Spectra Newsletter

It’s a bicycle—or a tricycle—with a difference. Designed according to sound engineering principles for maximum speed, efficiency, practicality and sustainability, it will never be for sale at your local bike shop. But with its emphasis on innovation, it could help influence the next generation of bicycles available to consumers.

Each year, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers sponsors the Human-Powered Vehicle Challenge, spawning countless cutting-edge bicycles and tricycles that student teams from universities around the world have built for the competition. Teams are scored on their design, men’s and women’s speed events, innovation and endurance. [Read more…]

When it comes to auto racing, Lincoln, Nebraska, may not have the same cachet and name recognition as Indianapolis, Laguna Seca or Le Mans, but in June 2013, it became a center of automotive excellence when CSUN’s team joined 79 others there from around the world to compete in the 2013 Formula SAE Car competition. [Read more…]

Unmanned aerial vehicles—or drones, as they’re commonly known—have been making the news for several years now. But to the CECS seniors competing in the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) team, they’re nothing new. Large numbers jump at the opportunity to design, build and fly one in the annual competition organized by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI); the UAV also serves as the senior design project for most. [Read more…]

“I’ve always been a big fan of students doing projects because that’s where you learn engineering,” says Charles Volk, vice president and chief technologist at Northrop Grumman’s Navigation Systems Division. “It’s the best way to see what students are capable of.”

Judging by the responses to the fourth annual Senior Design Project Showcase, which was held April 19, 2013, in the University Student Union, CECS students are capable of a lot, and they really shine when they have to translate what they’ve learned in the classroom to real-world applications. [Read more…]