BASF presenting a donation to the Chem-E-Car team for Scrappy. Shown, from left to right, are Dr. Will Sutton (dean for the UTC College of Engineering and Computer Science), Dr. Frank Jones (head of the Chemical Engineering Department), Dr. Tricia Thomas (AICHE Student Chapter & Chem-E-Car advisor), Ashley Poe (AICHE Student Chapter vice president & Chem-E-Car team member), Rob Gagliano (BASF Chattanooga site director), Katy Bartlett (BASF Chattanooga PDP), and Doug Roselle (BASF Chattanooga Senior Operations engineer).
The BASF Chattanooga Site is sponsoring a team of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga students in the Chemical Engineering Department’s Chem-E-Car challenge. The American Institute of Chemical Engineers hosts the competition each year, challenging students to work in teams to develop a chemically powered vehicle, called the Chem-E-Car, that must meet specified operational criteria. The UTC students named their car “Scrappy” after the school’s mascot and used element designations from the periodic table to provide a creative logo design.
“We are proud to support UTC and their Chem-E-Car competition for the great chemistry they create with the students, the university and the community,” said BASF Site Director, Rob Gagliano.
UTC’s student chapter will be competing in the Southern Regional competition on Saturday, to compete for a place in the national competition in the fall. The UTC team has six members, Sumner Welte, Brooke Washburn, Eric Snider, Ashley Poe, Ben Kegley and Jonathon Cain. The team is diversified with past members, new members and all levels of college experience.
“I am very proud to be a member of this team and for BASF’s sponsorship” said Ashley Poe, UTC student and BASF intern. “I am able to contribute what I have gained through my internship at BASF to the dynamics of the team, including how to relate safety to every aspect of this project and to everyday life; to apply the technical writing skills that I have gained at BASF, and the overall competitive nature of the chemical industry to what I hope to be a competition win in March.”
The UTC team started developing design concepts this past summer and decided to build car that would be powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. The car was built within the $2000 budget set by AICHE. Most of this budget was sponsored by BASF Chattanooga.
According to Ms. Poe, “Without their donation the car would not have been possible.”