and Metabolism of Various Microorganisms." Weston’s research adviser is Professor Tyler Johannes. Weston's winning entry qualifies to give a paper at the national AIChE conference.

In addition to winning first place in the Chem-E-Car competition, TU also placed third in the Chem-E-Car poster competition. Team members included Moustfa Moursy (team leader), Victor Fan, Julie Sharp, Umaiz Butt, Jasmine Htoon, Anne Himmelberg, and Amadeu Neto. The car was powered by a custom-built lead-acid battery and an iodine clock reaction was used to stop the car. On the second attempt, the TU car stopped right on the target line, traveling exactly the desired 53 feet.

The AIChE Chem-E-Car competition calls upon students to design and construct a chemically powered vehicle within certain size constraints. This vehicle must be designed to also carry cargo. The teams are told at the time of the competition the distance that the car must travel and the specified cargo that the vehicle will carry. The winner is determined by a combined score for creativity and for traveling the correct distance.