With almost a full year of both mechanical and electrical engineering experience on the team, Andrew Huang has been selected to be the Interim Engineering Director for the fall.  Andrew is originally from the cornfields of Granger, Indiana, which is (for those that need a reference) right by our rivals, Notre Dame.  He has been playing the cello for about seven years and he enjoys spending time with his friends, whistling, biking, and the color teal.

Wanting something interesting to do, Andrew joined solar car during the fall of 2010 after a friend on the team told him the Quantum project was the way to go.  By the time he joined, it was kind of late in the cycle to do most of the mechanical work.  However, this didn’t stop him from working on the construction of the car at Roush, where he was able to do some early flat layups and Roush week.  Eventually, Andrew got the chance to design the race pack leading up to his current position now: a collaboration between the mechanical and electrical divisions.  From this, he has learned a lot about both divisions within the course of his time on the team, providing the perfect fit to being the Interim Engineering Director.

As Interim Engineering Director, Andrew will work towards getting all of the new engineering recruits up to speed on how the team works and what they’ll have the opportunity to work on during a project.  He will create and decide on the various projects that the new engineers take on, which will highlight on preparing the car for ASC 2012 and sorting out the fundamentals of the next project.

Ultimately, his goals for the fall will be to guide the division into gaining a lot of experience through building a mule car version of Quantum.  This project will provide the engineers a chance to practice basic manufacturing, teach the ways and requirements of designing and building systems, as well as give more advanced members the chance to test prototype ASC and the later project’s systems.

 “It’s certainly been an interesting experience so far.  It’s nice to have a chance to actually use what we learn in class, solve some real hands-on problems, create solutions to unexpected difficulties, and much more.  And in the fall, I’m looking forward to meeting all the new recruits and watch them grow as they learn more about engineering through their experience in this hands-on, real world project.”

Visit umsolar.com
Tweet @umsolarcarteam
Like facebook.com/umsolar
Watch youtube.com/umsolar
See flickr.com/umsolar
Win The World umsolar.com/wintheworld