12/15/2022 College Students Build Electric Boats, Experience, and Confidence at University of Pittsburgh (article by BoatingMag)Read NowEngineering students at the University of Pittsburgh, until recently, were offered little hands-on experience with electric vehicles of any type. So last year, when then-junior Nick Genco saw an opportunity for a club at Pitt dedicated to racing electric boats in the Promoting Electric Propulsion (PEP) for Small Craft competition held by the American Society of Naval Engineers, he jumped in. That was the summer of 2021. The race was the following May. Plenty of time, right? The team includes more than 40 undergraduates studying 10 different disciplines of engineering as well as finance, economics, marketing, computer science, and business information systems. Left to Right: Dr. Tony Kerzmann; Kevin Gu; Clinton Connelly; Casandra Nickelson; David Marcano; Nicholas Genco; Shreyas Vivekanandan; Josh Lubin; Luke Sowinsk. Pittsburgh Electric Propulsion, the name chosen for the university sponsored student design team, now includes more than 40 undergraduates studying 10 different disciplines of engineering as well as finance, economics, marketing, computer science and business information systems. With the university still in Covid lockdowns, however, they couldn’t meet to actually build a boat until late October. For trim and displacement measurements, they carried their fully rigged 13-foot Zodiac Milpro ERB400 inflatable up infamous Cardiac Hill to the nearest warm water — Pitt’s indoor swimming pool. Uphill Climb “I didn’t grow up boating. I played basketball in high school,” Genco says. “I really knew nothing about boating or the effects of getting on a plane or anything like that. As I got more into the actual boating aspects, I found out there was a lot to learn.” Pittsburgh Electric Propulsion, the name chosen for the university sponsored student design team, now includes more than 40 undergraduates studying 10 different disciplines of engineering as well as finance, economics, marketing, computer science and business information systems. With the university still in Covid lockdowns, however, they couldn’t meet to actually build a boat until late October. For trim and displacement measurements, they carried their fully rigged 13-foot Zodiac Milpro ERB400 inflatable up infamous Cardiac Hill to the nearest warm water — Pitt’s indoor swimming pool. Sweet Success Their electric motor, built into a 1968 Mercury Thunderbolt 500 outboard shell, went untested until race day. Even plagued with during-race repairs jury-rigged by the boat’s skipper, Luke Sowinski, the club’s Cathy — named for the Cathedral of Learning building on campus — still managed 11 mph and third place in a fleet of seven entries competing on Pohick Bay, off the Potomac River outside of Washington D.C. As expected with many startups, it was a feat just to make it to the race largely due to raising funds. “There’s somewhat of a disconnect between the business school and engineering school when it comes to professional development. I was excited to gain experience managing a project in an industry where I had no familiarity,” says Chris Ferrighetto, Pittsburgh Electric Propulsion’s business manager. “Nick [Genco] helped me learn about batteries until I really understood what I was talking about, and I helped Nick with speaking tactics: how to project information the best way possible, and how to make sure we’re going about asking the right questions as well as answering questions the right way.” That polished approach led to funding from military and commercial boatbuilders Zodiac Milpro International and United States Marine, Inc., as well as high-voltage switching manufacturer Rincon Power and American Society of Naval Engineers. The team also garnered immeasurable assistance from their two faculty advisors, Dr. Robert Kerestes and Dr. Tony Kerzmann. Source: https://www.boatingmag.com/boats/students-build-experience-confidence-at-university-of-pittsburgh/
By:
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorPittsburgh Electric Propulsion's blog is written by a number of different team members. For information on who wrote a blog post please check the bottom of each individual post. Archives
December 2022
Categories |