Hey ChemE’s,

     The Chem-E-Car team is looking for some new recruits for this coming year’s AIChE Chem-E-Car competition. For those who don’t know, the Chem-E-Car competition is held every year at both the regional and national AIChE conference. Teams, from various AIChE Chapters within the region come to compete in the spring, and try to qualify their car for the national competition the following fall. The goal of the competition is to design a car, powered by a chemical reaction, to travel a distance (50-100 ft) while carrying a load (0-500 mL of water); both of which are not given until just prior to the event.  Besides these specifications, the car and reaction are both designed by you! This is a great opportunity to be creative innovative with your chemical engineering knowledge.

     Within the preview few years, Iowa has had relatively sub par performances. However, with a full team returning from last year, and with the experience gained, we hope to have a successful showing, both for this coming year, and for many years to come. We are looking for new students to join the team to start passing on this knowledge and build experience every year. There is no limit to the number that can participate, or the number of teams we enter in the competition, so bring your friends and help start this tradition. All that is required is that you are a member of the Iowa AIChE chapter.

     Email Chris Sedgwick, at:  csedgwic@engineering.uiowa.edu or cgsedgwick@gmail.com for more information, or if you are interested in becoming part of the team. We will begin work as early as next Fall for the regional competition next April. Think about it this summer, and come back after summer with some creative ideas for next year’s car (or cars).

We look forward to getting started with all of you this fall!

- The Chem-E-Car Team

From left to right: Eric Burknap, Austin Gunn, Chris Sedgwick, Adam Smith