The Campus

Media Credit: Society of Automotive Engineers CCNY [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Society of Automotive Engineers CCNY [Click to enlarge]

The Society of Automotive of Engineers (SAE), engineering club chapter of The Grove School of Engineering has been one of the most active and fruitful student club organizations of its kind at The City College of New York (CCNY). Though CCNY's School of Engineering does not currently offer programs in Automotive Engineering, many of the other available engineering programs such as the Mechanical and Electrical engineering programs provide sufficient engineering fundamentals essential in assisting with the club's projects.

The main purpose of this diligent club is to compete in the SAE International, a series of highly acclaimed national competitions. The SAE collegiate design series id est the Formula SAE in 2006 and the Baja SAE in 2007 are both previous events in which the club has participated.

The object of the club's latest up and coming project is the 2009 Supermileage SAE event. This year's Supermileage SAE competition event will be held in Marshall, Michigan this coming June (more info on the matter can be found on the SAE website www.sae.org).

Among other things, joining the CCNY's SAE presents a win-win situation for its members, the hands-on projects (essentially terrain vehicles) not only account for all Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering undergraduates Senior design project (a requirement necessary to graduate), but also provides students with an opportunity to broaden their engineering design potential and teamwork capabilities which constitutes a sine qua non to any proficient engineer.

The CCNY's SAE is also among the most academically diverse student organizations on campus. Recruiting incoming undecided freshmen and students majoring in other disciplines such as Economics, Business Administration and other social sciences in lieu of restraining membership solely to students in engineering shows the club has a more utilitarian approach to engineering.

SEA not only emphasizes primary engineering concepts on the quantitative and analytical level but they require effective organizational and social skills.

Needless to say, manufacturing a terrain vehicle from scratch (which constitutes the club's magna opera) also implies researching the right materials/equipments as well as evaluating their cost, which of course varies with quality. Assessing how to efficiently utilize donated funds to purchase these materials and produce a proficiently manufactured vehicle is an integral element to the clubs tenure, hence the useful economics background. Organizational skills are like "value added features" of an engineer because of its strong correlation with effective productivity. Also, as of recently the club had applicants interested in becoming automotive sports writers, truthfully everyone is welcome to join and participate. This academic synergy constitutes the clubs culture. A skilled driver is also a needed criterion, or if you're just a 'Mario Cart", gamer this clubs is the one for you. The only difference is you'll be making this cart!

The manufacturing and design of the CCNY's SAE vehicles also requires a considerate level of savoir-faire when it comes to the usage of tools and design software's (i.e. SolidWorks), which serves as a reference template to any other CAD software. The aforementioned are skills the clubs senior members and executives diligently instill into the engineering "Johnny-come-latelies" showing interest in the club.

Many of the current club members including myself, have a decent background in automotive technology, however, the club most notably emphasizes the will to learn and the reliability of its members. Good knowledge of tools and vehicles are not a pre-requisite to join the SAE, nevertheless dedication and teamwork are expected.

As for all the SAE hosted events, the concept is always pretty simplistic; each collegiate team nationwide is to manufacture an off-road automotive vehicle of their own design to compete in a race regrouping all other participating colleges (Competitions are regional). The competition challenges the college teams overall vehicle design in line with some SAE design guidelines as well as the vehicles cost effectiveness. SAE International has more than 90,000 members including engineers, educators, business executives and students from more than 97 countries that share information and ideas towards advancing the engineering of mobility systems. The main purpose of these competitions is to have the college teams present a design effective enough so as it be accepted for manufacture by a fictitious firm.

At the competition, everything from the vehicle's frame to the steering components, the vehicles functionality and other required automotive safety guidelines issued by the SAE federation are tested via evaluation sessions (i.e acceleration testing, engine testing, water testing etc). If vehicular and team evaluations are in line with regulations the team is issued a carte blanche to move on to the race. The big race constitutes the final evaluation. Hence, the first two days upon arrival are spent going through the evaluations.

These competing events are indeed always a thoroughly insightful experience due to the very fact that participants get to examine the design of other vehicles as well as interact with other SAE teams. (On average, 140 other colleges nationwide participate in those events).

The most conspicuous matter about the SAE competitions is that it encourages active participation and "fair play" amongst teams as much as the winning rewards conferred to the 3 highest scoring teams after the endurance phase (the race). The SAE nationwide competition events are exciting experiences and truly a unique opportunity.

In June 2006, the CCNY's SAE participated in the Formula SAE event in Michigan. After having been cleared by the evaluation testing's, the clubs Formula One vehicle was cleared for the final phase of the race. Unfortunately because of a minor preventable malfunction the vehicle did not make it to the long awaited formula race. However unsatisfying, the Formula One vehicle was operational and made it through all the testing challenges.

Having done this ignited a sentient achievement amongst the participating SAE club members. The CCNY's SAE team was also the only one representing the CUNY school system at the Formula One event; this is significant because it gave the CUNY and most notably the CCNY's Engineering School some renowned and valuable exposure. It has been noted that automotive companies such as Toyota attend SAE events not only as a way of showing support but as a means to potentially recruit some talented individuals.

Following the Formula competition was the Baja SAE event that resumed in June of 2007 at RIT's (Rochester Institute of Technology) campus in upstate New York. Very similar in structure, this competition was about manufacturing a Mini Baja vehicle, less challenging in terms of design but more fun to drive. This event was much more pleasurable to attend because the club's members had firsthand experience with SAE events. After 3 months of persistent work, the CCNY's SAE teamed had built their first Baja named "Mak" to compete in the SAE mini Baja competition.

As in the Formula event, the CCNY's SAE made it through the first testing sequences and had accumulated a fair amount of points. After having been cleared to compete in the race, the team's hopes were at its highest since none of the clubs previously built vehicles had made it to the actual race. Mak made it to the first 10 lapses of the racetrack until an engine failure disrupted the course of things. Again an unfortunate mishap but these re-occurring hurdles just reinforced the clubs optimism.

At this point the CCNY's SAE club members had built upon their SAE event experience to strengthen their rapport with the school of engineering in order to stimulate more funding which in turn was to enable the club to eventually acquire more "top notch" equipment to compete successfully with some of the highest ranking engineering schools in the nation. Optimizing the SAE club's finances remains an ongoing process.

Another enjoyable factor that may have come into play in regards to the Mini Baja competition was proximity. The trip had been thus quasi-less tiring and most notable New York based colleges had participated this time: SUNY Stony Brook, and NYIT just to name few, were among the attending teams. There was also a greater international presence in the 2007 Mini baja event, noticeably teams from colleges in South America like one from Brasil consisting of nearly 20 members with their effervescent enthusiasm and numerous other teams from the best engineering schools in Canada whom held a pattern of successive Mini Baja wins. The latter did not intimidate the CCNY's SAE team, but rather boosted their confidence and copacetic sentiments because of this opportunity to compete with the "cream of the crop" of the automotive engineering academic institutions.

As mentioned earlier, the CCNY's SAE has already started the manufacturing of their latest vehicle for the SAE Supermileage event occurring in June 2009 in Michigan (Event is listed on SAE.org website for more info). The Supermileage vehicle relies on a "coasting" way of navigation to be fuel efficient incorporated automotive aerodynamics and aeronautical engineering; the intent is to manufacture a vehicle that will travel the longest distance burning the lease amount of gas.

All club aficionados are welcome to stop by the SAE shop located in Steinman anytime during the semester to take a look at the Supermileage vehicle or better yet, if you'll be in Marshall, Michigan around that time in June, all are invited to some out and show your support. The clubs office is located in the Steinman Building (Grove School of Engineering) in room ST 272, ext 6715. The Society of Automotive of Engineers is on the path to exciting times, why not be a part of it?

Lenny Grand-Pierre is the treasurer of the CCNY SAE.

Article Tools