Saint Martin’s student
engineers show off multi-terrain vehicles
April 18, 2005
Lacey, Wash. – As part of their senior project, three
teams of Saint Martin’s College mechanical engineering students have
built dream recreational vehicles – something fast, fuel-efficient and
able to travel on land and water with equal ease.
The first team built a hovercraft, the second a
hydrofoil and the third, an experimental amphibious craft. The public is
invited to come see these machine marvels in action April 22 at the
Worthington Conference Center, 5300 Pacific Ave.
Each team of graduating engineers will give a
presentation from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., followed by a vehicle demonstration
in the parking lot and a water trial at a local lake.
Taking part in the presentation will be first five
senior engineering students from Saint Martin’s extension program at
Bremerton’s Olympic College. Launched in summer 2003, the program is a
cooperative venture that enables engineering students graduating with an
associate’s degree from Olympic to complete a bachelor of science in
mechanical engineering degree through Saint Martin’s without moving or
commuting.
The twenty Saint Martin’s College seniors spent six
months designing their vehicles and six months building them, mostly
from scratch, says School of Engineering Dean Anthony de Sam Lazaro. The
students were free to come up with any design they wanted but had to
meet strict guidelines, among them building a one-person machine that
could travel up to 60 miles per hour but still get between 65 and 80
miles to the gallon. Incredibly, all three machines are powered by
lawnmower-sized engines.
“Since it is a recreational vehicle, it should also be
fun to drive,” de Sam Lazaro said.
Every year, the graduating mechanical engineering
class is required to solve a real-world challenge using teamwork and
skills learned during their studies at Saint Martin’s. In 2004, students
built an aircraft drone that could take remote photographs. The year
before, seniors built a cooling system for biohazard suits worn by
soldiers in Iraq.
For more information, please contact the School of
Engineering at 360-438-4320;
jbanter@stmartin.edu.
Anthony de Sam Lazaro
Dean, School of Engineering
360-438-4320
lazaro@stmartin.edu
Deanna Partlow
Media Coordinator,
Office of Communication
360-438-4541
dpartlow@stmartin.edu