University of Nevada-Reno Pedals to First Place at the Student Design Finals

The concept of sustainable engineering was everywhere at the ASME Congress in Seattle last month, from the keynote speech by Engineers Without Borders founder Bernard Amadei to the many technical sessions that explored the topic.

Andy Bicos of Boeing (far left) and Jason Russell of the Student Design Competition Committee (far right) join first place winners Scott Waters, Nathan Labrosse, Ian Chase and Karl Schulz from the University of Nevada-Reno.

The 2007 Student Design Competition addressed the subject, too. In this year's design challenge, "Human-Powered Potable Water Still," students from 13 universities designed and built pedal-powered devices that would purify water by heating it to the boiling point, and then condense the steam generated to get potable water. "Bicycle Boiler," the entry from the University of Nevada-Reno team, completed this task the best, racking up and emerged as the winner of the competition finals, which took place Nov. 11 at the ASME Congress.

In the competition, teams were judged on the mechanical performance of their devices, which combined a thermal heat transfer process and human pedal power to purify contaminated water.

Russell and Bicos flank second-place New Mexico State University team members (from left) Randy Powell, Ken Ruble, Richard Lujan, Juan Delgado and Diana Gonzales.

The Nevada-Reno team members — Scott Waters, Ian Chase, Nathan Labrosse and Karl Schulz — shared a $3,000 first prize for winning the event, while their student section received $1,000. The team racked up 2,806,114 points during the competition.

The team from New Mexico State University — Juan Delgado, Diana Gonzales, Richard Lujan, Randy Powell and Ken Ruble — scored 2,179,333 points and took home the $1,000 second-place prize plus $500 for their student section. Brian Rosner, representing Arizona State University, placed third in the competition, securing $500 for himself and $250 for his student section. Rosner scored 1,376,428 points at the event. Major funding for the competition was provided by the Boeing Co.

Brian Rosner of Arizona State University readies his entry for the Student Design Competition finals at Congress. He would go on to take third place at the event.

Unlike previous events where teams took turns operating their entries, all 13 teams demonstrated their human-powered water skills at the same time at the finals this year. That change in procedure intensified the feeling of competition in the room.

"ASME's decision to hold the Student Design Contest as a 'head-to-head' competition was a great idea," said Waters, the leader of the winning team from the Nevada-Reno and the District D Student Sections Committee representative. "Seeing all the teams pedaling or rowing frantically at the same time added a lot of excitement to the event."

Waters, who thanked team advisers Candice Bauer and Kwang Kim for their support and encouragement, added that he and his winning team members "really had a lot of fun with the competition, and we have just started to realize how much we learned. There was not as much math involved in this year's contest, but we picked up a lot of intuitive design skills and it was a great supplement to classes we have taken in heat transfer, fluids, and thermodynamics. I don't think we could have learned nearly as much in the classroom."

For more information on the ASME Student Design Competition, including the 2008 design challenge, visit www.asme.org/Events/Contests/DesignContest/
Student_Design_Competition.cfm.

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