UNM’s Solar Splash team places third in national competition

The University of New Mexico Solar Splash team placed third at the UPS Battery Center Solar Splash competition held in Springfield, Ohio over the weekend.

UNM Solar Splash is one of the senior design capstone project options for Mechanical Engineering students, with students from other engineering majors often participating to assist with the boat's electrical systems. Students spend the academic year leading up to the competition designing and constructing a solar-powered boat. Participants include universities from around the U.S. and abroad.

This year's team had three podium finishes, including their overall competition rank, winning second in the Solar Endurance race and third in the Slalom race. The team also received the Outstanding Solar System Design award, the Innovation Award, and the Sportsmanship Award for their efforts to help another student team ready their boat for competition after they fried their battery stack.

"The most important reason for me to be proud of the team was that they never gave up - even ending up with a non-working motor and having to miss at least one event contributing to the overall score: they kept working the long hours to find a solution, asked members and mentors of other teams for advice, and were able to return the boat to operation," Peter Vorobieff, faculty advisor for the UNM team, said.

This year's competition was brutal, Vorobieff said, with only half of the registered teams arriving to competition with lake-worthy boats.

The students who competed were Jeremiah Martinez, Micah Wolbrecht, Soren Colburn and Justin Howey.

UNM has competed in Solar Splash since 2016 and took first place overall last year. The program is funded almost entirely through donations, which can be made here.