Penn State Berks team competes in Baja vehicle contest

Seven Penn State Berks students traveled to Burlington, Wis., in June to compete in the third segment of the Baja SAE series, an engineering design competition sponsored by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Participants in the competition designed and built an off-road vehicle that resembled a dune buggy. Teams of students from colleges and universities from around the world competed against one another for the honor of having their design accepted for manufacture by a fictitious firm.

During the competition, the vehicle went through several performance tests, including tests of acceleration, maneuverability, log pull, suspension and traction. The vehicles were required to survive rough terrain and water throughout the competition.

The Penn State Berks Baja SAE team came in 47th out of 118 vehicles entered in the race. This is the fifth year of competition for the team.

''We at Berks are striving to give students the opportunity to work on Baja-related projects in the classroom,'' said Barbara Mizdail, senior lecturer in engineering at Penn State Berks and faculty adviser for the Baja SAE team.

Terry Speicher, assistant professor of engineering at Penn State Berks, also was involved in this year's competition, joining the team as an observer.