Clark School Press Release Story

Build a Better Hovercraft, Build a Better Engineer

Hovercraft Competition to Take Place at Clark School Friday

MEDIA ADVISORY  December 7, 2010

CONTACT:
Nicole Roop
301-405-3845
nroop@umd.edu

Students, faculty and staff watch a team launch its hovercraft at the start of the competition track in the Kim Engineering Building. Around the track, other teams await their turns. (Photo by Aaron Clamage, A. James Clark School of Engineering, U-Md.) Download the hi-res version

WHAT: Undergraduate student teams will launch their hand-built, autonomous hovercraft to navigate around a track. The competition caps ENES100, the Clark School's signature course that all engineering students must take in their freshman year. The two-foot hovercraft are constructed of foam, batteries, a LEGO microprocessor, fans, sensors and other components. They must float on a cushion of air, propel themselves forward, traverse a "rough patch," and navigate two turns to successfully compete in the competition.

WHO: Freshmen engineering students compete in teams. They will be joined by faculty members of the Keystone Program, which administers the course and competition. Keystone faculty members are among the best teachers in the Clark School and are hand-selected for this course. Teaching fellows--undergraduate students who have already taken the course and are interested in developing leadership skills--also will be on-hand.

WHEN: Media are encouraged to attend Friday, December 10, starting at 9 a.m. (the competition will last most of the day). Students will be working on their hovercraft, testing and competing the entire time.

WHERE: The rotunda of the Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building
A. James Clark School of Engineering
University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742

WHY: Hands-on challenges are important in order to interest and motivate students to study engineering and the other STEM disciplines. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Through this class, students also learn interpersonal skills, problem-solving strategies, confidence and other qualities that will help them throughout the rest of their time as students and as engineers once they graduate. Many students consider this course to be one of their best educational experiences at the Clark School.

More Information: Read about the ENES100 course, the hovercraft competition and the Keystone Program in a recent issue of Engineering@Maryland magazine, which is available online.

Watch a live stream from the competition on 12/10 on the Keystone Program homepage: http://keystone.umd.edu/

Watch video from last semester's competition.

About the A. James Clark School of Engineering

The Clark School of Engineering, situated on the rolling, 1,500-acre University of Maryland campus in College Park, Md., is one of the premier engineering schools in the U.S., with graduate and undergraduate education programs ranked in or near the Top 20. In 2012, the Clark School was ranked 14th in the world by the Institute of Higher Education and Center for World-Class Universities in its Academic Ranking of World Universities. Three faculty members affiliated with the Clark School were inducted into the National Academy of Engineering in 2010.

The school, which offers 13 graduate programs and 12 undergraduate programs, including degree and certification programs tailored for working professionals, is home to one of the most vibrant research programs in the country. The Clark School garnered research awards of $171 million last year. With emphasis in key areas such as energy, nanotechnology and materials, bioengineering, robotics, communications and networking, life cycle and reliability engineering, project management, intelligent transportation systems and aerospace, the Clark School is leading the way toward the next generations of engineering advances.