VCU Engineering students attend ASME EFx events, placing in multiple competitions throughout the event weekend
The VCU College of Engineering’s student section of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) recently competed in the annual ASME EFx competitions, hosted by Virginia Tech and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
The ASME at VCU students began their packed weekend of back-to-back competitions on April 20 at the Virginia Tech Drone Park. Competing in the Innovative Additive Manufacturing 3D (IAM3D) Drone Competition, students had to design and manufacture a drone to pick up and carry a payload while flying through a game course, before placing the payload at its original location.
Their drone, which the students made entirely of 3D printed parts, landed the team third place in the competition.
Students focusing as they pilot their drone through the course.
ASME at VCU posing with their award. (Left to Right Standing: Nathalia Melgarejo-Salvatierra, Autumn Brown, Zack Newman, Jacob Macina, Tyler Brown, Ishaan Thakur, Nathan Marchetti, Zade Goldrup, and Cody DuPriest. Left to Right Kneeling: Shiv Patel, Ian Gildea, TJ Tuttle, Ian Scaparo, Bitan Chowdhury, William Garnique, Martin Hanson, and Evan Haaland.)
The next day, ASME at VCU raced to UNC Charlotte, gathering with students from universities all over the world to compete in their second day-long event. This competition consisted of the IAM3D Hovercraft Resupply Vehicle Design Challenge, the Student Design Competition, the ASME Elevator Pitch Competition and the Oral Presentation Competition. Out of the four categories, VCU Engineering’s team placed in three.
The hovercraft competition required teams to design and manufacture a hovercraft using additive manufacturing to pick up and carry a payload through a ground course and deliver it to its final destination. For this challenge, ASME at VCU brought back their beloved hovercraft, Egg Rice, who took first place during last year’s competition.
Ishaan Thakur maneuvering Egg Rice through the ground course, with TJ Tuttle supporting the payload.
In the IAM3D Challenge Hovercraft Competition, ASME at VCU secured second place. In addition, students Ishaan Thakur and Ian Scaparo placed first and third in the Elevator Pitch Competition, respectively, with Thakur also placing third in the Oral Presentation Competition.
ASME at VCU has been designing and manufacturing vehicles to compete in the ASME EFx events since 2021, honing their technical skills even further with each competition they attend.
“Our section has met and befriended university teams from all over the world,”
Nathalia Melgarejo-Salvatierra, ASME at VCU member, said. “We love getting to learn and share our competition vehicle designs and maneuvering systems with each other.”
“Participating in competitions like these provides students with invaluable networking opportunities and collaboration between students and faculty from other universities,” Charles Cartin, Ph.D., ASME at VCU faculty advisor and mechanical and nuclear engineering professor, said. “It also gives students the ability to apply concepts learned in the classroom to real engineering challenges.”
The Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering provides undergraduate and graduate students with the opportunity to perform real-world research as soon as they enroll. From applying material science to additive manufacturing techniques to optimizing coolant systems for nuclear reactors and more, students gain understanding of many important engineering topics. Browse videos and recent news from the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering to discover how the College of Engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University prepares the next generation of scientists and engineers for the challenges of the future.
Categories Mechanical & Nuclear Engineering, Student Stories, Undergraduate Student Stories