Engineering advances to nationals in first Chem-E car competition

Campbell students qualify after creating small car that runs, stops solely on chemical reactions

A small car powered by chemical energy created by a team of Campbell University engineering students cracked the Top 3 in the national AIChE Conference competition held last week in Atlanta.

Campbell's team - named "Clocked and Loaded" - consisted of captain Ryan Klingenberg, Abby Adams, Kara Shinn, Alena Suarez and Alex Chappell (Kendall Wilson couldn't attend because of a lacrosse game). The group finished behind only winner South Florida and runner-up South Carolina, while beating larger teams from much larger schools like Alabama, Florida, Augburn, Clemson, NC State and LSU.

The competition required teams to design and construct a shoebox-sized car powered and stopped solely by chemical reactions. Students must stop their car accurately at a specified distance while carrying a predetermined load, emphasizing safety, creative chemical engineering and sustainability.

According to Campbell School of Engineering Founding Dean Dr. Jenna Carpenter, AIChE's Southern region is the largest in the country, and this year marked Campbell's first foray into the competition. She said rookie teams don't often place, so the Campbell performance was a surprise to many.

Campbell will now move on to the national competition later this year.

"We are so proud of our ChemE Car team - they performed extremely well for a rookie team and put in many long hours of work to get to this point," Carpenter said. We will be looking forward to cheering them on at nationals in the fall."

Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and faculty advisor Dr. Jacqueline Gartner guided the team to its third place finish. She said the students have been working since January on its car - much of the focus on the battery and the stopping mechanism. Competition rules state the vehicles cannot have mechanical brakes of any kind, so Campbell created an iodine clock (a color changing reaction) that gave the car's photosensor a signal to cut off the battery to prevent it from running.

She said the competition also has a poster portion that requires the students to effectively communicate how they built their car and how it operates. Teams cannot participate unless they pass the safety inspection, because there are hazardous chemicals used in the vehicle (work has to be performed to ensure no toxic or flammable gases are released).

"Earning third place at the regional competition and qualifying for nationals in their very first year is a remarkable achievement, and I couldn't be more proud of this team," Gartner said. What they accomplished reflects not just their talent and hard work, but the strength of the engineering education we're building at Campbell. From day one, our students are trained to think critically, solve real problems and collaborate under pressure - and that's exactly what a Chem-E Car competition demands.

"This team proved that Campbell engineers are ready to compete at the highest levels."